Finally figured out why my leather endbands kept lifting

For two years I was gluing my endbands directly onto the spine before casing in. I always wondered why they'd peel up after a few months. Then at a guild meeting last March a binder named Carol showed me she sews them into the text block first. Tried it on my last restoration project and they haven't budged. Has anyone else dealt with endband adhesion problems?

2 comments

2 Comments

taylor1748d ago

That thing you said about gluing directly onto the spine is exactly what I was doing wrong too. I must have gone through three or four projects where the endbands started lifting after a few months, and I just figured it was the glue I was using. Then a buddy at a local book arts group showed me the same trick Carol showed you - sewing them in first. I tried it on a set of old textbooks I was repairing last fall, and those endbands are still holding tight. It's wild how something so simple changes everything.

barbaraschmidt8d ago

Holy cow, that's basically the exact same thing I ran into! I was also gluing them straight to the spine for like two years, and I just thought I was using bad glue or something. Then I tried sewing them into the text block first on a couple of old encyclopedias, and the difference was night and day. Those things are solid now, no peeling at all. It's one of those tricks that makes you feel kinda dumb for not figuring it out sooner, you know?