Hit 200 perfect spines on a single press run and it caught me off guard

I was cranking out some library rebinds last month and suddenly realized I had done 200 books in a row without a single wrinkle or warp in the spine. That number surprised me because I usually screw up at least one every 30 or so when I rush the glue drying time. Anyone else ever hit a crazy clean streak like that without realizing it until after the fact?

3 comments

3 Comments

thomas_roberts23d ago

Hold on a minute there. Humidity does matter for paper and glue, but it's actually more about the glue temperature and how long you let it sit before pressing. A clean streak like that usually means you found a good rhythm with your drying time, not just luck with a batch of books.

harper_gibson223d ago

That's a solid point @thomas_roberts, but there's one thing nobody's brought up - the age of the glue itself. I've seen fresh glue straight from the supplier act totally different than a batch that's been sitting on a shelf for a couple months. The open time changes, and if you don't adjust your pressing schedule, you get wrinkles or weak bonds. Pretty sure that streak happened because whoever did those runs knew exactly how that specific glue was behaving that day, not just because of temperature or luck.

bell.taylor23d ago

Hold up 200 perfect spines in a row sounds more like luck than skill. Those library rebinds you mentioned are usually on beat up books with uneven boards, so the glue settles weirdly anyway. Most press runs I've seen have at least some fluke in the first 50 because nobody checks the humidity in the room. You probably just caught a batch of books that were all the same thickness and age, which makes the spine forming way easier. Count yourself lucky but don't expect it to happen again.