Finally matched my headband with my spine after 7 tries

I've been trying to get a clean headband and spine match on this 1890s poetry book for weeks. Finally figured out the leather was too thick for the first 6 attempts, so I thinned it down to about 1mm. Last night I got the gold tooling to line up perfect for the first time ever. Has anyone else fought with a tricky spine and headband combo that just would not cooperate?

4 comments

4 Comments

daniel_lane301mo ago

Wait, Japanese tissue fixed it? I've been using whatever scraps I had and never even thought about the tissue thickness being part of the equation.

cora_scott772mo ago

Thinner leather changes everything but nobody talks about how the spine lining itself can throw off your headband alignment. I had this massive fight with a Victorian novel last month. Kept getting the headband sitting a half millimeter too low. Turned out my spine lining was too thick and adding that extra bulk. Stripped it down to a thin Japanese tissue and bam. Headband and spine tooling finally sat flush. Sometimes it's not the leather's fault.

blake6912mo ago

Spine lining thickness is always the silent killer. But what really gets me is when people don't account for how the sewing support itself changes the geometry. If you're using a hollow back with a stiff linen versus a flexible cotton, that's a whole different beast for headband alignment. Had an 18th century binding where the cords were too recessed after rounding, and the headband cap kept pulling loose because there wasn't enough support behind it. Had to shim the spine with a thin piece of card stock before the lining just to get the headband to sit right. Lining thickness matters, but the stuff underneath it matters just as much.

jessica_ross381mo ago

Oh man, "silent killer" is right, but I think you're onto something even bigger there with the sewing support. What nobody ever seems to mention is how the lining thickness changes over time. I've had bindings where everything was perfect when I put it together, then six months later the headband is all wonky because the lining compressed or shifted. The card stock shim trick is smart, but I've started using a really thin mylar strip between the lining and the spine to keep that geometry stable for decades. It's got no give at all, so the headband stays put even if the leather or cloth starts to relax.