Vent: My first leather spine repair looked like a mess until I switched to a bone folder

I was fixing a 1920s copy of 'Moby Dick' for a client last month and the new leather I glued on kept getting these weird wrinkles. After three attempts with just my fingers, my mentor in Chicago said to try a bone folder instead. I picked one up for about $8 and the next spine came out completely smooth, like night and day. Anyone have other simple tool swaps that made a huge difference?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_mia1mo ago

Read that in a bookbinding blog once.

the_joel1mo ago

But honestly @the_mia, sometimes those blogs get it wrong and the old way is just worse, lol.