I visited this old bookbinder's shop in Portland last month, hoping to find some real gems. But honestly, I was let down by all these vintage presses and finishing tools people swear by. Everyone talks about how they give you better control and feel, but I tried using a 1920s backing press and it was just clumsy and rusty. My modern press from Lee Valley cost me $150 and works way smoother, no contest. I think folks get caught up in the romance of old tools without admitting they're often less practical. Has anyone else found that modern tools actually work better for fine binding work?
I bind books on the side here in Indianapolis. A guy picked up a journal I made and pointed out my corners were uneven by maybe a millimeter. I thought he was being picky. But then I looked closer and yeah he was right. I spent the next week practicing with a corner rounder punch and a template jig. Now I check every single corner with a caliper before I even glue the cover. Has anyone else had a client point out something small that actually made you better?
I was visiting the central library and noticed their repair section uses wax thread instead of nylon for signatures. Does anyone here use wax thread for binding and find it holds up better over time?
I saw three different posts this week from people fixing textbooks with PVA and I cringed every time. That stuff goes brittle after like 6 months and your spine cracks right down the middle. Has anyone else had a repair fall apart because they used the wrong adhesive?
I was working on a restoration for a 1920s encyclopedia set and this older guy walks by my table at the shop and says 'your PVA is way too watery, you're gonna get bubbles.' I pulled the cover off and sure enough there were tiny air pockets forming under the cloth. Has anyone else had to thicken their glue mix for older books with brittle paper?
I was trying to restore this old novel from the 1920s and kept snapping the thread mid-stitch. After two full days of frustration and six different needle sizes, I finally realized the original spine holes were drilled for a much finer gauge than modern linen thread. I had been forcing a size 25 thread into holes meant for size 35. Total time wasted was about 18 hours spread over three days. Has anyone else run into weird old book specs like that where modern stuff just doesn't fit?
I've been binding books for about 3 years now, mostly for myself and a few friends. Last month I noticed 4 out of my last 6 books had cracked spines right at the hinge. I thought it was my glue or the paper type, so I wasted about $40 on different supplies. Turns out I was lining the spine too tight and not letting the book open naturally during drying. Has anyone else fixed this by just switching up their drying setup?
I was pressing too hard on the spine folds and after I glued it up those creases showed right through the leather, has anyone else had luck sanding those out or do you just start over with a new piece?
I was helping a friend rebind a 1950s cookbook last month and everyone online said to just reach for the PVA glue. But that old paper is so brittle and PVA just sits on top without soaking in... I ended up using a wheat paste mix like the old binders did and the pages laid flat perfectly. Why are we acting like one glue works for every single book and paper type?
We were doing a repair on this old 1950s encyclopedia set and he just kinda stopped and laughed. Said I had the grain direction flipped on the spine liner. I had been doing it the same way since my first summer binding at a little shop in Ohio. Nobody ever told me the glue will shrink different if the grain runs the wrong way. Books started cracking after a couple years and I thought that was just normal wear. Has anyone else had a basic technique totally blow up on them after years?
I keep seeing people online raving about those expensive screw presses for bookbinding, so I finally dropped $300 on a nice metal one. Honestly, I regret it. My old $40 wooden one from a garage sale did the same job just fine, and this fancy press actually caused me issues. The metal surface made my leather covers slide around, so my alignment went off on two projects. I spent more time fixing mistakes than the press saved me time. I think a lot of these tools are just marketing hype for hobbyists who want to look professional. Has anyone else been burned by a pricey bookbinding gadget they thought was a game changer?
I was reading through a scanned copy of a 1920s bookbinders handbook my grandpa left me. Turns out back then, apprentices had to bind 100 complete books using only bone folders, thread, and glue before they could even touch a press. That blew my mind because I probably did fewer than 10 full hand-bound books before switching to my nipping press and finishing machine. Made me wonder what skills we lost by skipping that step. Has anyone here ever tried doing a whole project the old way start to finish?
