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?

3 comments

3 Comments

miles_roberts221mo ago

Grain direction matters less with modern, stable materials.

angela_wilson781mo ago

Tell that to my warped cutting board. Modern doesn't mean magic, it just fails slower sometimes. The wood still moves.

the_piper1d ago

Honestly, "fails slower" is the most accurate description of my entire life, not just my cutting boards. I swear I bought this one fancy bamboo board and it warped so fast I could almost hear it laughing at me. Tbh, I think the wood just knows when we're trying to be fancy and decides to act up. Ngl, my cheap pine board from the grocery store is somehow still flatter than the expensive one. Guess the wood just does what it wants, no matter the price tag.