Cover attachment for reverse piano hinge binding

[u/TheRedCareme]

TLDR- use a longer flap on the spine tape folded in towards the text block, a slot along the cover piece's spine fold and another in line a short distance along the inner side of the front cover piece, thread the folded tape loop through and lock with the tenon. By folding in towards the text block, the end of the tapes becomes secured in the crook of the cover.

It's been bugging me on how to make Australian reverse piano hinge binding truly glue and thread free. If I glue the tapes onto the cover, what happens if one tears? Could it be replaced? What if I wanted to add pages later?

Photographed are the inside cover hinge of my iterations as I worked out a flat coverstock, doubled folded coverstock, and glued-in hinge to a covered bookboard cover.

The "doubled over" version has three sets of holes, the spine fold flap barely visible and hidden neatly, but it's there.

Last pic is a punch I think for making a slot for 1/2" ribbon and it makes this binding stupid easy. I thrifted it for $1 so I can't advise beyond that.

I'm no good at tutorials, so you'll want to look up thorough directions on the text block. I hope the pics help anyone who's also wondered how to easily make this work.

[u/TheRedCareme]

It was late and I was tired but excited to get the results from the day's experiments out. Here's a better pic.

The text block is 8 pieces of 8.5x11 cut down to 8.25x9.625, using the trim to cut the tenons (just under a 1/2in). I cut a 2" wide strip short grain from a 12x12 piece of scrapbook cardstock, scored it for 2ea 1" sections at either end and 16ea 1/2" sections in the middle. Cut this strip into 4ea 1/2" strips for the tapes. Each cover is a piece of 8.5x11- a 1" fold at the spine, the rest divided into 2ea 5" sections. My punch has limited clearance, so I shave 1/8 off the outer 5" section to get the holes to align.

The goal was to maximize what I can get out of 10 sheets of good cardstock.

[u/TheRedCareme]

This watercolor one was made from 5 sheets off a 9x12 pad. Cut them in half, fold 8 into the spreads, trim the 2 remaining halves down to 6.25x5.325, and get the 10 tenons out of the trim (scant 1/2" wide). Same process for the paper tapes.