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ThePressGang-ink — Grain of bookbinding materials part 3
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Published: 2012-01-09 12:10:59 +0000 UTC; Views: 2496; Favourites: 24; Downloads: 0
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Description
This is the third and final on the grain of bookbinding materials.First part can be found: [link]
Second part here: [link]
See basic bookbinding equipment here:[link]
and paper weights here: [link]
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Comments: 7
sorry in advanced for the long-winded comment
I understand that having the grain of the materials run in the same direction probably makes them work nicer together, but is there a particular reason to make sure the grain runs vertically?
After a few minutes, I found myself theorizing reasons....
I remember a few books that were damaged by friends and floods, but judging by the 2nd method of determining grain direction, that would mean many of those books were made with the grain horizontal. Thinking about the differences, I'm going to guess it has something to do with the binding itself. Most store bought paper-backs are glued together without the use of stitching at the spine.
I find it's easier to rip a paper along the grain than against it, and it tears in straighter lines. But wouldn't that mean it's easier to cleanly tear out a page if the grain runs with the binding? I suppose the stitching would be more difficult to pull out, but if the stitches are too close or too tightly pulled, couldn't they cause that to happen on their own? Of course, if sewn properly, that probably isn't much of an issue...
Working with those thoughts/knowledge[?] my question would be what the particular reason is for grain direction, or the pros and cons of using other directions when working with machine-pressed paper.
I suppose I'm just curious for details :3 I hope I haven't come across insulting!!
I really want to try book-binding, and I hope to make my friend a journal with what I can learn.
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Wait, so how does that help me, knowing the grain of the paper? I mean what should I do with the information? Do I sew the paper in the direction of the grain? How do I do that?
Lol, sorry for asking lame questions but book binding seems to be fun and I want to know if I can make my job easier.
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No worries, it's not a lame question. Sometimes I'm not as clear as I should be.
The idea behind knowing the grain of the paper is that the final product will be stronger and last longer. If you bind books with grains going in different directions the entire book / project will warp and often become useless.
You can bind books without any knowledge of paper/material grain and they will be fully functioning books. It is much more important the larger the book.
The grain of all the materials should flow from the top to the bottom of the book (see the last picture). That means that when you sew you are sewing following the grain.
I hope that helps some. If not just note me and I can go into more detail and give you a couple of visual links.
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So that means that if the grain flows from the top to the bottom then I should sew the paper... 
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When you sew its the thread that follows the grain.
So where you sew the exposed thread will lay along / in the same direction as the grain.
Does that help? If not I will do a mini tutorial of it and send you a link.
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Oh, I got it, so the thread follows the grain, it makes sense now. I kind of feel bad cause I didn't understand immediately, it's pretty simple. 
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