Had a chat with a retired binder at a swap meet last Saturday that flipped my thinking

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?

1 comments

1 Comment

wade_hall19h ago

That bit about "forcing the book to open flat" sounds exactly like what my buddy Mike was doing with his fly tying. He kept crushing his hackle fibers because he was manhandling the vise too tight, and when he loosened up everything laid way cleaner.