My mentor told me to stop using bone folders on every single fold

I used to press every crease with a bone folder like my life depended on it. Then a retired binder in Portland watched me work on a 150-page novel project and gently said, 'You're crushing the paper fibers, friend.' I thought he was just old-school and fussy. But I tried his method of using a teflon folder on lighter papers and only busting out the bone folder for heavy cardstock or leather wraps. Huge difference in how flat and crisp the signatures lay without that weird shiny crush line. Has anyone else had to unlearn a basic technique that was actually doing more harm than good?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_pat15d ago

Read somewhere that Japanese bookbinders actually train you to use your fingernail for the first few years before you even touch a bone folder. Sounds wild but it makes sense if you think about it. They want you to understand the paper's natural give before you start forcing it into submission with tools. I tried switching to a Teflon folder for most of my work after hearing that and yeah, my folds look way cleaner now. The bone folder still comes out for scoring board or thick stock but I treat it more like a specialty tool now.

oliver_wilson4915d ago

Heard a similar thing about traditional Chinese woodworkers who spend years sharpening tools before they even get to cut anything. Prevents a lot of bad habits from forming early on.

piperwhite9d ago

Japanese binders actually use their fingernail for years, but it's not quite the same as Teflon.