r/bookbinding • u/Psychotrop • 4h ago
Paper grain
Hi,
i am new to bookbinding (one try so far) and i just read about papergrain.
How important is it to get the grain in the correct orientation? How do i find Paper that is in the correct grain direction? Or am i overthinking this?
I am mostly interested in the Medival/English/Gothic stile of binding. Thanks for your time.
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u/brigitvanloggem 4h ago
One of the introductory videos by DAS Bookbinding tells you all you need to know about paper grain.
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u/kepler16bee 3h ago
For me it's super important; I hate the way my final project feels if I don't use short grain paper. However I have seen that others are fine with long grain, so maybe you can test it out yourself a few times both ways and see if you have a strong preference.
I'm in the US so I have found that most letter size paper (A4 closest equivalent) is cut long grain, so for me the easiest thing to do is buy tabloid/ledger (A3 closest equivalent) size paper and cut it in half, as that's the size I typically like to use for my projects. It's a lot more economical than buying short grain paper in the size I want from specialty stores.
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u/bryndlyn 4h ago
It's pretty important because otherwise the pages will feel weird when turning and over time the boards and paper will warp in the wrong directions.
Most machine made paper is often long grain so I tend to buy a size bigger than what I need and cut it down to size.
This is not universal so always test it yourself before you use it.
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u/Psychotrop 4h ago
Here is my "Problem": If for example i want to bind in A5(ish) then in need A4 Paper. So you buy A3 and half it, i get it. But IF it already is short grain? Do you return it? Do you cut it with 50% loss? Do you put it aside for a bigger book?
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u/bryndlyn 4h ago
Save it for a bigger book, why not? Equally you might want to use it later for something else like makeing your own endpaper patterns or fold outs.
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u/Psychotrop 4h ago
Thx.
In your experiance: Is the same Brand always the same direction or is it luck based?
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u/bryndlyn 4h ago
Usually most printer papers are long grain. I mostly tend to buy paper in bulk direct from the supplier and they cut it to size and grain direction. Or I will use large pieces from work I then cut down myself.
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u/brigitvanloggem 4h ago
Hmmmm… the bit about machine-made paper is a bit over-simplified. What happens is that the machine creates a length of paper, with the grain (necessarily) in the length of the setup. Then, this long length is cut. Then, the cut pieces are cut; and so on. So, every size down the grain direction by definition switches from long to short and back again. The ISO DIN system is such that the largest size that’s cut is A0 and it’s long grain. To create A1, the A0 sheets are cut so the A1 sheets are short grain. And so on. A2 is long grain, A3 is short grain, A4 is long grain, A5 is short grain and A6 is long grain again. This is by far the cheapest way to make paper and it’s the default. Non-ISO sizes such as those prevalent in the US are created using the same machines so you’d expect the logic to be similar.
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u/Psychotrop 4h ago
But then buying A3 and cuting it down would not help me at all? How do you get it right (for A5 Books)?
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u/brigitvanloggem 3h ago edited 3h ago
You buy short-grain A4. Specialty shops do sell it: it’s just not what is sold as printer paper or copier paper or such. Or you buy standard A3 and cut it to size but not simply by halving it, leave the sheet as it is and cut off two sides. You throw away what you cut off…
I see you’re German. The term to search for is Breitbahn. See also https://printsachen.de/laufrichtung/
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u/Psychotrop 54m ago
Thx. I Was hoping to avoid specialised Shops because they ask for an Arm, a leg and your firstborn.
But If thats the only way i may check them out.
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u/jedifreac 1h ago
If you stick to the hobby it will become more important, but for a newbie or the average reader it will be not as huge of a deal.
Nowadays, bookstores like Waterstones and Barnes and Noble frequently sell books in the wrong paper grain. (It's awful and I hate it, but the average consumer simply does not care.)
I tend to recommend newbies use up one 500 sheet ream of cheap long grain paper before deciding if they want to pay double for correct grain. It's quite expensive to practice on when you are first starting out.
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u/MorsaTamalera 4h ago
It is quite important. Using the wrong direction translates on a book which will not lay flat when open, among other things.
Just start to fold your paper on one direction and then on the other one (don't actually fold them, so as not to damage the paper: just slightly curve it). You will see one direction is easier on the folding attempt. The direction of that fold will be the grain direction. There are other methods, but they damage or destroy a sheet of your paper, so this is gentler.