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?

2 comments

2 Comments

william_harris1mo ago

...which kind of reminds me of when I was doing a bunch of mat cutting for framing a few years back. Everyone swears by fresh blades, but I had a buddy who was a picture framer for like thirty years and he'd always use the same blade until it was practically a nub. He'd say the fresh blades grab and skip on the matboard, especially the nice Crescent stuff. I tried it his way and he was right, the worn down blade just kind of muscled through without that chatter. So yeah, your mileage may vary on the whole sharpness thing for sure, depends a lot on the material.

sage_green1mo ago

Dude that's wild because I had the exact same thing happen with my utility knife cutting new carpet pad. Everyone says use a fresh blade and it just tears and snags all over the place. An old slightly dull blade actually pushes through smoother. There's something to that for sure.