Restoration Project: Re-binding a Small Military Bible

My wife and I found this small Bible at a flee market in Boone, Iowa in early Spring 2011. We paid $1 for it, and had to leave the payment with the vendor next door because the booth where we found the Bible was unattended. The Bible was in need of repair; it needed to be cleaned and its covers were missing. We noticed that this small Bible is really the Catholic version of the New Testament, and it most certainly belonged to a soldier.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Bible has a copyright of 1918, and it also has the following inscription on one of the blank pages at the beginning of the book:

Frank H. McCourt
Camp Sheridan
Montgomery Ala
Father Lange
KC Chaplain

The restored Bible measures 4 1/2" X 3 " X 3/4" and it has now full-leather covers in orange-brown pigskin, additional blank pages were added to the front and back of the text block, the spine was reinforced with Japanese rice paper and hinged with cloth; book ends were also added to the head and tail of the spine.

Special thanks to Chris Kading who has taught me many restoration techniques throughout the years.

Hand-made corn paper (5) - Dissolving and Stirring (Charging) the pulp in water

For this step we need a large plastic tub filled with cold water. I add two handfuls of pulp into the water and stir the pulp. A frame with wire screen and a deckle are dipped into the water-pulp solution (slurry) to form the sheets.


A recommend Chapter 3 of the book "Making Your Own Paper: An Introduction to Creative Paper-making" by Marianne Saddington for easy to follow instructions on how to make a mold and a deckle. Chapter 7, Project 10, includes a recipe for making cornhusk paper. The book also includes instructions for projects on how to make a press for drying paper sheets.

For an instructional video on how to "charge" the pulp into the vat by Gretchen Sherberhorn (?) from Pyramid Atlantic follow this link: "Make Paper - Preparing the Vat with Pulp."

Hand-made Corn Paper (4) - Making the pulp

Pounding, blending, and making corn paper pulp:



After the fibers are cooked, the pulp is strained to separate the pulp. The pulp is then rinsed two or three times with clean cold water. I use a large piece of window screen fabric as a sieve to separate the solid pulp from the water. After the rinse, the pulp is squeezed by twisting the fabric. Think of cheese cloth when cheese or yogurt are made. Now the pulp is ready for pounding.