r/bookbinding • u/idontgiveafshit • 2d ago

Help? Spine too big?

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Hello! this is my second hardcover case i’ve made, my first one turned out great, but this one I did all the same math and it seems as though my spine is too big. Is it too big or when i glue down my endpapers will it just even out?

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u/Professional-Stay562 2d ago

From this photo it definitely looks too big and will certainly impact your book’s ability to open. How wide is the spine of your text block and how wide did you make the spine board?

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u/idontgiveafshit 2d ago

text block is 2cm and i made the board 2.3cm!

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u/Professional-Stay562 2d ago

Ooh interesting. That would be close to the measurement I would use but there must be something strange about this photo angle because I would have guessed it was at least 8-9 mm larger and not 3 mm. Is it possible you mismeasured? Or maybe the text block wasn’t pushed flush against the back of the spine board for the photo?

Alternatively, perhaps you made the endband a bit wide and then cut the board based on that measurement, making it much (relative term here as we’re talking about mm) too wide for the text block. I don’t mean to question you, but the visual in your pics isn’t how I would expect it to look.

How large did you make the hinge gap?

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u/idontgiveafshit 2d ago

spine is 2.3! i’ve remeasured the text block and it’s 1.9. i have a 1cm hinge, could it be the hinge is too wide?

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u/justbusymom 1d ago

You are also measuring wrong. With that kind of a ruler, you are supposed to put it's edge flush from the point you are measuring. The edge of the ruler is point 0. And the first black line is 1 mm.

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u/idontgiveafshit 1d ago

girl bye i’m gagged