Took me 5 years to figure out I was gluing spines backwards

I was at a binders meetup in Portland last month and someone looked at my stack and said 'why are your hinges on the wrong side?' I had been putting the grain of my book cloth perpendicular to the spine this whole time. No one ever told me and I never thought to check. Has anyone else had that moment where a small detail you missed for years just clicks?

2 comments

2 Comments

joseph_coleman1mo ago

leo carr13 at that meetup in Portland - did they show you the right way right there, or did you have to go back and look it up on your own?

leo_carr131mo ago

Three years into woodworking I realized I had been using my chisels completely backwards on dovetails. It was one of those moments where you just stare at your workbench and feel like an absolute fool for that long. But honestly, it happens to everyone in some craft or another, and now you know the right way forever.