Cutting and Assembling Chapters

If you are here, you have already done the noisy part. The printer is finished, the pages are cooled, and there is a stack of paper on the table that does not quite feel like a book yet. This page is about turning that stack into clean Chapters you actually want to hold.

We are going to do two things:

1. Cut your printed sheets into even pages.
2. Put those pages in order so they are ready for whatever binding you chose.

One Chapter is enough to practice on. If it is a little crooked, no one in East Bay is going to show up and measure your margins.

1. Get a paper cutter for the best cuts

You can cut pages with scissors or a craft knife. I have done that. Actually, it was Todd’s Case Knife Finch gave him. LOL It works. It is also slow, and your hand starts to wobble right when you wish it would not.

If you plan to keep more than a couple of Journal entries, I really do recommend some kind of paper cutter.

The two common kinds you will see are:

• A sliding trimmer, where a small blade moves along a rail.
• A guillotine cutter, where a long arm comes down to chop the pages.

Both give you straight cuts you can repeat without thinking too hard and let you slice through several sheets at once. That means the edges of your Chapter line up when you tap the stack on the table, and the book in your hands feels like something you meant to make instead of a pile of homework.

If you are just starting a shelf of Chapters, a basic sliding trimmer is usually enough. A heavier guillotine cutter is useful if you expect to cut big stacks in one motion.

2. Getting your printed Chapter ready

Before the blade comes out:

1. Make sure the ink is dry if you used an inkjet printer.
2. Tap the stack on a flat surface so all four edges line up.
3. Check the top sheet and decide what “up” is. Turn any strays so everything faces the same way.

For Half Letter layouts, each Letter sheet is meant to become two smaller pages. You will be cutting across the long edge, right through the middle.

For Full US Letter layouts, you can skip cutting unless you want to trim margins or separate a cover.

3. Cutting Half Letter sheets to size

These steps turn your Letter sheets into two Half Letter pages.

3.1 Find the halfway line

Letter paper is eleven inches tall on the long side. Half of that is five and a half inches.

If your layout shows a faint center line, trust it. If it does not, you can:

1. Measure five and a half inches from one short edge on the first sheet.
2. Mark a light pencil dot at the top and at the bottom.
3. Line your cutter or ruler up with those marks.

Once you have the cutter set, you can usually cut a small stack at a time without measuring again.

3.2 Cutting with a sliding trimmer

1. Set a small stack of sheets on the trimmer bed.
2. Align the halfway point with the rail.
3. Press the pages gently against the guide edge so they do not slide.
4. Pull the blade from one end to the other in a smooth pass.

Start with five to ten sheets until you know how many your trimmer can handle cleanly. If edges start to fuzz or shift, cut fewer at a time.

3.3 Cutting with a guillotine cutter

1. Place a stack on the cutter base and line the halfway mark up with the blade.
2. Use the back fence if your cutter has one, or keep the stack pressed firmly against the back edge.
3. Keep your fingers clear of the blade path.
4. Bring the arm down in one controlled motion.

Guillotine cutters can handle thicker stacks, but it is still better to work in smaller groups until you are comfortable.

3.4 Cutting with a ruler and knife

If you do not have a paper cutter yet:

1. Put a few sheets on a cutting mat.
2. Set a metal ruler along the halfway mark.
3. Hold the ruler steady.
4. Draw a sharp craft knife along the ruler with light pressure.
5. Make several passes instead of trying to cut everything at once.

It takes longer, but the edges stay straight if you do not rush.

3.5 Cutting with scissors

Scissors work, they are just slow.

1. Draw a light pencil line across the halfway point on the top sheet.
2. Cut along the line as straight as you can.
3. Use that finished sheet as a template. Stack it on top of a few more and trim along its edge.

If you start with scissors and decide you like printing Chapters, that is your sign to look for a trimmer. Your future self will thank you.

4. Sorting and stacking your pages

When you are done cutting, you should have two piles of smaller pages. Now you turn them back into a Chapter.

1. Pick one pile and face all pages the same way.
2. Look for page numbers or headings.
3. Start at page one and build a stack in order.
4. Rotate any page that is upside down or backwards.

Repeat with the second pile if you have one. In most Half Letter layouts, following the numbers will give you one continuous Chapter stack.

If the Chapter is long or you are combining several, you can:

• Add a small sticky tab every ten or twenty pages.
• Wrap a strip of scrap paper around a finished stack and write the Chapter number on it.

Anything that keeps the order clear will make binding easier.

5. Thinking about how you will actually read these

Now you have clean, ordered pages. Before you lock them into anything, think about how you are going to use them.

5.1 Three ring binder for hard use

If you plan to read the Journal entries a lot, flip back and forth to check details, lend sections to friends, or keep adding new Chapters as they come out, a three ring binder is the workhorse option.

Once the pages are punched and in a binder:

• You can move Chapters around as the collection grows.
• You can pull one Chapter into a smaller binder if you want to share it.
• You can replace a page that gets ruined by reprinting just that sheet.

Full US Letter pages drop into standard binders without extra work. Half Letter pages can live there too if you use half size sheet protectors or a smaller binder.

5.2 Discbound notebooks when you want it to look finished

If you want something that feels more like a custom book than school notes, a discbound system is a good alternative.

Once the pages are punched for discs and pressed onto the rings:

• The notebook lies flat when it is open.
• You can pull out a Chapter and move it without opening anything.
• The finished volume looks closer to a planner or journal than a binder from a locker.

Discbound works well with both sizes. Half Letter builds a compact volume that feels a lot like a field notebook you could actually carry around.

5.3 Saving stapling and other experiments

You can also turn a Chapter into a stapled booklet or try other binding methods. I like saving those decisions for later, once you have held a cut and sorted stack and know how thick it really is.

For now, it is enough to decide whether you want something tough and easy to rearrange, or something that looks more polished on a shelf.

In the Binding Options guide, I will walk through the exact steps for using binders, discbound systems, and stapled booklets, so you can match the method to how you actually read.

6. Before you move on

Quick check before you leave the table:

• The cut edges look straight enough that the stack sits neatly in your hand.
• Pages are in order and facing the right way.
• You have at least one full Chapter stack set aside for the binding method you want to try first.

Once you have that stack, you are ready for the next guide: Binding Options.