I think the push for perfect grain direction on every single sheet is overkill

Last week in my Chicago workshop, I was binding a small poetry book and ran out of my usual paper. I used some scrap sheets where the grain ran the wrong way for the text block. Everyone online says this will cause warping, but after pressing it for a month, the book sits flat as can be. For a 48-page project, I think we stress too much about a rule that doesn't always matter. Has anyone else had a book turn out fine when they broke the grain direction rule?

2 comments

2 Comments

blair_butler479d ago

Honestly, I get where you're coming from, but that month of pressing is doing the work the grain direction normally would. For a small book like that, you got lucky with stable scrap paper. On a bigger project, or with paper that reacts more to humidity, you'd likely see that warping everyone talks about. It's one of those rules that seems fussy until you run into the exact wrong combo of materials.

kellymurphy9d ago

My first sketchbook from high school is a perfect example. I glued the cover on with the grain wrong and it sat fine for years in my dry bedroom. Then I moved to a damp basement apartment one summer. Within two weeks, the whole cover curled up like a potato chip. What kind of humidity change are we talking about that causes the big failures?