Loading…
8
Master bookbinder in Boston told me to stop pressing my signatures so hard, and 3 years later I finally get it
When I first started binding at home in 2021, I read everywhere that you should press your folded signatures hard before sewing. My mentor, a guy named Ray who ran a bindery on Beacon Street for 40 years, told me to back off the pressure and just use light finger pressure. I ignored him because the internet said otherwise. After ruining about 15 text blocks with smashed spines and cracked gutter folds, I went back to his shop last month. He showed me how over-pressing crushes the paper fibers and kills the swell you need for a rounded spine. Now I press just enough to keep the sections flat, maybe 5 to 10 seconds by hand, and my sewing stations sit way better. Has anyone else had a teacher tell them something that went against the common advice, and did you end up proving them right or wrong?
1 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In1 Comment
loganburns8d ago
Beacon Street Ray knows his stuff. I had a letterpress guy in Portland tell me the same thing about my text blocks and he was right.
2