Old bookbinder at the flea market showed me his edge folder, changed my whole setup

Saw this guy at the Sunday market in Portland, selling vintage journals. I asked about his crisp corners. He pulls out this beat up bone folder, edge worn smooth. Said he's had it 40 years, never bought a new one. Let me try it on a test sheet. Night and day compared to my plastic one. He told me the secret is the rounded tip, not the flat side. I use the flat side for creases too, all wrong. Went home, sanded down my cheap folder to match his shape. Took me like 20 minutes. Now my corners lay flat on the first pass. Anyone else ever get a free lesson from a stranger that beat every tutorial you watched?

1 comments

1 Comment

keith_rodriguez22d ago

Honestly, that story says more about materials than technique, nobody talks about that. Plastic folders flex too much, so they never build that worn-in sweet spot a bone tool gets after years of use. Sanding yours is smart, but the real lesson is that cheap tools can become great ones if you stick with them long enough.