I would just like to talk to you today about the importance of grain direction. When paper is manufactured the pulp is shaken by machine back and forth which encourages the fibres to lie in one direction. This is the Grain Direction.

In bookbinding it is essential to have the grain direction of the paper running parallel to the spine of the book. This ensures that the pages have drape and will open nicely. In addition when glue is applied to paper the paper will stretch with the grain, if the grain direction is correct this is not a problem however if the grain direction is wrong your paper will develop waves as part of the paper stretches. I am sure you have all picked up a book and felt that horrid wavey or lumpy text block which doesn’t open well.

So it is ESSENTIAL to get the grain direction right but how do you tell? I have made a little video for you to watch here.

There are several ways, the easiest is to feel the resistance of the paper as you fold it over. There is little to no resistance WITH the grain direction and a good amount of resistance against the grain direction.

Sometimes it is difficult to feel though so there are other ways to test for the grain. You can mark the long side of your paper with a pencil then cut a square off the corner of your paper and wet one side. The paper will curl up with the grain and you will know for sure that this is the grain direction.

I hope this helps you to check for the grain before you start making your book or adding end papers to an existing book.

By the way if you are having a book printed you must insist that the printer gets the grain direction correct. If they don’t know how to do this then you probably need another printer!

If you would like to purchase A4 paper which is short grain and ready to fold to A5 we have it available on our web shop here.

Recent bookbinding publication

Board Attachment by Nicky Oliver and Karen Vidler

Published by the Society of Bookbinders, 2019

Bookbinders Nicky Oliver and Karen Vidler decided to write the Board Attachment pamphlet after conversations with Bookbinding teacher Maureen Duke and the many students they have taught over the last 10 years. All agreed there is a need for short, easy to follow bookbinding manuals as unrefereed YouTube videos are not meeting the need in providing guidance to learning bookbinding techniques to a high standard.  The authors were seeking to meet this need by writing this manual of some foundation skills in hand bookbinding that they would loved to have read during their early bookbinding education and training. Continue Reading

Hello everyone, I know it has been a long time since I last posted here. You all know the reasons, fires, pandemic, life. I thought I would have a chat about paper repairs and the things you need to repair tears in your books.Continue Reading

This week I want to show you how our brass corner cutters work, they are so easy to use and give such a great result. Here is a little video.Continue Reading

Some of our customers have been asking about the Schärffix leather paring machine. How do you use it? Is it any good? Is it easy to use? Do you have a video of how to use it? So after quite a bit of persuading I have finally agreed to make a short video, you can watch it here.

Continue Reading