A retired binder told me my sewing frame was too tight and I was stressing the signatures

I loosened the tension by about 20% and suddenly my spines stopped cracking on the first open, has anyone else had that issue with a specific thread weight?

3 comments

3 Comments

cameronp471mo ago

Yeah, the "stressing the signatures" thing hit home for me. I had the same problem with a linen thread that was just too thick for the paper I was using, and dropping the tension fixed everything.

felix4141mo ago

Yeah I feel that... @cameronp47 I had almost the same thing with a waxed thread that was just too stiff for some thin Japanese paper I was working with. Backing off the tension was like a light switched on in my head. It made the spine lay so much flatter and the whole book felt better in my hands. Still can't believe I fought with it for so long before trying that simple fix.

sean_green441mo ago

Read some old forum posts that swore by looser tension for better spine movement.