c/bookbinders

Just realized my old press was a 1917 model the whole time

I was cleaning out my workshop last Saturday and found the original bill of sale tucked behind the press bed. Turns out that Chandler and Price I've been using for 15 years was built in 1917, I always figured it was from the 30s or 40s. It made me think about all the books that thing has pressed, probably thousands at this point. Has anyone else ever looked up the serial number on their old equipment and gotten a shock like that?

Hinge tape skepticism finally wore off after 40 books

I spent years refusing to use hinge tape for tight back bindings, figured it was a shortcut for people who couldn't cut proper joints. Then I tried that Japanese hemp tape from a supplier in Portland on a run of 40 journals and the openings were smoother than anything I'd done by hand. Now I keep a roll for certain paper weights, but I still trim my own turn-ins because that part matters way more. Anyone else stubbornly avoid a tool for years and then flip after one decent test?

Surprised at the number of bookbinders who don't own a lying press

I was at a guild meetup in Portland last month and out of 14 people there, only 3 of us had a lying press at home. Everyone else just uses boards and clamps or their finishing press. I always figured a lying press was the standard tool for rounding and backing, but apparently a lot of folks do it fine without one. Guess I spent $180 on mine for nothing? Has anyone else noticed this divide or am I just in a weird local bubble?

Found out the old hide glue is actually better for reversible repairs and it bugs me

Tbh I read it in a 1920s trade manual from the Internet Archive that my mentor left on his bench, and now I'm stuck wondering if 40 years of PVA in my shop was just convenience over craft, anyone else feel weird about switching back?

A $15 bone folder cracked mid-use on a 400 page text block

Book cloth from Joann vs Talas, night and day difference

I grabbed some cheap book cloth from Joann last month and it frayed like crazy on the turn-ins. Swapped to Talas book cloth from their Brooklyn shop for a rebind and it cut clean, no fray, and the glue laid flat. The cheap stuff cost me 3 extra hours of repair work on one journal. Anyone else notice the quality gap or am I just unlucky with the craft store batch?

Overheard a coworker call book cloth 'fancy duct tape', i still think about it

Last Tuesday at the shop, my apprentice pointed at my roll of buckram and said it's just fancy duct tape for paper. I laughed so hard I almost glued my fingers together with my own paste. Has anyone else heard a customer or friend totally dismiss what we do with a wild comparison like that?

Stop using PVA for your book rebacks, here's why it failed me on a 1940s novel

I rebacked a 1940s novel last month with PVA and it cracked along the spine after 3 open-and-closes, the old animal glue held for 80 years and I should've known better. Anyone else had PVA fail on older leather or cloth where the original adhesive keeps its flex?

I swapped linen thread for waxed cotton on a repair and now I get it

Been binding for maybe 5 years now, mostly doing rebinds of old paperbacks and family Bibles from the thrift store. Always used linen thread because that's what my mentor handed me back in 2021 at a shop in Portland. Last month I had this beat-up hymnal from 1958 that was falling apart at the hinge, and the linen kept snapping on me because the pages were so brittle. Out of desperation I grabbed this spool of waxed cotton I'd bought for a leather project and never touched. That stuff glided through the signatures like butter, no fraying, and the knot held even when I tugged hard on the spine. I re-sewed the whole thing in about 40 minutes flat, where linen would've taken me twice as long and I'd have re-threaded the needle like four times. I'm not saying I'll ditch linen forever, but for old, fragile paper, waxed cotton is now my go-to. Has anyone else found a thread that just works better for certain jobs, or am I late to this party?

PVA vs paste, my 15 year habit just got broken by accident

I've been using PVA for all my case bindings since I started binding in Chicago back in 2009. Last week I ran out mid-project, so I grabbed some wheat paste from my buddy's shop. I had to rush a rebind job for a local library, and honestly the paste gave me way more working time. The spine rounded nicer, and the cover boards didn't warp as much overnight. I'm not saying I'm switching entirely, but for big runs it seems to handle humidity way better. Has anyone else had better luck with paste over PVA for certain steps, or is it just me?

A retired librarian in Austin made me rethink my hinge setup

Last Saturday a guy came into the shop and saw me wrestling with a text block that kept pulling away from the spine. He was probably 70, looked like he'd been binding since before I was born. He watched for a minute and said, 'You're fighting the grain, not the glue.' Then he showed me how he checks grain direction by curling the paper corner before cutting. I'd been doing it the same way for 5 years, never once thought about grain on a hinge. Spent the next hour re-cutting two signatures and the difference was night and day. Has anyone else had a random stranger drop a basic tip that blew your whole process open?

The hinge jig that made me rebuild a 40 year old binding

Watched a guy at the Portland book fair demo a simple brass hinge jig and it took me three tries at home to copy his setup, but now I won't do rounded spines without it. Has anyone else had one tool completely wreck their old workflow?

