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I picked drum sanders over hand sanding for my last restoration
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?
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the_phoenix12d ago
Funny you mention that because it taps into something I've noticed across a lot of hobbies and trades. People get real stuck on the "proper" way to do things and forget that sometimes you just need to match the tool to the problem. I've seen it with woodworkers who refuse to use a random orbit sander on anything older than 1950, or mechanics who'd never touch an impact wrench on a vintage car. The thing is, water damaged books are already in rough shape, you're not preserving a museum piece at that point. You're rescuing something that's mostly falling apart anyway. Your mileage may vary obviously, but I think sometimes the purist mindset keeps folks from actually getting the job done.
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robinc6611d agoOG Member
No impact wrench on a vintage car? That's insane.
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