TIL letting bookcloth sit overnight changes everything

Used to glue and press right away. Always got bubbles. Saw a video from a binder in Minnesota. She let her bookcloth sit with glue for 12 hours before trimming. Tried it on my last rebind of a 1930s novel. No bubbles. No shifting. Just clean edges. Has anyone else found a drying time that works best?

3 comments

3 Comments

kellyjones2d ago

Oh man, I gotta say I disagree with this one pretty hard. I've been doing bookbinding for like 15 years now and I tried the overnight method a few times and it just made my glue too dry and brittle by morning. The cloth would peel off the boards after a few weeks because the adhesive had already set and lost its grab. I think it really depends on your climate and the glue you're using too. If you're in a really humid place maybe that works but here in the desert it just ruins the bond for me. I still press right away and I get clean edges by using a bone folder and a really thin, even layer of glue. No bubbles that way for me.

the_aaron2d ago

That bit about desert climate and brittle glue actually makes me reconsider my whole approach.

jamesf412d ago

Wait wait wait, you're saying the cloth actually peeled off after a few weeks? That's wild to me because I've been getting perfect results with the overnight method on the East Coast where it's humid as hell. I guess I never really thought about how much the climate could totally change how the glue behaves.