Is PVA really better than wheat paste for cloth spines? I flipped after 2 months

I used to swear wheat paste was the only way for tight joints, but after 2 months of testing on linen over board, PVA held up way better through my shop's humidity swings. Now I'm back to doubting it because the PVA seems too stiff on a flexible spine. Anyone else switch sides on this and regret it or stick with it?

Paid $90 for a finishing press, thought it was a scam until Friday

I bought one of those small cast iron finishing presses off eBay last month, figured it was just a fancy paperweight. Then I tried rounding the spine on a 400 page textblock and the difference was night and day. My old method with boards and clamps left creases all over the covers. Anyone else find that a proper press fixes more than just the binding step?

That Tuesday I rebind a whole shelf of church hymnals and somehow enjoyed it

Honestly, last Tuesday was a weird one. I had 14 old hymnals from a local church in Akron come in for rebacking, and normally that kind of batch work drags, but every single one just felt right that day. The leather was brittle but the signatures held together clean, and I only had to redo one spine. It's rare when a whole job goes smooth like that without me re-cutting any boards. Anyone else get those random perfect days where the glue and thread just cooperate, or was it just me?

A book fair vendor's offhand remark about my stitching still bugs me

I was showing my new coptic stitch journals at a small fair in Albany last Saturday and this vendor, older guy, picked one up and said 'nice work, but you'll never sell these for what they're worth if you don't learn the kettle stitch.' He wasn't being mean, just honest, but it hit different because I've been avoiding kettle stitch for 2 years after one bad attempt at a workshop. He showed me his sample in like 30 seconds and it was so clean, now I'm second-guessing every coptic binding I've done since. Anyone else have a stranger's comment push them to finally learn a technique they kept putting off?

My bone folder confession: cheap plastic beat my expensive one

I spent 40 bucks on a polished bone folder last spring and treated it like the holy grail. Then a buddy at the Portland bindery meetup handed me a plain plastic one from a craft store and said try this. I scoffed, but after one session rounding corners and creasing endpapers I switched for good. The plastic one flexes just enough to follow curves without skipping, and it doesn't leave shiny pressure marks on softer papers like the bone one did. My coptic stitch bindings actually lay flatter now because I can get cleaner folds without fighting the tool. It snapped after six months of daily use, but a pack of three costs 8 bucks, so I don't care. Has anyone else dumped a fancy tool for a cheap substitute after a real test, or am I the only one who fell for the marketing?}

Just realized glue choice matters way more than I thought for spine rounding

I was working on a rebind of an old paperback last weekend and had to pick between PVA and wheat paste for the spine. I went with PVA because it sets faster and I was impatient (bad move, honestly). The spine came out stiff and barely rounded, so I ended up redoing the whole thing with wheat paste and a slower clamp time. Has anyone else found that certain glues just fight your shaping?

An old bookbinder in Chicago showed me a trick with wheat paste that changed how I do endpapers

I was at a shop in the Loop maybe 3 years ago, just picking up some linen thread. This guy in his 70s saw me looking at pre-mixed paste and just laughed. He said "put that bottle down, it's chemicals and regret." He walked me through making wheat paste from scratch using a double boiler. Took maybe 15 minutes total that first try. I use it for all my endpapers now and they lay so flat with no bubbling. Has anyone else switched to homemade paste for certain parts of the binding process?

PSA: stop using PVA glue on every single spine

Last Tuesday at a guild meeting in Portland, a guy showed me his 15 year old restoration with bone-dry PVA that was peeling off the spine. Everyone swears by it for speed but it doesn't age well. Why is nobody talking about wheat paste for historical work anymore? Has anyone else seen PVA failures on older pieces?

Hit 500 feet of thread used on one book and had to stop and stare

I was stitching a dense leather journal last night and realized I had gone through an entire 50 meter spool of linen thread. That's about 164 feet. I counted the stitches after and it came out to roughly 8,400 individual stitches for that one binding. Just the thought of all that manual work in a single project made me sit back for a minute. Has anyone else ever counted up the thread on a finished book?

Hot take: The binding corner I saw at a used bookstore in Portland

I was browsing Powell's last weekend and found a 1920s copy of Moby Dick with the corners completely busted, like someone used it as a doorstop for 50 years. The previous owner didn't even bother with a basic cloth joint repair. How do you folks handle reinforcing corners without making them look like Frankenstein?

My 60 dollar bone folder purchase from 2008 finally bit the dust

I picked up a Teflon bone folder at a shop in Portland back when I was still learning, and it lasted me through hundreds of books before cracking this morning during a difficult spine fold. Has anyone else had luck switching to a different material like nylon or micarta for folders?

Rant: Sewing signatures on a sewing frame is overrated for small books

I tried gluing the signatures directly to the spine for a 90 page notebook last week and the book opens way flatter than any sewn one I've ever made, so why do we all act like thread is the only professional option for anything under 150 pages?

Hit 500 spine repairs in my shop and realized something scary