I recently made a binder for a friend. Some of the cuts were tricky, and not perfect, but ultimately, i was really pleased with how they came out.
Inside is a 3-ring binder, which i ripped out of a $2 Wal-Mart folder and mounted in with binding posts from the hardware store. The strap is engraved proofgrade leather with a couple of button holes which slip over the end of a binding post in the cover.
I forgot to unite all my shapes in the living hinge before i cut it, so where i had copied and pasted the pattern to fill out the spine, the laser revisited a couple of overlap spots and scorched them pretty good, but they cleaned up okay, and my wife worked some Boos Mystery Oil wood conditioner for butchers’ blocks into the hinge, and it still came out nice and supple.
It was cut from 1/4" maple ply from the hardware store, and the knots and filler spots were a headache, especially in the kerf hinge. My wife stained it with some nice grey Varathane stain we had been using around the house. I used the hell out of the Pass-Through slot, and I learned a lot (which i’ll post a bit of process stuff later).
Hope you dig it.
-T
The gray stain is lovely.