Took me 8 years to realize I was lining up headbands wrong

I’ve been binding books since 2015 and always glued my headbands flush with the spine edge. Last month a customer brought in a 1920s novel with the original binding still intact and I saw the headbands were set about 2 millimeters in from the edge. That small gap let the cloth tuck under neat and clean. I felt like an idiot because for years I’d been fighting with frayed edges and bumps. Now I measure that gap with a caliper every time. Has anyone else had that moment where you just assumed your method was correct until you saw an old book done different?

2 comments

2 Comments

aaronf403h ago

Man my buddy restores guitars and had the same facepalm moment about fret wire.

brian_coleman4m ago

@aaronf40 that's a good point about your buddy. What gets me is how many people don't realize fret wire comes in different sizes for different playing styles. My guy swears by jumbo wire for bending but hates it for chords.