Cowhide vs. book cloth on a restoration job - huge mistake

I tried using a scrap of cowhide to reback a 1890s ledger last week and it was way too stiff, cracked right down the spine after 3 days. Switched to a proper book cloth with a starch fill and it bent perfectly with the old text block. Anyone else found that leather on old books only works if it's actual goatskin or calf?

2 comments

2 Comments

david12314h ago

Kinda makes me feel better about the time I grabbed the wrong tube of glue and accidentally stuck my coffee mug to my workbench for a week. At least your mistake had a fix that didn't involve chiseling ceramic off wood.

rowan26218h ago

Is it just me or does this kind of thing happen in a lot of projects where people pick the wrong material because it looks tough? I see it all the time with folks trying to patch up old wooden windows with modern caulk instead of oil-based putty. The modern stuff just doesn't flex right and it cracks after a season. Leather and cloth have totally different jobs to do, and you gotta match the flexibility to what the old book or even an old house needs.