Found a mistake in how I was measuring spine width for years

I was using the total page count instead of the paper thickness for my flatback journals. A customer brought one back saying it wouldn't open right and that's when I measured the actual stack - I was off by 3 millimeters on a 200 page book. Has anyone else run into this issue with their own calculations?

2 comments

2 Comments

williams.jenny19d ago

Well I mean is it really that serious? Yeah maybe you were off by 3 millimeters but most people probably wouldn't notice unless they were really looking for it. The customer who brought it back sounds like they were being picky honestly. I've been making books for fifteen years and I still have some that are not perfect and nobody complains. If your books are opening and closing fine for the most part then I think you are overthinking this. Paper thickness can vary a lot between batches anyway so you are never going to get it exactly right every single time.

garcia.tyler20d ago

Yeah I learned that one the hard way too but it actually helped me figure out why my glue wasn't sticking right on some books.