Appreciation post: the $9 bone folder that beat my $70 one

I swore by my fancy teflon folder for creasing signatures until it snapped at the tip on Tuesday while I was folding the third section of a 200 page rebind. My mentor Dale, who has run his bench in Portland for 30 odd years, dug a plain $9 bone folder out of his drawer and told me to just try it. The creases came out sharper and my hands did not cramp after 40 sheets, so I ate my words and ordered three more the same night. What small tool did you write off as beginner stuff until it actually outworked your good one?

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holly_reed5510d ago

Oh man, I was the same way about cheap paring knives. I figured the $40 Japanese one I bought was the only thing that could trim leather cleanly, and I looked down on the basic $6 ones at the hardware store. Then I grabbed one on a trip when I forgot my good knife at home and it cut just as well, maybe better since the blade was thinner. I felt pretty silly for spending all that money when the cheap one did the same job. Now I keep a couple of them scattered around the shop.

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