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Finally cracked the code on my first leather hinge repair

Been doing basic rebinds for about a year now, but I kept messing up leather hinges on old books. I noticed most tutorials skip how tight the joint should be. After wrecking three spines in a row, I started leaving an extra 2mm of slack in the hinge before gluing. That small change stopped the cracking on the first attempt. Now I can spot bad hinges in a second from photos people post online. Anyone else have a tiny adjustment that fixed a big problem for them?

2 comments

2 Comments

emerycarr1mo agoTop Commenter

Try clamping the spine overnight after adding that slack to set the new shape permanently.

aaron6771mo ago

Clamping the spine overnight" might work for some books but it can cause more harm than good on a lot of older paperbacks. The glue in those spines is already brittle, and clamping just puts uneven pressure on the hinges. I've seen books where the cover actually cracked at the crease from being clamped too tight. The better fix is to work the spine gently over a few days by opening it a little wider each time. No clamps needed.