r/bookbinding Apr 06 '26

Announcement Proposing a new flair system for /r/bookbinding

77 Upvotes

Hey folks -- a bit overdue, but I wanted to take the discussion on a revamped post flair system to the next stage. Very much appreciate everyone who shared their thoughts in the last sticky thread.

After reviewing the discussion there, this is what I'm thinking in terms of a new flair system for r/bookbinding. The goal here is to more accurately categorize the kinds of content we see here, and to help OPs and readers connect.

(Please keep in mind that reddit's flair system is not a tagging system -- you can't apply more than one to a post.)

This is this working list of proposed flairs:

  • Restoration/Repair -- for sharing projects involving the repair of a damaged book
  • Binding -- for sharing projects involving the construction of a new book from scratch
  • Recasing -- for sharing projects involving transferring an existing text block into a new cover
  • Typesetting/Printing -- for discussion of laying out text and images on pages for print
  • Bookbinding Adjacent -- for sharing projects involving techniques, tools, and materials common to bookbinding but not itself a book (for example but not limited to slipcases, preservation boxes, gold stamping/embossing/debossing)
  • Tips & Techniques -- for discussion of specific bookbinding techniques
  • Tools & Equipment -- for discussion of specific bookbinding equipment
  • Materials -- for discussion of specific bookbinding materials
  • Help -- a cry for assistance if a project isn't going your way
  • Whoops -- for sharing failures, mistakes, or screwups that we can all sympathize with and learn from
  • Solicitation of Services -- for non-binders seeking to engage a binder's rebinding, restoration, etc. services
  • Discussion/Other -- essentially a catch-all for anything not covered by the other flairs

This would drop the distinction between in-progress projects and complete projects, which I was initially unsure of but after letting it marinate I think is a nonissue. If the mechanical goal of the flair system is to help readers connect with the kinds of content they're most interested in, "in progress" and "complete" might not be super useful distinctions compared to tagging what kind of project it is. (From that perspective I'm almost tempted to drop "Help" as well, but I think it's too important to have it there to give panicking folks a lifeline.) The alternative would be doubling up on the tags, e.g. have both "Binding (Incomplete)" and Binding (Complete)", and I think that feels kind of clunky. I generally think the post title itself would signal whether a given project is complete or not.

I'm not interested in discriminating against any particular way of creating a "book" (i.e. "traditional" vs "modern", "Western" vs "Eastern", etc) -- I think regardless of one's preferred methods, it's always good to be exposed to other ways of doing things, and I think it would be way too unwieldy to try and have a flair for every possible technique -- so I'd like the "Binding" flair to be as inclusive of methods and materials as possible, but maybe it could be named better? Certainly open to suggestions there.

What do you all think? Anything missing? Anything unclear? Anything that could be improved? Please do sound off below.


r/bookbinding May 01 '25

No Stupid Questions Monthly Thread!

19 Upvotes

Have something you've wanted to ask but didn't think it was worth its own post? Now's your chance! There's no question too small here. Ask away!

(Link to previous threads.)


r/bookbinding 3h ago

Help? Continuing on my amateur journey—is PVA glue marked as "wood glue" OK for bookbinding and making book cloth?

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8 Upvotes

Specifically that one in the link. My other choices include another version by the same brand, and this by Mont marte. Also saw this but I presume it's not right since it says slime glue.

I kind of feel bad I've asked so many questions and never shown anything I made😅finally got a new phone so I'll post my only bound book (a picture book!!!), and the mini watercolor accordion sketchbooks I recently made!!!


r/bookbinding 2h ago

Help? Received a "new" book in the mail. Can this be easily fixed?

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4 Upvotes

Ordered a book, and once it arrived it was broken after the first few pages. It was a self published, no returns situation, so I don't think a replacement is possible and I'd like to repair it myself.

I'm picking up some PVA glue, but is there anything I need to know before trying to glue the spine back or anything I should do to avoid problems in the future?


r/bookbinding 31m ago

How bad is this binding job (Double Fanning)

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Upvotes

Extremely new to book binding

I'm fairly certain the pages have good contact even if spine is misaligned. The issue is between pages and cover.

