Showerthought: My first leather hinge job fell apart after 6 months

I used to glue leather hinges straight onto the spine board, thinking that was standard. After a customer brought back a book where the hinge peeled off clean, I switched to recessing the leather into a shallow groove cut into the board. Has anyone else had better luck with a specific hinge attachment method?

2 comments

2 Comments

emma76816d ago

Man 6 months is actually pretty good for a surface mount leather hinge. I have been doing these for years and I have books still holding up fine after 3 years with that method. You just gotta prep the board right and use the right glue. PVA is too weak, you need a quality contact cement. I bet your issue was glue quality or maybe you didnt rough up the leather enough before gluing. Also if the leather hinge is too thin it will fail faster. I use 4-5 oz veg tan and skive the edges and it holds great. Recessing into the board just creates a weak spot and makes the hinge stiffer. So no I dont think that extra step is worth the time or effort.

cameron_owens4916d ago

Bro fr 6 months is like a gold medal for surface mount hinges in my experience. People act like recessing is some magic fix but I've seen those fail too when the glue job was trash. Bet OP just had bad luck with adhesive or maybe their leather was thinner than they thought. Honestly if mine lasted that long I'd call it a win and move on with my life.