Patience is the real spine of bookbinding, not the glue

I was flattening a late 18th century text from a client in Salem and got impatient, snapped it shut like a paperback. The hinge tore clean down the middle, took me 6 hours of repair work with a fresh mull and paste. I read a forum post last week saying always open old books no more than 90 degrees, but I thought I knew better. That repair cost me $75 in materials and a whole Saturday, not counting the embarrassment of telling the owner. Has anyone else had a close call with a rare binding that made them slow down? How do you politely remind customers not to rush you on delicate work?

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the_emma24d ago

The "patience is the real spine" line kind of rubs me the wrong way, honestly. I've seen folks with tons of patience still wreck a book because they didn't know the 90 degree rule in the first place. Sounds like the forum tip was the thing that saved you, not the slowing down. As for customers, I just tell them the truth: rush it and you pay twice.

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bettys5124d ago

Ha, fair point, the tip did the heavy lifting. But patience is what keeps you from rushing the next one and screwing it up worse.

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