Used to cut all my bookbinding leather with the grain running longways. Wasted so much material. A guy at the Portland guild meetup told me to cut across the grain for the spine pieces. Saves me about 30% on leather costs now. Anyone else have a basic technique they learned way too late?
He grabbed one of my books and pointed out that my spine was too tight. Said I was forcing the book to open flat when I glued up, and that's why my hinges crack after a year. I always thought tighter was better for durability. He showed me a 30-year-old book he made with a loose spine and zero damage. So I tried his method on my last project and the pages lay open way better. Anyone else been told to loosen up their technique and found it works?
I was on a trip to Philadelphia last fall and walked into this little shop called The Bindery on 4th Street. The owner, a woman in her 60s, saw me struggling with a project and showed me how she uses a simple bone folder with a rounded tip instead of the sharp one I had been using. For years I had been making creases that were too deep and splitting the paper on some of my thinner folios. She let me test out her folder on a scrap piece and the difference was immediate and obvious. I bought one from her for 8 dollars and now I use it on every single project I do. Has anyone else had a chance encounter with a older binder who changed a basic part of your process?
I spent $40 on a fancy brand of PVA glue last month from a specialty art store. The label said it was pH neutral and archival quality, which sounded perfect for my projects. But when I used it on a cloth cover, the glue soaked right through and left ugly dark stains. I even waited 24 hours to dry like the instructions said, but it still made the cloth stiff and wavy. I ended up having to scrap the whole cover and start over, so that was $40 down the drain plus the cost of materials. Has anyone else had trouble with specialty glues being too watery for book cloth?
I spent 6 months wondering why my spines kept cracking until an old bookbinder at a craft fair pointed out I was cutting the pages too short before casing in. Has anyone else wrecked a book by rushing the trimming?
Last week I was working on a rebind of a 400 page novel and I kept messing up the spine curve. I watched a tutorial from DAS Bookbinding on YouTube and suddenly it clicked. The trick for me was using a 1.5 mm cross-grain board for the spine piece instead of the same direction as the cover. Has anyone else had a similar lightbulb moment with a specific technique?
I was trying to reattach a spine on this old Bible from my grandpa and the modern PVA just wouldn't hold to the dried out leather. Out of frustration I heated up a little pot of hide glue like my grandad used to do, and it grabbed tight in about 10 seconds flat. Has anyone else gone back to old school adhesives for tricky vintage books?
I was working on a rebind of a 1960s sci-fi paperback last Tuesday and kept wondering why the glue was beading up and not sticking smooth. My buddy watched for 30 seconds and said hey your cloth has a coating on the outside you're gluing the wrong side. Has anyone else mixed up their bookcloth sides and ruined a project before figuring it out?
For about 5 years I was strictly PVA glue for all my book spines, thinking it was strong enough and fast drying. Then I tried adding wheat paste to the mix last month on a rebind job and the flexibility was way better for the old paper. Anyone else made the switch and noticed a difference in how the spine lasts over time?
I've been bookbinding as a hobby for about 3 years now. Just last week I was watching a video from a bindery in Philadelphia and realized the woman had her headband going the opposite direction on the spine. It hit me that I've been wrapping mine the wrong way this whole time - the bump should face the back cover. Now my spines actually close properly and I feel like a dope. Has anyone else had that moment where you find out you've been doing a basic step backward for months?
I popped into the Folger Shakespeare Library in DC last week for a tour, not even thinking about bookbinding stuff really. But when I got to their conservation lab area, the lighting setup caught me off guard. They had these big north-facing windows with adjustable filtered blinds plus track lights all over the ceiling. The person giving the tour said they designed it that way so no glare hits the leather or paper at any time of day. It made me realize I've been fighting shadows and hot spots on my workbench at home for years just using a desk lamp. I never even thought about how museums and libraries plan out their light specifically to avoid reflecting off materials. Has anyone else here swapped to a proper lighting setup and noticed a big difference in how clean your work looks?
Everyone in my local group swears by hand sanding for old book spines, says it gives you more control. But I had a 1920s textbook with really bad water damage and 40 layers of flaking finish. I grabbed my old drum sander with a 120 grit belt and went at it. Took maybe 15 minutes per cover instead of 2 hours by hand. Sure, I lost a tiny bit of the original patina on the edges... but the spine came out smooth enough to take new glue evenly. Has anyone else here broken the rules and used power tools on antique bindings?
