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Hot take: rounding a spine with sandpaper is lazy, and I watched a guy in Tulsa prove it in 40 minutes
I used to swear by hitting a spine with 120 grit to round it fast, mostly because I was always in a hurry. Last month a binder named Roy at a meetup in Tulsa took one of my books and redid the same spine with a backing hammer and a bone folder. The difference was crazy. His way gave the text block a shoulder that actually held the boards, and mine had a soft curve that let the whole thing flop after maybe 20 opens. The numbers back it up too, my sanded spine needed re-gluing after 2 months while his is still tight at 6. So what do you all do, actually round and back by hand, or am I the only one who's been cutting that corner?
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parkerellis20d ago
Oh man, the sandpaper spine is getting called out and honestly it deserves it. I mean yeah it's fast and yeah I've done it too, but watching someone back a spine properly with a hammer makes you feel like you've been using a butter knife as a screwdriver this whole time. Idk maybe it's just me but the shoulder thing makes total sense, that's where all the strength comes from, not from a pretty curve. Forty minutes versus two months of re-gluing is not even a fair fight when you do the math. Guess I'm buying a backing hammer.
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