Table saw blade for an unusual purpose

[Rick Hubbard]

I am in possession of several old books that have been damaged and that I have decided to scan

The first step in this process is to slice off the spine of the book in order to separate the leaves. A power paper guillotine would do the job nicely but I don't have one and print shops charge insane prices.

My solution has been to build a book press that allows the spine of the sandwiched book to protrude. I then run the book press along my table saw fence so that the exposed spine is cut off after multiple passes.

Here is the problem: I've tried every saw place in my arsenal but I can't seem to come with one that will allow me to cut more than about 1/4 inch per pass.

Anyone willing to venture an opinion about the kind of blade that might work better?

Thanks

[Matt Day]

What exactly do you mean by "I've tried every saw place in my arsenal"?

Are you saying the book stalls the blade in the TS? I wonder how the bandsaw would do as an alternate.

[Rick Hubbard]

What exactly do you mean by "I've tried every saw place in my arsenal"?

Are you saying the book stalls the blade in the TS? I wonder how the bandsaw would do as an alternate.

You are right every saw BLADE (gotta love autocorrect)

Yes, if I try to take too deep of a cut, the saw bogs down something awful. I've tried a 24 tooth rip blade, my Woodworker II and a couple of old Sears chrome edge plywood blades.

The band saw would be a better option for sure. Problem is that the book press is too tall.

[John K Jordan]

...The band saw would be a better option for sure. Problem is that the book press is too tall.
I'm wondering if you can make a simple, more compact book press with two wood or metal plates, some threaded holes or inserts on both ends, and bolts with nuts to provide the pressure. I recently made a custom puller for some pressed cast iron parts and got plenty of force from four nuts.

JKJ

[larry senen]

I think i would try a hand saw and a rip saw at that.

[Joseph Montroy]

Could you do multiple passes, taking 1/2" per pass off?

[Tom M King]

I have an old Forrest blade that they made for solid surface material, I think back in the late '80s, but don't think they make any more. It has several different shaped teeth, including some really sharp, narrow pointed teeth. I think it would make a very clean cut, but it needs to be sent back to Forrest for some repair that I'm not sure they even do any more.

[Jamie Buxton]

Here's my theory...
When the bookbinder sews the pages together, he really tightens up those threads. That's why the book spine is a little compressed. When you cut it with the saw blade, the blade is cutting a straight line. But when the pages are cut, the pages spring apart a bit, and the kerf then becomes curved. It is the curved kerf rubbing against the blade's plate that is stalling the saw.
What might fix your problem is a blade whose carbide teeth are wider than the usual blade, so it cuts a wide kerf. What comes to mind are the outside blades from a stacked dado set. They're wide so you can put shims between them to adjust the dado width. On my dado head, the teeth are wider to the middle of the dado than they are to the outside of the dado. That is, if your book is passing to the right of the blade, you'd have the best situation using the left blade, not the right one.

[Matt Day]

What kind of saw do you have that's bogging down? Picture of the book press?

[Keith Westfall]

Extend your press to the edge and cut off a slice of wood with the pages, maybe...

[Larry Frank]

I cut a bunch of books(50+) a couple of years ago. I used my cabinet saw with a rip blade...24 tooth Freud.

I tried other blades with more teeth but they clogged. I was making a shallow display /sign cabinet. The cut quality was ok but not really clean. It was good for my purpose.

I would be concerned of having any little pieces of dust and dirt from cutting as they will cause scanning issues.

[Tom M King]

Maybe a Radial Arm Saw for the cut would let it expand up and out as the cut progressed, rather than being held down while cut from the bottom with no where for the expansion to go.

[glenn bradley]

I'm wondering if you can make a simple, more compact book press with two wood or metal plates, some threaded holes or inserts on both ends, and bolts with nuts to provide the pressure. I recently made a custom puller for some pressed cast iron parts and got plenty of force from four nuts.

JKJ

I'm with John. A 2-3 skip or similar band should be able to go through the spine with a slow feed rate and provide an edge clean enough to allow an auto-feeder on a scanner to handle things. Wait, I am assuming a bandsaw capable of resawing hardwoods; 2 - 3 HP. If your saw is 1HP or less this may be moot. Paper has characteristics once bound or stacked under pressure that can be surprising.

[Sam Murdoch]

As you are only talking about "several books" I might consider using the TS ONLY to rip off the covers and the work my way through the paper with utility blades. More hands on but could be just as efficient - certainly safer.

[Rick Hubbard]

Thanks folks for taking time to help me ponder this.
I spent some time this morning re-visiting the whole process and have come to the conclusion that part of the problem relates to the type of binding.
Sewn bindings on quality hard-bound books are the biggest problem Apparently the thread and glue combination are just too much for deep cuts so I'll have to exercise patience and take multiple shallow cuts with those books. Perfect bound books (non-sewn, glue-only) work pretty well with deeper cuts just using a freshly sharpened rip blade.

What I do after cutting the spine off is hit the cut with some 80 grit sand paper, then vacuum. That gets rid of most of the dust to prevent problems with scanning.

339799

339800

339801

But its a MESS

339802

[Grant Wilkinson]

With that table saw, you may want to try a circular saw 6 1/2" or 7 1/2" thin kerf rip blade. I use them frequently on my 10" table saw and they go a great job going through tough material.

[Jon Endres]

I'd be inclined to try a fiber-cement cutting blade.

[Brian W Evans]

I do this somewhat regularly but with books that are bound using glue only. I don't know how much space you have between the binding and the edge of the text, but if you can cut in that area, the binding shouldn't matter - you're only cutting paper. I have cut through books over 1000 pages (cardboard covers) using a 3/8 blade on my 14" bandsaw. No book press - just a fence and some downward pressure from my hand.

I scan the books using a multifunction printer-copier-fax machine and Adobe Acrobat Pro. Once you get the settings figured out, it does an excellent job.

Not sure how much you care if the pages are exactly square and uniform in size. I don't really care about squareness and uniformity but mine come out very close. Software can straighten edges automatically and will make each page the same size.

Feel free to PM me with questions about cutting or scanning.

[Roger Feeley]

Put me in the bandsaw camp. I've cut books before and I use a fine tooth bandsaw blade. Easy.