I stopped by this little binding and restoration shop off Sandy Boulevard last Tuesday. They were working on a 1700s Bible and used this old cast iron press that looked like a railroad vice. The thing that got me was they had it sitting on a wooden crate instead of a proper stand. The owner said it 'adds character' but I wonder if that throws off the pressure across the spine. Has anyone else seen weird setups like that in older shops?
I stopped by this little shop in Portland run by a guy who's been binding since the 80s. He had this old school book press that looked like a converted printing press from the 1900s, but he rigged it with a car jack to apply pressure. Honestly it worked way better than I thought it would. He said he got the idea after his regular press broke and he needed something fast. Has anyone else seen a hack like that? I'm half tempted to try building one myself but worried about ruining the even pressure.
A buddy in the trade let me borrow his cheap nylon one from a Tandy Leather store (you know, the one near the mall) and it actually creases cleaner than my expensive teflon one without leaving any shiny marks on the paper, has anyone else found weird tools from other crafts that work better than our usual stuff?
Used to just dump PVA into a random yogurt container and dip my brush in. Ended up with glue all over my bench and half a brush handle glued to a spine. Finally bought a proper corner pot with the metal lip for $8 last week. Makes cleaning up so much faster and I'm not wasting glue every single time. Has anyone else switched to a specific pot setup that just works better?
Found this in a footnote in a old binder's manual I picked up at an estate sale last spring. Never really thought about where the leather came from back then. Makes sense though with how transport was back then. You'd think they'd use sheep or goat more but nope, cowhide was the standard for most everyday books. Anybody else run across old binding facts that changed how you look at your materials?
So I was trimming some Davey board for a new project last week and my buddy Jeff came over to watch. He asked why I was measuring from the spine edge instead of the joint side. I told him that's just how I learned it from a YouTube video back in 2022. He looked at me funny and showed me how I was wasting like a quarter inch on every cut because of how the grain runs. Now I gotta go back and redo like 5 covers I had sitting around because they're all slightly off. Has anyone else had a dumb habit that took way too long to figure out?
Pulled a stack of journals out of the press last Tuesday and every single one had a slight slant on the spine, now I've got 15 books that need rebinding because I didn't check my press alignment after moving it to the basement.
He said you gotta let the paper breathe or the book won't open flat, so I backed off on the glue and started using a lighter hand with the rounding hammer.
I was grabbing a latte near my place in Austin last weekend and I overheard this older guy talking to his friend about bookbinding. He said something like "real binders sew everything, glue is just for lazy people." And idk, it kind of stuck with me because I use glue all the time for my text blocks and spines. I mean I get that traditional sewing has its place, but does using glue really make me less of a binder? I'm not trying to win some purity contest, I just want my books to hold up and look nice. Has anyone else run into this gatekeepy attitude or is it just my luck?
I was working on a Smith-Seymour binding and half way through sewing the third section the crossbar just cracked. Had to finish the book using a makeshift clamp setup with a C-clamp and a piece of scrap wood. Has anyone else had a frame fail on them mid-project and what did you do as a quick fix?
I was going through my records from the last 4 years and realized I just crossed 500 books bound. That number hit me harder than I expected because I never tracked it before. I started doing it as a side gig out of my garage in Portland back in 2020. Most of those were rebinds for people who brought in old paperbacks with busted spines. It made me stop and think about how many hours that actually is maybe 2000+ hours of cutting glue and stitching. If you have been binding for a while do you keep count or just let the pile grow until it sneaks up on you like this?
I was at a meetup last month in Portland and someone looked at a book I brought and said "hey your spine is facing the wrong way" and I laughed thinking they were joking. Turns out I had been putting the grain of the paper the wrong direction on every single hardcover I made. No wonder they never opened flat. Has anyone else had that moment where a total stranger spotted something obvious you missed for years?
I've been fighting with sewing endbands for months and they always looked sloppy. Tried dampening the thread just a little before pulling tight and it made a huge difference - no more gaps on the curves. Anyone else got a trick for keeping them even on the turn-in?