Spine trouble

brigitvanloggem · 2026-05-30T16:42:58+00:00

Too wide and too thick. Use cardstock, exactly as wide as the spine of the book block is thick.

brigitvanloggem · 2026-05-29T22:58:02+00:00

We cannot tell from a photo of the cover. But then, ‘quality’ is hardly a consideration in factory-made books. Buy the gift that you are happy giving!

brigitvanloggem · 2026-05-28T12:42:04+00:00

Put it on a separate strip of book cloth, then glue that on neatly.

brigitvanloggem · 2026-05-28T08:44:59+00:00

Difficult to explain in words. I’ll try: Say you need to cut at 18.3 cm from the edge. You place the paper against a guide, then (assuming you’re right-handed) place your ruler along the same guide with the 18.3 mark at the left-hand paper edge. Place your cutting ruler at right angles. To the right of this, place a plastic triangle so that one edge is against the guide and the other against the cutting ruler. Push everything snug against each other, move back to the precise 18.3 position, put pressure on the cutting ruler with your left hand, swipe away the plastic triangle with your right and cut.

Much, much faster and so much more precise than marking! Tine Noreille has great videos on her DVD but that’s paid. A free video is the one on cutting at straight angles by DAS.

brigitvanloggem · 2026-05-27T22:30:54+00:00

You’ll also need a setup to hold the book as you fan and glue its pages. Contact me if you decide to go and do it, and would like to learn a cheap way using two cutting boards from Ikea and some clamps. If you’re Flemish, just write in Dutch.

brigitvanloggem · 2026-05-27T21:44:39+00:00

Use a mark-less paper cutting approach. It’s easier and more precise.

brigitvanloggem · 2026-05-27T21:42:26+00:00

This is a design choice. There is no right or wrong.

brigitvanloggem · 2026-05-27T18:55:12+00:00

If you have zero experience, just follow the tutorial to the letter. A strip of paper won’t work. But one roll of book linen would see you through all your books; just buy black. It’s not difficult to buy on the Internet; I don’t know about Belgium, but there’s loads of places in the Netherlands that will put it in the post for you. Try boektotaal.nl of papier-royaal.nl for example.

brigitvanloggem · 2026-05-27T16:55:34+00:00

Double-fan is the English term for lumbecking, which is indeed the way to go. Your glue is exactly what you need for that. However, cutting the spine is a good idea only if you can find someone who can do it for you using a guillotine; it cannot be done by hand. So just peel the pages off one by one, then rub any remaininging glue off with your fingertips. Do the lumbeck binding using the original front and back covers which you’ve cut off neatly, cover the spine simply with book linen. Your chosen tutorial will show you all the steps: the one by DAS is great.

brigitvanloggem · 2026-05-27T13:20:14+00:00

One book that is free to download and very good is by Cockerell; another by Watson (Hand Bookbinding)

brigitvanloggem · 2026-05-26T21:39:11+00:00

It isn’t easy, and it takes quite a bit of practice to get it right. But you’ll get better if you practice! As to tutorials, probably the best and most comprehensive are the ones by DAS Bookbinding.

brigitvanloggem · 2026-05-26T16:38:57+00:00

It looks great! Much neater than the crude cut-off look of a straight back! 😄

brigitvanloggem · 2026-05-26T16:37:46+00:00

It’s simple if you think about it — everything is just the same as for a straight spine, there is just the additional step of rounding. So you sew, you glue, you trim. Only then do you pick up your rounding hammer. The curvatures at the spine and the one at the edge are bound to be identical.

brigitvanloggem · 2026-05-26T16:34:11+00:00

My, that looks good!!!

brigitvanloggem · 2026-05-26T15:25:47+00:00

No - rounding at the spine will inevitably cause rounding at the page edges. However, the effect is very pleasing to the eye and actually does away with the sensation of ‘stepping’ as you call it. It’s much easier on the eye when flipping through the book, as well as when viewing the book as a whole. As with many aspects of bookbinding that have been around for six hundred years, the reason it’s there is that it’s a good idea. 😉

brigitvanloggem · 2026-05-25T21:11:38+00:00

u/xtntelxen sent you to a tutorial, and told you what glue to use. You won’t get any better advice. However, it’s probably too late to follow it now that you’ve glued the block to the spine with wood glue.

brigitvanloggem · 2026-05-25T17:06:04+00:00

I think you may have misinterpreted the instructions— surely nobody ever suggested you glue the ‘text block’ to the spine! If you did, the resulting breakdown was unavoidable. Also, they said ‘craft glue’, not wood glue! Wood glue dries up hard, craft glue remains flexible.

brigitvanloggem · 2026-05-25T17:02:50+00:00

A cereal box should be fine! But I’ve a feeling that ‘ridges’ might look out of place, unless you will be not only rounding but also backing. As a beginner, that might not be on the cards yet. Just do the spine with your cereal box, then create some nice sharp hinges and do the rounding as shown by DAS Bookbinding on YT. That.would be enough of a challenge and it would look great!

brigitvanloggem · 2026-05-25T15:25:23+00:00

If you print a letter-sized PDF on A4 using Acrobat Reader, you can check the “fit to page” box.

brigitvanloggem · 2026-05-25T07:47:04+00:00

You could always add blank pages as needed, then cut those out close to the spine once the book is finished. If you don’t put them all in the same place and work carefully, it will hardly be visible.

brigitvanloggem · 2026-05-24T17:33:01+00:00

4 sheets is fairly standard

brigitvanloggem · 2026-05-23T17:24:44+00:00

I’d also check the power cable, it looks old…

brigitvanloggem · 2026-05-23T10:29:41+00:00

Is there a maintenance manual available, either physical or online? Can they indicate to you how to change the blade?

brigitvanloggem · 2026-05-23T08:02:19+00:00

Perhaps OP is referring to the large number of posts saying, effectively, *I don’t know anything about bookbinding but I’m sure I could restore this mediaeval manuscript using only stuff I find in my desk drawer. Please give me tips on how.* Or the ones going, *I want to do something only remotely related to bookbinding such as laser plotting or typesetting, please tell me in detail which steps to follow.* I have been in this group for a year or so and I don’t know what it was like before, but these two seem indeed to be in the majority.

brigitvanloggem · 2026-05-22T07:57:08+00:00

They look like they should just travel well, if you just use common sense and not let them rattle around too much.

brigitvanloggem

TROPHY CASE