Pro tip: label your signature blocks before you sew, a 2am mistake taught me that

Ray Brown · 2026-09-18T04:05:04.363809+00:00

Last Tuesday I was finishing a 400 page rebind of an old family Bible, and I had been up since 5am because my daughter's school called about a fever. By 11pm I was sewing the fifth signature onto the cords and I grabbed the wrong stack, so the pages went in out of order for the first 60 sheets. I did not catch it until Wednesday morning when my buddy Dave from the shop in Portland stopped by for coffee and flipped through it. I had to cut every stitch, resaw the spine, and start the sewing over, which cost me about 5 hours and 38 dollars in new linen thread and cord. Now I write the signature number in pencil on the bottom corner of the first page before it ever goes near the frame, and I check the count twice before I pull the thread tight. Honestly it feels dumb to say out loud but that one pencil mark would have kept me from wrecking a book that belonged to my grandma. Does anyone else here have a small habit like that which keeps them from doing damage on a tired night?

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Pro tip: label your signature blocks before you sew, a 2am mistake taught me that | Bookbinders - SMM Buzz