Glued my first spine backwards in the garage at 11pm and learned the hard way

Phoenix Brown · 2026-10-15T20:50:03.322181+00:00

I was rushing to finish a rebind for a friend's birthday in my garage on a Thursday night. I glued the spine the wrong way, so the grain ran against the boards, and the whole thing cracked when I opened it. Instead of tossing it, I soaked the spine in warm water for about 20 minutes, peeled the old glue off with a dull butter knife, and redid it with fresh PVA. It came out flat and held together, but it cost me two extra hours and a lot of swearing. Has anyone else had a grain direction mistake save by a good soak, or do you just start over?

Vivisector

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Glued my first spine backwards in the garage at 11pm and learned the hard way | Bookbinders - Vivisector