My question is how bad is this and how long will it last? Is it good enough to send to a customer or do I scrap it and have another go?

Any advice or tutorial related to this method would be appreciated as well. I've watched DAS Bookbinding


r/bookbinding 50m ago

Help? Help me fix it! Signed 1st edition Charlie Brown Christmas, Charles M. Schulz

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Upvotes

I’m shaking. I got it for $.99 at Goodwill. Some kid in the past cut up some of the pages and the endpaper is damaged. I bought an identical first edition in better condition for about $20 on Ebay with the original dust jacket. My plan is currently to unstitch it/unstaple it, swap out the damaged pages, then staple/stitch it back together, then glue the endpaper back to the bookboard.

I’ve done minor bookbinding in the past. What’s the best way to restore this?

What are the best threads/staples/glues?


r/bookbinding 1d ago

Old Victorian Brass Tools

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53 Upvotes

Hi All!

I've got a quick question that I'm hoping those with more experience here could help me with. I'm heading to Europe in a few weeks and I have the opportunity to buy some old Victorian brass booking tools for about 400 Canadian dollars. Up until recently I've only created covers using a circuit but id love to move to proper embossing. My question is, would these tools still be useable? Are there any other questions you'd ask the seller? I don't see why they wouldn't work, but I figured others may have more insight. Pictures attached. Thanks in advance!


r/bookbinding 11h ago

Help? is this bookbinding cloth?

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7 Upvotes

I'm looking for a cloth material I saw in a leathercraft video for my project. I hoped you can help me identifiying it, because it looks like some kind of bookbinding cloth

under the video the creator said it's microfiber, but I saw some examples that are quite similar
https://www.schmedt.com/backliner-single-threaded-mull-with-paper-backing/27010000.B

attaching some images and the video I'm referring to

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDWO76w2xtg

thank you!


r/bookbinding 11h ago

Plywood bed for ten ton hydraulic press

6 Upvotes

Can anyone tell me if this 4" thick block of plywood supported by the 4" steel sections will be adequate for the ten tone hydraulic press I am in the process of adapting for letterpress/plate press?

The bed will be 16" x 12"

It's shown upside down of course. That colour has to go though! Also what pressure will be suitable for a 13" x 9" plate printing on damp 640grm Arches watercolour paper? The press has a pressure gauge.


r/bookbinding 1d ago

Hobbit - my favorite of Tolkien books

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25 Upvotes

Custom hard covers on black velvet book cloth and gold htv.

The hardest thing were the dots over the letters in the title as they are to small to properly weed/cut and when weeding I lost them and was looking for them on my craft table like crazy.

So does anyone has a tip how to weed/cut htv on such small details? I use Silhouette Cameo 5, and some generic htv (tried Siser mettalic a few times..failed so much I dont like it at all).

Plus when ironing on the dots, one moved and in the tail of the dragin on the back I forgot to weed out a small hole but its not noticable. It's for my Tolkien collection anyway.


r/bookbinding 8h ago

[ Removed by Reddit ]

0 Upvotes

[ Removed by Reddit on account of violating the content policy. ]


r/bookbinding 1d ago

First book using an album cover

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23 Upvotes

I'm trying new things in order to learn.

What I've learned from this one:

Thick album covers don't bend well.


r/bookbinding 10h ago

home made/adapted letterpress

0 Upvotes

Can anyone tell me if this 4" thick block of plywood supported by the 4" steel sections will be adequate for the ten tone hydraulic press I am in the process of adapting for letterpress/plate press?

The bed will be 16" x 12"

It's shown upside down of course. That colour has to go though! Also what pressure will be suitable for a 13" x 9" plate printing on damp 640grm Arches watercolour paper? The press has a pressure gauge.


r/bookbinding 1d ago

Help? How can I make the edges look "smoother"?

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33 Upvotes

I recently got this book as a gift, but I hate the edges. I'm not sure if it was intentional or not, but I would like you to try to make it less jagged and smoother. Is that possible at all?
Image 2 is the top view, its straighter, but uneven, while inage three is uneven but in a curved shape following the curve of the spine area.


r/bookbinding 1d ago

Help? How to dismantle this colouring book?

