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Pro tip: That trick with using a wallpaper smoother on book spines saved me hours of work
So I was watching some old bookbinding videos on YouTube like you do at 2 AM, and this British guy mentioned using a plastic wallpaper smoother instead of a bone folder for flattening out the spine after gluing. I thought nah that won't work. But I had this old one sitting in my garage from when we redid the bathroom like 4 years ago. Tried it on a reback job I was doing for a 1920s novel and man it really does spread the glue more even. Less bubbles too. Anyone else use random non bookbinding tools for this stuff?
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karenlane3mo ago
Oh the 2 AM bookbinding YouTube spiral, been there, done that, got the dusty bone folder collection to prove it. "Less bubbles too" you say? Sounds like you're selling me on a miracle product I never knew I needed. I bet that wallpaper smoother works better than half the overpriced tools on Etsy. Honestly, I've used a butter knife, a credit card, and even the edge of a ruler in a pinch, and none of them gave me consistent results like you're describing. Might have to raid my garage for that old plastic thing my wife swears she threw out years ago.
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skyler_fox723mo ago
@karenlane hard agree, the credit card method always leaves me with bubbles too.
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