Notepad Vice

You may recall a few months back I posted about making notepads out of the scrap paper from my office so it could be re-used before being recycled.... I've been doing this for a while now and decided that I needed a better system if I was going to continue.

So I went to the hardware store, got myself some wood, bolts, and wing nuts. I drew up a plan that would create a vice for a variety of notepad sizes. Just a simple device to hold the paper together while the glue dries. I made some measurements, drilled a few holes, and bob's your uncle, I had a notepad vice. No more stacking textbooks on top of my pads as they dry! I just put the paper in the vice, tighten it up, slather on a few coats of elmer's and it's good to go. The large bolts will allow me to do a big stack of notebooks at once too.

The next step is to get some real padding compound (already ordered it) - the stuff the pros use. The elmer's glue works, it's just very thin so it takes a few coats which is annoying. I'm already loving the process more now and think the end product is more professional looking. Can't wait to get my hands on the padding compound!