I bumped into a fellow binder at a flea market last weekend

Taylor Webb · 2026-03-03T17:30:46.542712+00:00

It got me thinking how we used to swap tips face to face. Now everything's online, but that chance meeting over some old bindings was a real highlight. He told me about a time he mixed up endpapers and had to redo a whole project last minute.

kim.joel6mo ago

Totally! I once messed up the paper grain on a fancy journal.

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lucas2996mo ago

I did that once, trimmed a whole stack before checking. Totally wrecked the fold. Now I always do the tear test first, right when the paper comes out of the package. Tearing along the grain gives you a straighter line, against it gets ragged. Marking the back with a light pencil arrow saves me every time. It seems like an extra step but it actually saves paper and a huge headache.

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west.brian6mo ago

You messed up the grain? @kim.joel that's brutal.

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