Separating Pages From A Book

[fragilefranky]

I want to scan the contents of a softcover book. Some of the images span more than one page. The book is a large format (12" x 9.75") circa 1980s and is glued at the seams.

I tried to gently pry the pages apart without success. Also I heated the spine so the glue might soften and help page separation. That was unsuccessful.

I've seen little information on the net. Has anyone done this?

[ConstantOgler]

Have not done it but how about a hobbyist's pen knife w small sharp blade (or even single edged razor blade) to carefully cut between pages. Tedious, but maybe after some are cut others will come out with a pull. Glue residue to deal with on the edges.

Leads into next ? which may deserve its own thread. Dealing with the separation line in the spreads, depending on where it is & how fussy you are. I'm dealing w this now on mags & I would say its better to keep pages together, scanning the joint & dealing with that instead of putting two separate scans together. You may not have a choice.
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PS just saw if you have 12 x 9.75 paper maybe yr scan format not that big? you would need 2 scans & merge for each page, unless photos smaller. My exper merge works well if there is overlap, but still a lot of work. Good luck

[Ninjaturtle]

You can scan books without seperating pages with your smartphone. It works great

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWlVYd2Zc-E

[masque51]

I use a micro screwdriver (the kind you use to tighten the screws on a pair of glasses). I run it down the page 4 or 5 times and then go to the next page and do it there as well. If you have a ten page pictorial and do this on all the pages it makes it much easier to pull them out. Sometimes you can break the binding, but depending on the glue, this may or may not work very well. Then I use Photoshop Elements 9 to merge the pages. (there are other threads on merging, or stitching pics). A picture with tough binding with result in a picture where the two halves are further apart, which requires more work to fix. As an example, the picture of Tahnee Welch below has a fair distance between the two halves. Hopefully when I'm done, you won't be able to tell the difference




But often you can get the two parts right up against each other.

[ConstantOgler]

Originally Posted by Ninjaturtle

You can scan books without seperating pages with your smartphone. It works great

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWlVYd2Zc-E

From what I see on that vid she is taking a camera picture of the document, not scanning it. You never see her pass the phone over the paper like a hand scanner, & if she did there would be multiple passes needed, raising issues of alignment & merging of the scans. Also if it was a scan there is no fix for the moire pattern in the printed photo, an issue even with many dedicated hand scanners. Text OK, but I think the OP is about photos for posting here. Camera shots not allowed here, for good reason.

[fragilefranky]

Originally Posted by ConstantOgler

Have not done it but how about a hobbyist's pen knife w small sharp blade (or even single edged razor blade) to carefully cut between pages. Tedious, but maybe after some are cut others will come out with a pull. Glue residue to deal with on the edges.

I did try this but was unsuccessful. Using a razor knife on the heavy paper stock caused the blade to wander yielding some damage.
If I eventually go this route other pages may may be easier to remove as you suggest.

Originally Posted by ConstantOgler

Dealing with the separation line in the spreads, depending on where it is & how fussy you are.

I'm not very good at joining distinct pages. Also, glue residue, at the joint, results in a distraction. If I used some type of Photoshop software I might be able to fix that. These are best left to someone else.

Originally Posted by ConstantOgler

PS just saw if you have 12 x 9.75 paper maybe yr scan format not that big? you would need 2 scans & merge for each page, unless photos smaller.

My scanner will handle up to 11" x 14" (US legal size) so it falls a bit short for the largest of images.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[fragilefranky]

Originally Posted by masque51

I use a micro screwdriver (the kind you use to tighten the screws on a pair of glasses). I run it down the page 4 or 5 times and then go to the next page and do it there as well. If you have a ten page pictorial and do this on all the pages it makes it much easier to pull them out. Sometimes you can break the binding, but depending on the glue, this may or may not work very well. Then I use Photoshop Elements 9 to merge the pages.

I have one of those screwdrivers but the tip is quite sharp and could possibly(?) damage the pages. Oh well, that will probably happen any way so I may try it.

Photoshop type software will have to wait till I can separate these pages.
Thanks for the suggestion.

[fragilefranky]

Originally Posted by Ninjaturtle

You can scan books without seperating pages with your smartphone. It works great

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWlVYd2Zc-E

Interesting but I don't have an Andriod device. Thanks for the suggestion.

[tygrkhat40]

I've broken apart square-bound magazines by opening the mag as wide as I can and run a slightly dull knife beween the pages to break apart the glue. The pages usually fall out with a gentle pull. There might be dried glue on the edge and that can be gently scraped off.

[fragilefranky]

Originally Posted by tygrkhat40

I've broken apart square-bound magazines by opening the mag as wide as I can and run a slightly dull knife beween the pages to break apart the glue. The pages usually fall out with a gentle pull. There might be dried glue on the edge and that can be gently scraped off.

Yeah, I have used an old dull stainless steel butter knife to good effect. I tried it here but so far am not successful. Maybe I just have to keep at it. The dried glue often comes off with part of the image, ugh.

Thanks for the suggestion.