Guidebook Maintenance, Part 1

Guidebooks have come a long way in the last couple of years. What used to be standard affairs in black and white with hand drawn topos are now borderline works of art, with glossy crag and action photos that make you drool. And while many areas have seen updated versions, there are likely still some older books in your collection that may not be holding up so well. A common problem is that pages start falling out, which is usually the beginning of the end for a guidebook. However, there is a simple fix to remedy this problem and get many more years of use out of that trusty guide (or at least until the fancy new color version that costs $40 comes out.)

Take this old City of Rocks guidebook from 2006, for example. It’s full of good information, and I want to keep using it, but many of the pages have started falling out. Thankfully there is a solution using zip ties to hold it all together that takes only 5 to 10 minutes and will have it back in excellent working order.

For this project, you’ll only need a drill, some zip ties, and some scissors.

First, get all the pages back in the book, and tap the sides to get everything neat and tidy. Next, mark the spots on the cover where you want to drill the holes. Three is best and you don’t want it too close or too far from the edge. Once you’ve got your spots, go ahead and drill the holes, keeping the pages in place as much as possible.

Next, take the zip ties and thread them through the holes. Cinch them down, but not so tight the book spine begins to compress, and you cant open the book.

Lastly, take the scissors and snip off the ends of the zip ties. (Don’t use your wife’s nice, expensive sewing scissors unless you want to spend the night on the couch though.)

And there you have it, your guidebook has come back to life. In part two of this series, we’ll look out how to protect the cover from getting beat up and torn beyond repair.