Basic Tools

• Many of the hand tools used in the book trade have been around for millennia. Common hand tools include angles, awls, backing hammers, bone folders, needles and scissors. Angles are used to guide the cutting of the paper into a shape that will fit a particular bookbinding. Awls look like icepicks and are used to perforate a text for a needle to pass through the pages. A backing hammer is a rounded hammer specifically for bookbinding that is used to shape the spine of a book while it is being bound. Bone folders look much like an emery board in shape and are rounded to fold the pages before putting them into order. Needles are used to pass the thread through the pages to bind them together.
  
  

Shop Tools

• Bookmakers have a second class of tools referred to as "Shop Tools." These tools are large mechanical tools, such as binding presses, pasting tools, presses, vises and cutting mats. Binding presses look much like the old book presses that operated on a turn screw and are used to press newly glued books so they will bind properly. Pasting tools consist of such common items as spatulas, glue heaters and, unusually enough, a horsehair strainer, which is a fine mesh made from horsehair framed in a round wooden box that bookbinders use to push glue through so it will have a consistent quality. Specially designed book vises are used to help bookbinders make a perfect binding, and cutting mats are where the paper is cut into a consistent shape.
  
  

Restoration Tools

• As many bookmakers also specialize in repairing books whose bindings have come undone, you will find an array of restoration tools on their benches, such as a chisel, a set of microspatulas, oyster/staple knives, scalpels and tacking irons. Microspatulas---which come in heated and unheated---are scraping tools that are used to take off plastic binding or glue on a book that needs to be rebound. Oyster or staple knives look like a small letter opener and are used to pry away staples and unwanted bindings. Chisels are used to remove unwanted glue from a binding. Scalpels are used to cut old binding. Tacking irons look like tiny clothing irons and are used to dry repaired Japanese tissue that had wheat paste applied.
  
  

Mechanized Equipment

• In 1868, David McConnell Smyth patented a sewing machine that was designed specifically to bind together book pages. The primary design of this machine still sees usage today in bookbinderies all over the world. He went on to develop machines that glue, trim and make cases (hardcovers). His machine became the industry standard, and now, sewing a bookbinding through the fold is referred to as Smyth Sewing. In the early 20th century, a process known as "perfect binding" was invented where the ends of the pages were glued into a flat spine so no sewing was involved whatsoever. These books were not as durable or as expensive as sewn books and are known as "paperbacks." Now books use a product known as "thermoplastic tape" to adhere the pages together in a binding that is considerably more durable than the "perfect binding."