Realized I was cutting my leather wrong for 2 years

Used to cut all my bookbinding leather with the grain running longways. Wasted so much material. A guy at the Portland guild meetup told me to cut across the grain for the spine pieces. Saves me about 30% on leather costs now. Anyone else have a basic technique they learned way too late?

2 comments

2 Comments

elliotl241d ago

Actually the grain direction thing is more about how leather stretches, not just saving material. Cutting across the grain for spines is wrong for most veg tan, it should be with the grain running across the spine so it doesn't stretch out when you open the book. The Portland guild crew gets a lot right but this one's a common mix up.

brian_jackson1d ago

Agree totally, learned that one the hard way when my first spine warped after a week on the shelf.