Found that an old paring knife works better for paper creasing than a bone folder

I was trying to fold a bunch of signatures for a sewn binding last week and my bone folder kept skipping on the grain. Grabbed a cheap paring knife from the kitchen drawer and used the blunt spine to crease the paper instead and it worked way better. No tearing, cleaner fold, and I actually finished the whole text block in one go instead of stopping to fix crushed edges. Has anyone else found a weird tool that works better than the standard bookbinders kit?

2 comments

2 Comments

ray_mitchell1d ago

Its funny how often that happens though. You spend money on a specialized tool and then some random kitchen item does the job better. I've noticed this with so many hobbies and crafts. People get all caught up in buying the "right" gear but half the time the thing they already own works just as good if not better. A paring knife has that nice blunt back edge that a lot of proper tools just dont have. And the weight and balance of a knife handle is way better for controlling pressure than a skinny bone folder. Its like how a butter knife works great for opening glued paperbacks or how a sharpened chopstick can clean out a sewing machine. The best tool is usually just the one thats already in your hand and you know how it behaves.

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derek991d ago

Sharpened chopstick" describes half my tool collection honestly, I'm just a hoarder with good excuses.