The Design Community Hub

c/bookbinders

1

avery366•29m ago

Noticed a big shift in how people treat old leather covers after that big restoration video went viral six months ago.

Before, I'd see folks trying to scrub them clean with saddle soap, but now at least three customers this week have specifically asked me to just condition and stabilize, which saves the original patina and structure.

6

amy302•22h ago

Update: A chat with my neighbor who's a retired printer totally changed how I view grain direction.

He said 'the paper always remembers' when you fight it, and now I finally get why my quarter leather bindings kept puckering. Anyone else have a simple tip that fixed a stubborn problem?

29

roberts.diana•2d ago

My weird experiment with a 50/50 PVA to wheat paste mix for spine lining

Everyone in my local guild swears by pure wheat paste for flexibility, but I mixed it half and half with Lineco PVA for a repair on a 1920s hymnal. The spine got weirdly stiff, almost like cardboard, after it dried for a week. I learned that the PVA's faster drying time might have locked everything in place before the wheat paste could do its thing. Has anyone else had a glue mix backfire on an older text block?

23

wendy_clark•2d ago

PSA: I saw a bunch of people at the craft fair using PVA glue for full leather spines

I mean, I was at the market in Springfield last weekend and three different booths had these leather bound journals with spines that looked stiff and shiny. I asked one guy about his process and he said he just uses regular bookbinding PVA for everything. That glue gets brittle over time, especially on a flexible spine. I had a repair job last month where a 5 year old journal's spine cracked clean through because of that. Has anyone found a good flexible adhesive for leather work that doesn't cost a fortune?

4

riley595•3d ago

Unpopular opinion: I was wrong about using PVA for everything

I always glued my text blocks with straight PVA, but a repair job on a 1900s family bible in Savannah made me switch. The old paper was so brittle the PVA just made it worse, so I tried a wheat starch paste mix instead and the difference was huge. Anyone have a good ratio for a hybrid paste for modern paper projects?

26

val_taylor•4d ago

Just realized a lot of folks skip the grain test on book cloth

I keep seeing posts where people's boards warp or the cloth bubbles, and nine times out of ten they admit they didn't check the grain direction. I learned the hard way on a commission for a library in Portland last year, where a whole batch of quarter-bound journals had to be redone. The long fibers need to run parallel to the spine for real stability. Has anyone found a quick trick for spotting the grain on a tricky, coated cloth?

1

morgan.cameron•4d ago

Found out the Library of Congress has over 25,000 books bound in human skin

I was reading a really old book on binding methods from the 1800s, and it mentioned anthropodermic bibliopegy. I had to look that up. Turns out, the practice was more common than I thought, especially for medical texts. The Library of Congress holds the biggest collection, with thousands of them. It's a wild piece of binding history that feels totally different from working with leather or cloth. Has anyone here ever handled a book like that, or know more about how they were actually made?

3

the_blake•6d ago

I finally stopped using PVA glue for everything after a book fell apart in my hands

For years I thought PVA was the only glue you needed for bookbinding. I used it for spines, endpapers, everything. Then a custom journal I made for a friend came back after six months, the spine completely cracked and pages falling out. She lives in a really dry climate, and the PVA had gotten brittle and failed. I looked it up and found out that for flexible spines, especially in changing humidity, you need a different mix or a different glue entirely. Now I use a mix of wheat paste and PVA for certain projects, and it holds up way better. Has anyone else had a glue fail because of the weather where the book ended up?

21

ben_shah93•6d ago

I bought a $200 'professional' corner rounding punch set online that couldn't cut through a single sheet of 80gsm paper.

Some folks say you should always invest in expensive tools for quality, but others argue a cheap $40 punch from a craft store works just as well for hobbyists, so what's your take on where to save and where to splurge?

2

jake_mason30•7d ago

My old shop teacher insisted on using PVA glue for everything, even headbands.

I followed his advice for my first three leather-bound projects, and the headbands on all of them have started to peel away. A binder I met at a craft fair in St. Louis told me to switch to a flexible animal glue, which has worked perfectly. What's your go-to adhesive for reinforcing headbands?

21

tyler_baker•8d ago

I finally got the hang of edge gilding after a week of messing it up

Last Tuesday I tried to gild the edges on a leather journal and the leaf just bunched up and looked awful. I watched a few videos and realized my paste was too thick. Yesterday I thinned it way down and tried again on a practice text block, and it came out smooth and shiny. Has anyone else had to adjust their paste mix for different humidity levels?

21

garcia.miles•9d ago

Tried using PVA glue straight from the bottle for a repair and it warped the page

I didn't thin it with water first, and now I've got a permanent ripple. Anyone know a good method for fixing this, or should I just redo the whole sheet?

