My sewing frame snapped in half mid-signature yesterday

I was working on a pretty big 400-page restoration project and right as I was starting the third signature, the crossbar on my old wooden sewing frame just cracked clean through. I had to scramble and rig up a clamp with some spare wood and a C-clamp I had lying around just to finish the job. It held together but it felt super shaky the whole time. Anyone else had a frame fail on them and what did you replace it with?

3 comments

3 Comments

rowan_roberts491mo agoMost Upvoted

Wait, you trust a cheap Amazon frame after that?

the_paul1mo ago

Man I had an aluminum frame buckle on me about two years ago on a Saturday evening, right when I was on the last signature of a 300 page book. That thing folded like a cheap lawn chair and I nearly threw the whole project across the room. I ended up duct taping the hell out of it and using a stack of old dictionaries to prop it up until I could finish. Honestly I just bought a cheap plastic one off Amazon the next day because I was too annoyed to build my own, and it's been fine so far but I still get a little nervous every time I tension the cords. Sounds like you got lucky with that C-clamp trick, at least you didn't have to MacGyver it with a belt and a broom handle like I almost did.

dylan_bell14d ago

@the_paul your duct tape fix reminds me, those aluminum frames can actually warp worse than wood over time.