Old timer at a bindery in Chicago told me my sewing frame tension was way too tight

I was showing him my latest project last Tuesday, a 16th century style binding, and he just reached over and loosened the cords by a full turn, no warning. He said I was crushing the signatures and that the spine would crack inside a year with that much stress, which honestly made my stomach drop because I had been doing it that way for like five years. Have any of you gotten a seemingly small critique that completely shifted how you approach a whole part of the process?

3 comments

3 Comments

kimr1014d ago

Four years ago a bookbinder in Philly told me I was cutting my boards too exactly to the book block. I had been measuring everything down to the millimeter because I thought precision was everything. He said a little overhang actually helps the binding settle and breathe over time, and that my books would split at the joints from being too tight. I pushed back at first because his method felt sloppy to me, but now I leave a hair more room on every single job I do. So I get where your stomach dropped, but honestly not every old timer knows your specific materials and how they behave. You've been doing it your way for five years without a failure, maybe his bindings crack because his style is too loose.

henderson.wesley14d ago

Doesn't that just prove every book's got its own personality though lol?

charlie_ellis6d ago

Got that gut punch feeling reading your post lol. Had a similar thing happen with a framer in Portland who told me my matting was too tight and that I was basically choking the artwork, took me a solid two years to loosen up my measurements after that. Funny how one comment from someone who's been doing it forever can make you question everything you thought you knew, even when your own track record says otherwise.