c/bookbinders

Found that an old paring knife works better for paper creasing than a bone folder

I was trying to fold a bunch of signatures for a sewn binding last week and my bone folder kept skipping on the grain. Grabbed a cheap paring knife from the kitchen drawer and used the blunt spine to crease the paper instead and it worked way better. No tearing, cleaner fold, and I actually finished the whole text block in one go instead of stopping to fix crushed edges. Has anyone else found a weird tool that works better than the standard bookbinders kit?

Hit 50 book rebinds last weekend and honestly I think that's way too many for anyone to claim they're doing quality work

I kept seeing people bragging about cranking out 30 or 40 books a month online but when I finally hit 50 myself I realized half of them had spine cracking issues and loose endpapers that I would never put my name on if I was being honest, has anyone else noticed the numbers people post don't match the condition of their final product?

Just realized how much waste I create trimming book cloth

I was cleaning up after a project last week and weighed my scrap pile - 3.2 pounds of book cloth offcuts from the last 6 months. Found the stat in a forum thread about sustainable bookbinding that said the average hobbyist throws away 15-20% of their material. Anyone else try using those tiny scraps for anything useful?

I was told to water my leather with a sponge and I ruined a whole project

A guy at my old shop swore by wetting leather with a damp sponge before stamping it. Said it gave better definition. I tried it on a belt I was making for a buddy's wedding gift and the leather got all blotchy and warped. Ended up having to scrap the whole thing and buy new leather. Has anyone else had that happen with sponges vs just using a spray bottle?

Unpopular opinion: Mull and super cloth are totally fine for most hardcover books

I kept seeing posts online saying you absolutely need to use expensive bookbinding cloth or you can't get good results. Then I picked up a copy of 'Hand Bookbinding' by Aldren Watson at a used book sale for 3 bucks. In that book from the 1960s, the guy straight up says mull and super cloth were the go-to for regular books for decades. I decided to test it on my last project, a 200 page journal. I used super cloth from a craft store, cost me like 8 dollars for a huge roll. The spine is just as strong as the expensive stuff, the hinges move fine, and it looks clean. Has anyone else actually compared cheap mull to the fancy stuff side by side and seen a real difference?

The difference 10 years of handling can make on leather binding

I found a 1987 edition of The Hobbit at an estate sale last month that had been rebound in calfskin by a hobbyist. The spine was cracked, the corners were worn through, and the leather felt dry like old paper. Then I pulled out a similar calfskin binding I did myself in 2004, and the difference was night and day - mine still flexes and has that soft patina from proper hand oiling. Has anyone else noticed how much improper storage or lack of conditioning ruins a binding over a decade or two?

Appreciation post: The old bindery shop on Elm Street

I walked by that bindery shop downtown last weekend and noticed they finally closed after 40 years. The guy who ran it used to show me how he sharpened his knives on a whetstone, no fancy tools needed. Anyone else miss those little shops that taught you the real tricks?

That old binder told me to never use PVA on leather spines

A guy at the Denver bindery said PVA glue would crack on leather within a year, but I thought he was just being fussy about tradition. Fast forward 14 months and every single journal I made that way has a cracked hinge right down the middle. How do you all keep leather spines flexible without going back to wheat paste?

Glue failure on a rebind - ruined my weekend

Used PVA for a leather spine rebind last Saturday. Didn't check the humidity in my shop. The glue tacked up weird and the spine peeled off overnight. Lost about $30 in materials. Anyone have a go-to adhesive for humid conditions?

Tried the cheap PVA glue from Michael's and it ruined three projects

I used to think all PVA glue was the same so I grabbed a $5 bottle of Artist's Loft brand. After two books fell apart at the spine and a third warped badly I went back to my usual Lineco pH neutral glue. Wasted about $15 total but the real loss was the 10 hours of work on those books.

That $60 book press from Amazon nearly ruined my first restoration

I bought this cheap cast iron book press off Amazon for 60 bucks thinking it was a steal. Problem is the plates aren't flat at all, so it left weird pressure marks all over my leather cover. I had to redo the whole thing from scratch which cost me more in materials. Any of you guys had luck with a specific press brand that won't mess up your work?

Picked paste over PVA for a rebinding job and kinda regret it

Decided to try wheat paste on a vintage novel from 1931. The spine cracked open after three days and the pages shifted about an eighth of an inch. Anyone else have paste jobs go sideways on old paper?

Overheard a guy at the craft fair say leather is cheating

I was tabling at the local book fair last month and this older gentleman walked by my booth, saw my leather-bound journals, and muttered to his friend that using leather is just cheating. It got me thinking about how some folks in bookbinding see materials like leather or even certain book cloths as shortcuts, you know? I use both paper and leather for bindings and I honestly think each one has its own set of challenges. Has anyone else run into this kind of gatekeeping about materials?