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10 Upvotes

I know how to make a glue bound book but how do i dismantle one without destroying the pages? Its a pitty from the cover but i rather destroy the cover than the pages


r/bookbinding 1d ago

Completed Project My first Coptic stitch bind

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64 Upvotes

Any feed back is welcome, this is my first Coptic stitch binding.


r/bookbinding 1d ago

Help? Best type of binding for a MASSIVE book?

7 Upvotes

So I decided to bind a book and didn’t realize how long it was. It’s going to be massive I realize after I printed it out. Trying to figure out the best way to bind a text block that’s 1000+ pages? Especially since it’ll be heavy
**Edit: posted a picture in the comments


r/bookbinding 1d ago

Help! Using a guillotine for the first time...

6 Upvotes

I'm binding a 350 page fanfiction. When do I cut the edges of the paper to even them out? Before or after I sew the binding?

Thanks!


r/bookbinding 23h ago

An easily maintainable and refillable Notebook system

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3 Upvotes

r/bookbinding 1d ago

Leather Paring

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135 Upvotes

I have been experimenting with paper marbling and doing half leather spines and it’s going super well, but I can’t get the leather to lay flat on top of the paper. Does anybody have any tips or recommendations for a good paring tool? Every time I try the edge of my leather ends up ripping.


r/bookbinding 1d ago

decorative tape?

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33 Upvotes

i'd like to try using cloth tape with an exposed spine but i'm not sure what's best to use, what might be too thick or what might be difficult to glue down? was just wondering if anyone would like to share their experiences or what they like to use.


r/bookbinding 1d ago

Binding together thin A4 comic books non destructively

11 Upvotes

If I have a bunch of comic books, maybe 30 leaves each, each binding stiffer than the page text but still very definitely soft cover, is there a recommended way to make a, I guess a folder, that will hold them together so they can be read in the manner of a book?

  • without damaging them (so, not removing the covers, not gluing them) .
  • fine if they're laced in and the laces need destroying in order to remove them
  • archival grade preservation as if they're fragile antiques not needed, but they should be able to turn into a stack of books no worse than if they'd been stored on a regular bookshelf and read from time to time.
  • they start off used not brand new and crisp.
  • obviously the result won't have pages that turn as smoothly as a normal book, that's fine so long as it doesn't damage the books more than reading them normally.

r/bookbinding 1d ago

Help? First binding ever, any advice.

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9 Upvotes

So this is my first binding ever, its a photo album I m making for my friends wedding. I used 180g sketch paper and am planning on making a cased in rounded back. The rounding has been a bit tough with the tools I have at home 😅. Any advise would be great, feel free to judge.

I went to a local printing place to cut it to size when I was done sewing but the pages moved during the cut because of the swell and the looseness I suppose so ye I know the pages aren't straight. If it can be fixed I ld love to hear it 🙂


r/bookbinding 1d ago

Help? Sorting plastic combs, help!

2 Upvotes

I bought a comb binding machine and a supply of plastic binding combs of different sizes to try things out but the combs just came in a box with no markings of which combs are which. Is there a way to measure these combs? I do have digital calipers but then obviously if I squeeze too hard, a 10mm comb might read 8mm or something.

I've seen some binding machines that have a measurement tray but the one I got didn't come with such a feature and I tried looking for maybe some 3D printable ones but no luck.

Any help on how to sort these combs out properly would be appreciated!


r/bookbinding 1d ago

Help? Final touches on paperback

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7 Upvotes

This is my first time binding a finished paperback so I'm terribly nervous. After researching all YTB tutorials I can find on making a paperback, I'm currently in my last stage: binding the pages to the cover. However, I have some questions that I'm burning to ask:

First, do I need to trim the excess cloth (i.e. the cloth protruding onto the front and back cover), leaving only the cloth stuck to the spine before applying glue?

Second, if the first is answered in the affirmative, do i apply glue to both the spine and the 7 mm of hinges on both sides (and by extension the cloth spanning that 7mm)?
If not, can I trim all the excess cloth and apply glue to the spine and 7mm of paper hinges on both sides?

Any assistance and pointing out of mistakes would be much appreciated!!!