A binder in my local guild pointed out my headbands were way too tight

I was showing off a quarter leather binding at our meetup in Tacoma last month, feeling pretty good about it. An older guy, who's been doing this for like 40 years, picked it up and said, 'You're choking the spine.' He showed me how my headband stitching was pulling the text block too much, making the book hard to open fully. I went home and re-did it, leaving just a millimeter more slack in the linen thread. The difference was huge, the book lays flat now. Anyone else have a simple fix they learned that solved a bigger problem?

3 comments

3 Comments

sagey692mo ago

Oh man, that's so real. I had the exact same thing happen with my first few case bindings, my boards were way too stiff. Letting up on the glue just a tiny bit made them open like a dream lol.

palmer.henry2mo ago

Tell me about it, the glue amount is everything.

johns1827d ago

Have you ever seen someone get SO frustrated they just throw the whole thing across the room? My buddy Mike was trying to bind a book for his wife's birthday. He used WAY too much glue and the thing barely opened. He spent like an hour trying to force it and then just yeeted it into the trash can. His wife found it later and was actually pretty impressed he tried. He's still scared to try again honestly.