My case binding corners went from mushy to sharp after I switched one thing in my board prep

Seth Torres · 2026-09-30T14:50:03.487797+00:00

I bind mostly journals and I kept getting these soft, rounded corners on my covers for about two years. Then a guy at a bindery meetup in Portland showed me his setup and the difference was night and day. He was sanding his board edges at a 45 degree angle before covering, not just cutting them square. I tried it on my next three books and the corners came out crisp enough to stand up on their own. Turns out the cloth just wraps way tighter when there's a bevel to grab onto. I was cutting corners flush with a knife for years and wondering why they always looked cheap. Anyone else bevel their boards or is square cut the norm in your shop?

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My case binding corners went from mushy to sharp after I switched one thing in my board prep | Bookbinders - Rigidtalk