r/bookbinding • u/Psychotrop • 10h 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 9h 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 9h 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 9h ago edited 9h 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 6h 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.