Scanning question

[Jason T]

On Thu, Jul 18, 2019 at 6:31 PM Fred Cisin via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
> A "paper shear"
> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MWB1C2A
> looks like a cheap hobby version.

I own this model, or very nearly the same one (previous iteration from
Peoples Paper Cutter Factory #7).  It's no 2-ton mechanic shear but it
certainly does the job.  Clamping down tight is essential, as is
trimming your document into reasonable sections before attempting to
cut.  If I'm doing, say, a paperback book, I'll use a razor knife to
cut the cover off (save for later color flatbed scanning), the open
the book to the middle, middle pages facing up, and press down so that
the binding starts to crack.  Then I use the knife to split it down
the middle. Repeat as necessary until you have easily trimmable
sections. The screw-down paper guide on the cutter helps make sure you
trim each section to same width.

600dpi bilevel TIFFs for b/w text, 300dpi or better greyscale or color
jpg for covers and photo-only pages.  Pages with text and photos and a
judgement call.  Sometimes 600dpi bilevel captures enough of the
halftones so that the image is "good enough". Sometimes I'll scan
those 400 or 600dpi greyscale and just deal with the larger file size
(disk is cheap).

De-stapled docs can be put back together with a magazine stapler.
Mine is a plain old Swingline that was welded to a big metal arm.
There may be fancier versions out there.

I scan either directly into Acrobat (b/w pages, no editing needed) or
to TIFFs and use IrfanView's batch mode to trim/align/edit/etc, then
compile into Acrobat.  I can't speak much to the free tools out there,
but many others have entire workflows of OSS that do just fine.

j