The old timer who schooled me on grain direction

Met an older binder at a shop in Portland about 8 years ago. He watched me cut a board for a quarter leather binding and asked if I knew which way the grain was running. I shrugged and he just grabbed a scrap, wet it with his thumb, and showed me how it curled. He said 'grain runs the same way on paper and board, fight it and your joints will crack in 6 months.' Never had a hinge fail since that day. Anyone else get a simple tip that saved you years of trial and error?

3 comments

3 Comments

mila_harris1mo ago

That little grain direction trick really is a game changer though, isn't it? Sounds like that guy saved you a lot of headaches down the road.

jake_torres6828d ago

Oh man that reminds me of this time I was helping my buddy build a bookshelf and he kept flipping the same board over and over trying to figure out which way the grain was running. We spent like 20 minutes just staring at this piece of pine before his dad came over and showed us the trick about looking at the edge grain and it was one of those moments where everything just clicked. So yeah I get what you're saying, sometimes the little stuff nobody tells you about makes the biggest difference once you actually run into the problem yourself.

the_brian1mo ago

Nah I gotta be honest I don't really see it that way. Knowing grain direction is useful if you're building furniture that's gonna sit in one spot forever, but for most stuff people move around or repurpose, it's not that deep. I've seen so many beginners get paralyzed trying to get grain perfect when they could just grab a different board or flip it around and be fine. It's a nice thing to know but calling it a game changer feels like overkill to me.