Why does nobody talk about how spine liners from different suppliers have totally different stretch amounts?

I had a batch of 20 books warp on me last month because I switched to a new brand of mull without adjusting my pressing time, so has anyone else found a reliable way to test liner behavior before committing to a full run?

3 comments

3 Comments

victorhernandez2d ago

Twenty years in the trade and I learned this the hard way back in 2002. I had a run of 50 books from a new mull supplier and half of them came out warped because the material had way more give than my usual stock. Best test I found is to cut a small strip of the liner, wet it, and let it dry clamped to a flat board. If it shrinks more than a few millimeters, you need to adjust your press time or glue amount. I also keep a sample book from every batch I finish with the liner details written on the endpaper so I can go back and compare. It saved me more than once when I switched suppliers.

danielowens1d ago

Man, that's rough. A whole run of 50 books warped like that is the kind of thing that keeps you up at night. That test you described with the wet strip of liner is smart, I never would have thought to check shrinkage that way. Keeping a sample book with the liner details is a good habit too, I've started doing something similar with my own projects. It's the small tricks like that which separate the guys who've been burned from the ones who haven't yet.

joseph_bailey1d ago

Buddy of mine lost 30 books to the same thing, took him years to figure out it was the liner.