c/bookbinders

That 40 year old bookbinder changed how I look at grain direction

I was repairing a 1920s textbook with a guy named Pete from the shop down on 5th Ave, and he pointed out I was folding against the grain on the endpapers. He said most warping problems come from people ignoring which way the paper wants to bend, not from bad glue or cheap materials. He showed me the curl test with a scrap sheet and it was so obvious I felt dumb for 15 years of doing it wrong. Anyone else have a veteran drop some basic knowledge that totally rewired your process?

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hill.margaret•2d ago

That bookbinder who told me to skip the PVA glue was dead wrong

That bookbinder who told me to skip the PVA glue was dead wrong. Old guy at a workshop in Portland last spring swore by wheat paste only, said PVA would ruin my restoration work. I trusted him on a 1924 poetry collection with a cracked spine, and the pages started pulling apart within 3 weeks. Had to redo the whole thing with proper pH neutral PVA and linen thread, cost me an extra $40 in materials. Has anyone else gotten bad advice from a veteran binder who was stuck in their ways?

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the_alice•6d ago

The $40 bone folder that beat my $120 one, can cheap gear actually win?

I spent 3 months ignoring the cheap bone folder my mentor pushed on me, swore by my expensive branded one instead. Then I used hers on a 200-page text block in Portland and the creases were cleaner with zero fraying on the linen. Is it the shape, the plastic blend, or am I just fooling myself? Who else has had a budget tool outwork the big-name version?

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seth_singh20•9d ago

Hit 50 perfect coptic stitches in one sitting, that's more than my last 2 months

Was finishing a sketchbook order in Portland and just kept going, ended up binding 3 books back to back. My wrist is shot but every stitch lined up flush, zero redoes. How many clean binds do you guys usually push before you call it a day?

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lewis.terry•11d ago

Shoutout to the guy at the bindery who fixed my hinge with a popsicle stick

Tbh I was about to toss this old textblock, the hinge was totally shot and I figured it needed a full rebind. This older fella at the shop down on 5th street saw me looking frustrated and asked what was up. He grabbed a popsicle stick, some PVA, and a scrap of linen, and had it working again in like 5 minutes. Cost me nothing but a coffee run. Makes me wonder how many simple fixes I skip because I assume I need fancy materials or a full rebuild. Has anyone else had a random shop tip that saved a project you thought was done for?

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robin591•12d ago

My bone folder from 2003 finally gave up, replaced it with a cheap one

I've been binding for over 20 years now, and that old plastic bone folder saw me through hundreds of journals and rebinds. Last week the tip snapped clean off while I was creasing a heavy book cloth, which felt like losing an old friend. I grabbed a basic metal one from the craft store for like $12, and honestly it works fine, but it's lighter and skips on certain material. Has anyone else had a favorite tool just die on them and had to adjust to a new one mid-project? What did you switch to?

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joel_clark37•17d ago

A customer's throwaway comment got me rethinking my binding glue

Had a lady pick up a rebind last Thursday, she looked at the hinge and said "oh, that's gonna crack in a year, huh?" I laughed it off but it stuck with me all weekend. She wasn't wrong, my PVA mix has been fine for flat lays but I've never tested it past 8 months of heavy use. I've been using the same recipe for 3 years, since I started in Phoenix. Now I'm digging into pH neutral options and honestly it's a rabbit hole. Anyone else had a client say something offhand that made you question your whole routine?

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parker_palmer44•20d ago

The pamphlet stitcher at the library sale who fixed my saddle stitch in 30 seconds

She watched me struggle with a 40-page booklet at the Friends of the Library sale in Albany last spring and quietly showed me how to use a bone folder to crease the spine before sewing, and I've never had a wobbly fold since, so has anyone else picked up a move like that from a stranger at a book fair?

