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Found out today that bookbinding thread strength has a rating system
I was looking up why my last two projects had spines splitting and stumbled onto something. There's an actual thread strength rating from the Library of Congress that measures how many pounds of pull a thread can take before snapping. I had been using basic craft store stuff rated at 1.5 pounds when the standard for proper bindings is like 4 pounds minimum. Just switched to a linen thread rated at 4.2 pounds and the difference in tension is night and day. Has anyone else run into this thread rating thing or am I late to the party?
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ninam764d ago
Oh the Library of Congress rating system, yeah I stumbled onto that last year after my second full rebind of a 900 page fantasy novel fell apart. I was using this cheap cotton thread from a craft chain that snapped at 1.8 pounds during the actual sewing. Total nightmare. I switched to a 4.0 pound linen thread from a small shop on Etsy and it changed everything. The tension holds way better, no weird stretch while you're working, and the spines actually stay tight. I also learned the hard way that thread thickness matters too - I use a size 16 now instead of the size 25 I was grabbing, makes a big difference in how the signatures lay flat.
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