Just hit 200 hand-sewn books and I'm starting to question my own rule about glue

I've been binding for about 8 years now, mostly in my basement shop in Cleveland, and I always swore by full sewing no glue on the spines. But last week I finished book number 200, a 400 page poetry collection, and I realized the covers on my older sewn-only books are starting to gap away from the text block faster than I expected. Maybe a thin layer of PVA at the joints isn't cheating after all. Anyone else find their standards shifting after a certain number of books?

Got roasted by a master bookbinder for my spine rounding technique

Was at the Austin Bookbinders meetup last month and this older guy named Frank watched me round a spine on a 400-page text block. He straight up said "your shoulders are too tight, you're crushing the signatures instead of fanning them." I was pissed at first but tried his method of using less force and more angle. Now I'm getting way cleaner spines and the books open better. Has anyone else had to unlearn a bad habit after getting called out like that?

Chatting with a retired bookbinder at the flea market made me rethink my glue setup

I was browsing old tools at the flea market in Nashville last Saturday and got to talking with this guy who had been binding since the 60s. He saw me buying a cheap PVA glue and just laughed. Said he never uses anything but wheat paste for most of his work now because modern PVAs can get brittle after 20 years and crack the spine. I told him I thought wheat paste was just for old school stuff and he said 'son, if it held books together for 400 years before factories, it'll hold your rebinds together fine.' It hit different because I've been chasing these high-tech adhesives thinking newer meant better. But this guy had bindings from the 70s still looking perfect on his shelf using plain paste. I'm going to try mixing up a batch this weekend for my next restoration project. Has anyone else had luck switching to traditional paste over PVA?

My first leather cover split at the spine during a cold snap

I was finishing a custom journal in my basement workshop last month when the temperature dropped below freezing overnight. The next morning, the goatskin I'd glued for the cover had a clean split right down the spine. I warmed the leather with a hair dryer for a few minutes, then carefully re-glued it with a thinner layer of PVA. It held perfectly after that. Has anyone else had leather act up in the cold, and what's your fix?

My custom press in the garage failed on a 500-page text block

I was finishing a quarter leather binding for a client's old law book when the main screw on my homemade press sheared clean off. It happened because I misjudged the glue thickness on the spine, creating way more pressure than the cast iron could take. I ended up clamping the book between two boards with every C-clamp I owned for 48 hours straight. Has anyone else had a press fail, and what did you rig up to save the project?

I finally stopped fighting with my thread and just waxed it more

For like 6 months I kept getting these random tangles and breaks when sewing signatures. I tried different thread, different needles, even changed my tension. Finally an old timer at a shop in Portland told me I was barely waxing my thread. He said to run it through the wax block like 4 times instead of once. Has anyone else had this issue where you think you're waxing enough but you're really not?

Shoutout to the person who told me to try a bone folder for leather work

For the first year I did leather covers, I used a plastic burnisher and my results were just okay. The edges looked fuzzy and the corners never got sharp. Then at a meetup in Austin, someone handed me a bone folder and said to try it. I used it on a calfskin project last week, and the difference is huge. The tool presses the leather fibers down flat, giving a clean, polished edge in one pass. Has anyone else found a simple tool change that made this big a difference?

Warning: I spent 3 hours trying to get the head and tail bands on my first leather-bound journal to look right

I finally got them to sit flush by using a tiny bit of PVA glue on the back of the linen tape before sewing, which no tutorial I watched mentioned, so has anyone else got a better trick for that?

Glue vs thread for a 300 page novel, my results were clear

I bound two copies of the same novel, one with PVA glue and one with linen thread. After six months, the glued copy started to crack at the spine when opened fully, but the sewn one still lays flat. The extra hour it took to sew signatures was worth it for a book meant to be read. Anyone else find that modern glues just don't hold up over time like traditional sewing?

Saw a museum display of a 17th century binding and the materials were a total shock

I was at the British Library last month looking at their rare books exhibit. They had a French devotional text from the 1690s open to show the binding. The cover was made with what looked like thin, tanned animal skin over wooden boards, but the real surprise was the sewing supports. They used thick, hand-twisted cords that were clearly linen, not the hemp I expected for that period. The way they'd recessed them into the boards was so precise it made modern case bindings look sloppy. Has anyone else seen historical examples that changed how you think about your own technique?

My cat decided my new batch of wheat paste was the perfect spot for a nap

Remember when we all used to cut board with a straight edge and a knife?

I used to spend an hour just getting a clean cut on a single piece of Davey board with a metal ruler and a utility knife. My hand would cramp up halfway through. Then about five years ago, I bought a cheap guillotine cutter from a closing print shop in Tacoma for $150. It changed everything. Now I can cut a full set of covers in under ten minutes. What's the one old-school method you were happy to finally give up?