Overheard a guy at the craft store talking about grain direction

Was grabbing some binder board at Michaels last weekend and this older guy was telling his friend how grain direction matters for book spines. I always knew about grain but never really thought it through. He said if the grain runs the wrong way the book won't lay flat and the spine will crack after a few opens. I went home and checked three of my old projects. Two of them had the grain going vertical when it should have been horizontal. Now I get why those books always felt stiff. Has anyone else had to redo a whole project because of grain issues?

2 comments

2 Comments

graym4913d ago

You want the grain running parallel to the spine on a book, not perpendicular. I had to rebuild a whole sketchbook after I realized the pages were warping because I glued the wrong way. Now I always check the paper package for that little grain arrow before I cut anything.

butler.abby13d ago

Ask @graym49 if they've ever tried the tear test to check grain direction when the package doesn't have an arrow. I always tear a small strip from the edge of the paper and see which way it tears clean versus jagged. It's saved me from messing up a few times on those sketchbook projects where I bought loose sheets. Does that method work reliably for you, or have you found it tricky with certain paper brands?