That one critique about my spine rounding changed everything

I had a customer send back a leather journal last year because the spine was too flat and wouldn't open right. She said it felt like trying to read a brick. So I started rounding my spines to about a 3mm curve and now the books lay flat way better. Has anyone else had to rework their spine technique from a complaint?

3 comments

3 Comments

juliag101mo ago

A flat spine that won't open is basically a fancy doorstop, isn't it. I had the exact same wake up call with a sketchbook order where the buyer sent photos of the pages cracking at the hinge. That 3mm curve is the sweet spot for most books under 200 pages, but I've learned the hard way that thicker paper stacks need more curve to breathe. Maybe we should all send each other feedback before a customer has to do it for us.

rowan_roberts4920d agoMost Upvoted

Yeah the "fancy doorstop" thing hits different when it's your own work staring back at you. @juliag10 I feel you on that sketchbook order, I had a similar thing with a batch of journals where the buyer literally took a video of the pages not laying flat at all. For my thicker paper stuff I actually split the difference at 2.5mm curve and that's been working better for me than going either extreme. Also started test opening every single book before I ship them and it saves me so many headaches. Customers will always let you know when something's off lol.

jesse_fisher1mo ago

Haven't you found that thicker paper stacks actually need less curve to keep the spine from pushing the pages apart? I've been doing bookbinding for about 6 years and when I add more curve for thick paper, the hinge gets stressed and the pages crack worse. A 3mm curve works great for standard stuff, but for anything over 200 pages I actually drop it to 2mm so the spine doesn't fight the paper.