Page:The Art of Bookbinding, Zaehnsdorf, 1890.djvu/157

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FINISHING.
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Stuttgart, which he guarantees smokeless and free from soot; where gas is not obtainable, this will be found very handy.

Many still prefer the charcoal fire. To such a stove a pipe should be fixed to conduct the fumes away into the open air or up a chimney. To make such a stove any old tin may be utilized. Make a number of large holes through the sides; fill it with some live charcoal, and place a perforated tin plate on the top. It will keep alight for hours, and impart quite enough heat for any purpose required. This primitive stove, however, must be placed on a stand or on a piece of thick iron, lest it become dangerous. A finishing press is a small press, having two sides of solid wood with

Cross-hatched illustration of a finishing press.

Finishing Press. The reverse side is quite flat, used
when sides of books are being finished.

wooden screws at each end, the cheeks should be of width enough to allow the sides of a book to be finished comfortably when the boards are extended, the book itself being held by the press which is screwed up tightly. The press should, however, be light enough to enable the finisher to easily turn it round, as it frequently must be, while finishing a book.

Mr. Leo has a press (patented) which he claims gives more freedom for finishing a book, but with it one can only finish the back of a book; there are, however, many good points that our English makers may well study.