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charles_mitchell•22d ago

That master binder's glue tip sounded wrong but it actually saved my project

An old-timer at the Philly guild told me to back off the PVA and use wheat paste on a 1900s ledger last Tuesday, I thought he was nuts, but the hinges laid flat for the first time in 3 attempts, has anyone else had luck with traditional paste on vintage cloth?

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karenh56•23d ago

The 1941 pamphlet glue recipe that surprised me

I found an old Library of Congress conservation note about wheat paste made with rice flour and a specific starch ratio. Turns out that 1941 formula holds up better than most modern PVA I've used, and the pH reading came in at 6.8, almost perfect. I tested it on a 1920s novel last week and the spine flexed without a single crack. Has anyone else tried historical adhesive recipes from before the 1950s, and did you trust them on rare books?

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simonp76•23d ago

The day my glue pot exploded in Portland, Maine

I was repairing this old ledger book for a client up in Portland, and my glue pot had been sitting too long on the hot plate. A bubble formed and POP, hot hide glue shot across the table and got all over my sleeve and the edge of the book. I panicked for a second, but I grabbed a damp rag and wiped the leather clean fast, then let the book dry flat for about 20 minutes. The page corners were saved, though my arm got a nice red mark that took a week to fade. Lesson learned: I stir my glue every 5 minutes now, even when I'm mid-stitch. Has anyone else had a glue mishap that nearly ruined a repair?

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the_diana•26d ago

PVA glue ruined my first leather wrap job, then saved the second one

I slathered it on thick for a travel journal cover in Austin and the leather puckered like a raisin, but a super thin coat on the second attempt bonded perfectly in 40 minutes, so has anyone else found that PVA needs to be nearly dry before touching leather?

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tessa_murray•27d ago

Glue pot upgrade after 12 years of fighting crusty jars

Used to keep my PVA in an old jam jar and reheat it in a saucepan on the stove whenever it got thick. Every Sunday I'd spend 20 minutes scraping crust off the rim, and half the time the glue would boil and get lumpy. Finally got a proper heated glue pot from a shop down in Portland for $45, and it holds the temp steady at 140 degrees. Now I just load it up before I start sewing and it stays smooth for the whole session. Took me way too long to realize that the jar method was wasting more time than it saved. Anyone else stick with a janky setup for years before upgrading?

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rose_reed•1mo ago

My customer's 3 inch measurement mistake still makes me smile

Last spring at my booth in Portland, a young guy brought in an old family Bible that was falling apart. He watched me measure the spine and said, "My grandpa always said a tape measure is just a suggestion." I laughed so hard I almost dropped my bone folder, because his grandpa was clearly right, the text block was 3 inches off from the cover. He ended up telling me the whole story about how his grandfather rebinding books in the 1970s never used rulers, just eyeballed everything. We spent 20 minutes comparing our war stories about misaligned pages and crooked hinges. Has anyone else had a customer who turned a stressful job into a great memory like that?

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milam48•1mo ago

Why did nobody warn me about that $120 bone folder?

I spent GOOD money on a polished bone folder last month at a shop in Portland, thinking it would be some kind of upgrade over my plastic one. It slipped right out of my hand during a big repair job and snapped clean in half on the floor. That's $120 gone for a piece that lasted 4 days. My $8 plastic one has held up for 2 years without a scratch. Has anyone else had luck with cheaper tools beating the fancy stuff? I'm going back to the basics and saving my cash.

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jade_jenkins•1mo ago

Just realized my wheat paste recipe was overcomplicating things this whole time

I was at a guild meetup last Saturday in Portland and this older binder mentioned she just uses plain flour and water, no cooked paste, no preservatives, for most of her cloth work. I've been doing the whole cooked wheat paste routine with a pinch of salt and glycerin for years, thinking it was the only way to get a strong hold. She said she's been doing the cold mix method for 12 years and only loses about 1 in 20 spines to adhesive failure. I tried it on a small journal yesterday and the tack felt totally different, but after 24 hours the bond seems just as solid. Has anyone else ditched the cooked method and stuck with the simple version long term, or is there a catch with humid climates I should worry about?

