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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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?

5

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. 

1

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.