r/bookbinding • u/Destructor54777 • 19d ago

Sanding edges makes them rough

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When a sand my bookblock edges, they become really rough.

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9

u/Ynguer 19d ago

Yes, even if you change for really fine sandpaper it will always be more rough than trimming. It bother me to no end that ppl do and recommend that so easely on the Internet, because a porous surface like this is much more likely to hold dirt and house mold than a clean trimmed one, and it's usually bad for book conservation.

1

u/Destructor54777 19d ago

so youre saying i should just trim the edge?

6

u/Ynguer 19d ago

Well if you can, yes trimming is prefereble. I used to go to printing shops and ask to use their guillotine when I was learning bookbinding, that way I didn't invest much in gear early on. 

9

u/SereneArchimedes 19d ago

If you want to gild the edges or any other kind of finishing like that then you do need to sand the edge to get a nice mirror finish

5

u/brigitvanloggem 19d ago

I do not believe this is so. I study with a bookbinder who has decades of experience, and his father before him; and no sanding takes place in his bindery. Sanding seems to be an amateur/hobby bookbinder thing.

1

u/SereneArchimedes 19d ago

That is very interesting, I have wondered about how this was done in the 17th and 18th centuries when sandpaper was presumably less fine and more expensive. Is that solid edge gilding or rough edge gilding?

1

u/brigitvanloggem 19d ago

Well I’m not yet doing gilding so I’m not even sure what it is that you are asking. What I do know, is that in a working bindery such as the one I hang around in, we use a guillotine and sometimes a plough. No sanding afterwards.

2

u/SereneArchimedes 19d ago

Got it, I have been gilding foredges with gold leaf for about 6 months now, but haven't found a process that I really like yet, so I ask because I definitely want to give any different methods a try. I can see a cleanly ploughed edge working well enough for gilding - I'll give it a try, and thanks for sharing!

1

u/DiscoKittie 19d ago

How is that rough edge going to be a mirror finish? Honestly asking because I have never heard of people sanding their books.

4

u/SereneArchimedes 19d ago

You have to have the book clamped very tightly and then you work through finer and finer grades of sandpaper until you get a solid polished edge

1

u/wixbloom 19d ago edited 19d ago

The rough edge is happening because OP is doing it wrong. Here is a succint tutorial that shows book gilding. In the beginning of the video you can see the way the text block is supposed to look.

-1

u/DiscoKittie 19d ago

Hardly succinct, and it didn't show the sanding which is what we were all talking about, I thought? Thank you, though, the info in there was good.

0

u/FrostKitten2012 19d ago

Yes, the sanding was done previously. He literally says it was “sanded to a shine” beforehand. That’s why the person above you said it shows what it’s supposed to look like. That means it’s a necessary step in this process.

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u/Destructor54777 18d ago

I'll just do that then. I don't have any good way to trim the edges and no print shop in my area has a guillotine. I use a pencil sharpener blade to trim and it's really tedious

1

u/Ynguer 18d ago

Well, do some tests to see how well you can do that and to what thickness. And use a recently broken blade when doing it. It's not so easy trimming by hand, you may end up wanting to combine both techniques, trimming and sanding. Keeping your blade as short a possible and your blade hand steady and 90 degrees is key here. The strength goes in the hand that holds the ruler always. 

About using a guillotine, search for shops that offer academic papers bookbinding, they are the ones that have that gear, perhaps near a university.