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knight.felix•1mo ago

Thread vs. glue for hinge repair, picked wrong the first time

I had an 1880s hymnal with the front hinge completely loose, and I went back and forth between sewing it back with linen thread or just using PVA glue. I tried the glue first because it was faster, but it failed after a week when the spine cracked again. Then I took it apart, resewed it with 18 gauge linen thread, and added a Japanese paper hinge, and that thing feels solid now. Has anyone else had better luck with one method over the other on older books?

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murray.jana•1mo ago

Spent $45 on a used bone folder at a library sale and it changed how my covers lay flat

I found this old TALAS bone folder at a library liquidation sale last Saturday. It was all beat up and yellowed but man, it presses down so much smoother than my cheap plastic one. My spine creases are actually clean now. Has anyone else found tool upgrades at weird estate sales or library sales?

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evan_green52•1mo ago

Noticed how the public library rebinds their paperbacks

Was at the downtown branch in Pittsburgh last week and saw they use a glue pot and super thin cloth tape on the spines instead of full rebinding. Has anyone tried that quick fix method for brittle old books in your own shop?

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tessa_murray•1mo ago

Hit 50 custom book orders this year and my spine glue started failing

I do small batch hand binding for local authors. Hit 50 orders last week and suddenly my usual pH neutral PVA started letting go on the hinges. Three books came back with the text block separating from the spine after two months. I had to redo them all and switch to a different adhesive mix. Just a heads up, your glue might not hold up past a certain volume or time frame. Has anyone else run into quality issues with their adhesive after a certain production number?

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jakejones•1mo ago

That time a library special collections tour made me rethink my glue

I was at the University library last month looking at their rare book room. The archivist pulled out a 300 year old binding and pointed to the spine, said the glue had turned to dust because of the wrong pH level. I went home and tested the bottle of PVA I've been using for 5 years, sure enough it had gone acidic. Has anyone else had a specific moment where you realized your materials were slowly wrecking your work?

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stellaperry•1mo ago

Took me 8 years to figure out I was gluing book cloth backwards

I always had issues with the cloth lifting at the corners after a few months. Last week I was watching an old video from a bindery in Vermont and noticed they put the grain direction running parallel to the spine. I had been doing it perpendicular this whole time. Anyone else have a stupid basic mistake that took way too long to catch?

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angela587•1mo ago

Hot take: I think the "use a sharp knife" advice for trimming book cloth is overrated

Everyone always says you need a razor sharp blade to trim book cloth or you'll get frayed edges. Well, I tried it that way for years and still got messy results. Then my mentor Jill from the print shop down in Portland told me to use a slightly dull blade instead. She said a sharp blade cuts the threads clean but also pulls them loose from the weave. I thought she was nuts but gave it a shot on a batch of 12 books I was binding last month. The dull blade actually pressed the fibers down and sealed the edge as it cut. Six of those books had zero fraying on the cloth edges. Has anyone else tried using a duller blade or is this just a fluke that worked for me?

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robin628•1mo ago

Saw a video of someone using a bone folder made from an old deer antler

I was watching a bookbinder on YouTube last night and she was pressing down her folds with this antler tool she said her uncle carved. She claimed it glides better than plastic or wood because of the natural oils. I have been using a basic teflon folder for 3 years and never thought about trying something like that. Has anyone here used a bone folder from a non-standard material? Did it make a real difference or more of a gimmick?

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bennett.evan•1mo ago

Finally got my sewing frame aligned after months of frustration

Used to just eyeball my sewing stations on a piece of scrap wood and hope for the best. About 3 weeks ago I picked up a small 6-inch carpenter's square from Home Depot for $8 and spent an afternoon marking everything out precise. Now my signatures line up perfectly every time and no more crooked spines. Has anyone else found a simple tool that changed their binding process?

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