At a workshop in Portland last month, a binder I really look up to pointed at my completed journal and said 'your endpapers are choking that text block.' I thought I was being precise, but I had the paper cut at 3mm too narrow on each side. After she showed me on a scrap piece how much the paper needs to flex, I realized I'd been making that mistake for like two years. Has anyone else discovered a tiny measurement error that was messing up their binding for way too long?
I brought a custom journal to a local book arts show last month and a guy who has been binding for 40 years pulled me aside. He said my endpapers were glued too close to the spine and that book would crack open after 50 flips. I had been doing it the same way for 3 years. Took me about 6 test runs to figure out the right 1/8 inch gap. Has anyone else gotten a specific correction that saved them from a bad habit?
I was reading through a 1982 edition of The New Bookbinder journal last week and found a fact I can't stop thinking about. It said that before 1850, most bookbinding leather was tanned with tree bark and could last 200 years or more. But after they switched to chrome tanning around 1880, modern leather bindings often start falling apart in just 50 to 80 years. I had no idea the shift in tanning methods made that big of a difference. Has anyone else run into this issue with modern leather compared to old stuff? I'm wondering if there's a way to treat chrome tanned leather to make it hold up longer.
I stopped by the Friends of the Library sale in Cincinnati last month and picked up a wooden card catalog drawer for $3. Those hardwood drawers are perfect for pressing small text blocks - way better than my flimsy clamp setup. Anyone else repurpose old library stuff for their bench?
I was binding a custom journal for a client in Austin and had about 6 holes left in the spine when my cheap rotary punch just snapped in half. The pin bent and the whole thing fell apart in my hand. I sat there staring at it for a good minute before I realized I had no backup. I ended up using a nail and a hammer to punch the rest of the holes, which worked but left uneven edges. The book turned out okay but the spine looks a little rough. I've been using that same punch for 3 years and never thought it would give out on me. Has anyone else had a tool fail at the worst possible time?
Had a rush order from a local author in Portland who needed 3 copies of her poetry collection by Friday, and I pulled 14 hour days in the shop using that old lying press my grandpa gave me, glue everywhere, one mis-sewn signature that I had to cut out and re-do at 2 AM - has anyone else had a job go so smooth it was actually the one that broke you?
I was at the Oregon Bookbinders Guild meeting last October watching a demo on case binding... the guy doing it uses this old backing press from the 1800s. He showed us how he rounds the spine with a hammer instead of a machine. I've been rounding spines for 7 years with a hydraulic press and never thought twice. After that demo I went home and tried his method on an old cookbook I was rebinding. Took me 3 tries to get the curve right but now I do all my spines that way. Anybody else pick up a technique from watching someone's old fashioned method?
I've been binding books as a side hobby for about three years now and last Saturday I finished my 200th one, a small poetry collection with a coptic stitch. I honestly didn't think I'd get that far since I mostly do one or two a month for gifts or personal projects. Has anyone else hit an unexpected milestone like that and realized you've been doing this longer than you thought?
Spent $40 on a proper paring knife from a local craft store and it made all the difference in getting the cover right - anyone else find that one tool that finally clicks for them?
Ngl, I used to think using a bone folder was just for scoring paper and that was it. But I was at the Seattle Art Fair last month watching this older bookbinder work on a leather journal. He showed me how he uses the bone folder to smooth out every single layer of the spine after gluing. I always skipped that step because I figured it was extra work for no reason. Turns out, doing that makes the cover lay flat way better and stops bubbles from forming later. I tried it on my last project and the difference was night and day. The spine on my latest bound book has zero wrinkles for the first time ever. Has anyone else picked up a trick like that from watching someone in person?
Last month I was finishing a leather journal rebind and went to glue the endpapers. The PVA had been sitting in my garage through a cold snap and it came out lumpy and stringy. I tried to warm it up in a water bath but it was already too far gone. Had to scrape it all off and start over with fresh glue. Anyone else ever had a batch of PVA just turn on you like that?
I keep track of everything. Jotted down headbands in my log book. Saw the number and it hit me. That's 500 books I finished with silk thread and linen. Anyone else lose count of a specific step?
Used to think wheat paste was too messy and slow but after a client complained about bubbling on a 2022 restoration I gave it another shot and now my linen covers lay flat every single time, anyone else stubbornly stick with the wrong glue for years?