TIL you can use a wallpaper seam roller to flatten book cloth corners without crushing the grain

I was struggling with getting tight corners on a new project last week. Kept getting these little bubbles or the fabric would shift. Tried my bone folder, tried my fingers, nothing worked great. Then I remembered my wallpaper roller from when I did my hallway 2 years ago. Ran it over the corners after glueing and it pressed everything flat without any of the fabric texture getting messed up. Has anyone else tried using random house tools for bookbinding or am I just late to this party?

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1 Comment

wendygrant1mo ago

Two pounds of pressure with a wallpaper roller can actually crush the texture on finer book cloths like linen or silk. I tested it on a scrap piece of buckram last month. The weave got flattened into a shiny mess. Bone folder works fine if you just wet the corner first and let it set for 30 seconds.