PSA: Someone told me I was sanding my book boards wrong for years

I had a guy at a craft fair in St. Louis look at my books and say my edges were too rounded from too much sanding. He showed me how to use a sharp knife to trim the cover material instead of relying on sandpaper, and it made my corners way sharper. Has anyone else swapped out sanding for more trimming and seen better results?

2 comments

2 Comments

lily51113d ago

Oh man, I used to be totally against trimming the cover material because I thought it would leave raw edges that fray or peel over time. I was convinced sanding was the only safe way to go, but after seeing how much cleaner the corners looked on a friend's books, I tried the knife method on my last batch. The difference is night and day - my edges are way crisper and I actually save time because I'm not spending forever smoothing them out with sandpaper. I still use sandpaper for cleanup, but like 90% less than before. It's one of those things I wish I'd learned years ago.

derek_burns13d agoProlific Poster

I switched to using a sharp utility knife and a fresh blade for each book and never looked back.