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Japanese Craftsman Restores Old Books To Look Good As New
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Japanese Craftsman Restores Old Books To Look Good As New

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Instead of being lost to memory, an old, tattered 1,000-page English-Japanese dictionary was given new life when its owner handed it over to Nobuo Okano, a Japanese master craftsman who has spent 30 years perfecting the art of restoring old books.

His process was detailed on a Japanese show called Fascinating Craftsman (Shuri, Bakaseru). The most painstaking part is probably when he individually unfolds every page’s corners with a tweezer and irons them! Read on for more about the process.

(h/t: rocketnews)

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    Nobuo Okano has been restoring books for 30 years

    A guy brought an old, 1,000-page English-Japanese dictionary

    He used it in his youth and now wants to restore it and give it to his daughter

    Nobuo begins by shaving the old glue from the spine

    The book had some maps of English-speaking countries. They suffered greatly, so Nobuo glued them to new sheets of paper

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    The color doesn’t match perfectly, but he can prevent them from degrading further

    The most monotonous part is straightening out every page corner with tweezers…

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    …and then wetting and ironing the corners straight!

    He even has a special tiny iron for the job

    The owner wrote his high school sweetheart’s initials on the book in ink

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    Using a heavy-duty paper cutter, Okano removes the color from the edges

    New, minty-fresh pages!

    Last but not least, the cover, with the original title on a brand-new background

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    Dovas

    Dovas

    Author, Community member

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    There is a beast with heart of cold stone that dashes like lightning, shreds flesh from bone. // Bewitched by this beast, I fell to my knees. My mouth babbled madness and mumbled soft pleas. // I stared down the ravenous, gnashing dark maw of a cute cuddly kitten with yarn in its paw

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    Dovas

    Dovas

    Author, Community member

    There is a beast with heart of cold stone that dashes like lightning, shreds flesh from bone. // Bewitched by this beast, I fell to my knees. My mouth babbled madness and mumbled soft pleas. // I stared down the ravenous, gnashing dark maw of a cute cuddly kitten with yarn in its paw

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