My mentor swore that rounding spine linings was a waste of time - now I'm not so sure

Old Bob at the bindery told me last year that rounding the spine before adding the cover was just extra work that didn't help with durability. I followed his advice for about 6 projects (mostly cloth-bound journals and a few rebinds) but every single one of them ended up with a flat, saggy spine after a month. Now I'm back to rounding everything and it holds shape way better, but a buddy of mine says Bob was right and I'm just not using enough glue. Has anyone else had a mentor give them advice that seemed solid but just didn't pan out in practice?

3 comments

3 Comments

dixon.james13d ago

Hold on, every single project? That's rough, man.

valc9113d ago

@dixon.james been there before, it really wears you down after a while. Best thing I found was taking a hard look at where things kept going sideways and fixing that one piece first. Small adjustments added up way more than trying to overhaul everything at once.

kim_ramirez313d agoMost Upvoted

Honestly, I think you might be mixing me up with someone else. I haven't posted about any projects recently, but your advice sounds solid for folks who are stuck.