30

jesse_harris•10d ago

Pro tip: I gave up on using a bone folder for leather work after a project in Boston last month

Everyone swears by them, but I found a simple wooden burnisher from a local craft store gave me way more control for tooling. Has anyone else tried something different for their leather covers?

5

the_susan•11d ago

I finally understood why my old glue pot was a problem at the guild meet in Boston.

I was showing a new person how to do a simple repair, and my hide glue kept setting up too fast in the cold room. An older binder saw me struggling and said, 'Kid, that stuff is like a moody cat, it needs a warm lap.' She showed me her setup with a cheap electric mug warmer under the pot, which keeps it at the perfect thin consistency for hours. Do you all have a simple trick to keep your glue workable during long sessions?

6

jake_mason30•13d ago

PSA: A guy at the craft fair in Springfield looked at my hand-bound journal and asked if I 'printed the lines on the paper before or after gluing it all together'.

He was dead serious, and I had to explain the whole process of folding signatures and sewing them to the spine, which took about 15 minutes while he just nodded slowly, and now I wonder if he thinks all books are just stacks of single pages glued at the edge.

26

the_shane•14d ago

The switch from PVA to wheat paste for my spine linings was a total game changer

My quarter-bound notebooks used to crack open after a few months of use, but after swapping six months ago, the flexibility is night and day. The wheat paste just gives a more forgiving, durable hold that moves with the text block. Anyone have a favorite brand or recipe they swear by?

18

briannguyen•16d ago

I tried a different glue mix for my headbands and it actually held up

Mixed a bit of PVA with some wheat paste for a repair on a 1902 encyclopedia set. It set with way more flex than I expected, didn't crack at all. Anyone have a go-to flexible adhesive for old, thick spines?

26

green.jenny•17d ago

Choosing between a bone folder and a Teflon folder for my first leather project

I just finished my first leather-bound journal and had to pick between a basic bone folder and a pricier Teflon one. I went with the bone tool because it was only $12 and I read it gives a sharper crease. It worked great on the paper signatures, but I noticed it left some faint marks on the dark green leather cover. The whole project took about two weeks working in the evenings. Has anyone else had this issue with marking, or is there a trick I'm missing?

11

troycarter•18d ago

Warning: My mentor told me to never use PVA glue on full leather spines, and I finally learned why the hard way.

I ignored her advice on a $80 commission last month, and the spine cracked after just two openings. Has anyone found a flexible adhesive that actually holds up for leather work?

19

tyler506•19d ago

Question about skipping the traditional pressing step for a quick repair

Everyone says you absolutely must press a book for a full day after a spine repair, but I was in a hurry to fix a client's 1920s poetry collection. I tried using a heavy-duty clamp and a hair dryer on low heat for about 20 minutes instead, and the adhesive set perfectly. Has anyone else had a good result with a faster method on older materials?

16

morgan_jenkins90•20d ago

Found out my local library throws away hundreds of books a month

I was chatting with a librarian friend in Columbus and she mentioned they have to remove about 300 worn-out books from circulation every four weeks. They can't even donate most of them because the bindings are totally shot. It's wild to think about that much material just getting tossed. Has anyone here ever tried to salvage or recycle books from a library purge?

6

beth_anderson•22d ago

Found a 1920s bookbinder's stamp in a box of old tools at the Portland flea market

I was digging through a stall last weekend and found this heavy brass stamp with the name 'J. H. CARTER & SONS' and a little city crest. The guy said it came from a house clean out. I cleaned it up at home and did a quick print on some scrap paper. The impression is still super sharp after all these years. You can see every line of the crest and the old style lettering. It got me thinking about how many shops like that must have been around back then. I'm going to try using it on the spine of my next personal project. Has anyone else found old shop stamps and figured out a good way to use them without damaging them?

30

alex_coleman•23d ago

An old binder in Portland told me my headbands were too tight

He said it was stressing the spine, so I started leaving a tiny bit of slack, maybe 1/8 inch. Has anyone else had a mentor point out a small habit that made a big difference?

29

adams82•24d ago

Serious question, is a bone folder really that much better than a smooth metal spoon?

I used a spoon from my kitchen for a week and got cleaner, sharper creases on my endpapers than I ever did with the folder. Has anyone else found a tool they're not supposed to use that actually works better?

29

riley_singh•24d ago

PSA: A batch of PVA glue from a new supplier just ruined three days of work for me.

I was finishing a set of six leather journals for a client in Tacoma, and the new glue I tried from a local art store caused the leather to bubble and warp after it dried. I had to strip everything back to the boards and start over, losing about $200 in materials and time. Has anyone else had a bad batch of adhesive from a specific brand recently?