I finally tried using a bone folder from the hardware store instead of my fancy one

I was at Home Depot grabbing some glue and saw a cheap plastic bone folder in the tile section for like $3. Figured why not, my nice one from the craft store keeps scratching my paper. Used it on a project this weekend with some heavy book cloth and honestly it worked way better for burnishing. Has anyone else had luck with non-traditional tools for bookbinding?

3 comments

3 Comments

logan5253d ago

Yeah I know exactly what you mean about the fancy one scratching. I got a cheap plastic one from the tile section too and it's actually smoother on my paper than the pricey wood one. Kinda funny how the fancy tools aren't always better. I started using a small wallpaper scraper for creasing signatures and it works way better than anything I've bought from a craft store. My old metal ruler is a mess from glue but a plastic one from the dollar store does the job just fine.

lily_torres312d ago

I'm clearly part of the "buy the cheap stuff and call it a day" club too. My favorite bone folder is actually a plastic one I stole from my kid's art supply bin, and it works better than the $30 one I got from a craft store. @taraross has a good point about the metal ruler though, mine's bent in three places from using it as a makeshift paperweight. Between my dented dollar store scissors and a pizza cutter I use for trimming pages, my setup looks more like a garage sale than a professional workshop, but hey, it gets the job done.

taraross3d ago

I get what you're saying, but I've actually had better luck with my metal ruler because it doesn't bend.