On Sat, 31 Mar 2012 10:50:13 -0400, Norminn wrote:
If you aren't going to use the book much,
you might get by with painting the spine with rubber cement.

That approach seems totally reasonable:
a) 250 sheets of 8.5x11 paper (500 printed pages) is about 1 inch thick.
b) I could clamp a board on top and bottom to keep the paper tight
c) And then, if it works, just brush on the hide glue!

Jog the paper so edges are even.

But ... I don't understand what 'jog' means in this context.
Won't the paper be even by virtue of the fact they're all the same size?

File across back of book several slots
Lay string across the cuts so they embed, glued.

Excellent technique! Cheap. Easy. Effective!