Used to press every signature by hand with a bone folder, now I use a $30 bamboo folder and my shoulders thank me

Grant Ross · 2026-10-12T03:50:04.060855+00:00

For the first two years I was binding at my kitchen table in Portland I pressed every single signature down with an actual bone folder, the real deal from a shop that closed in 2019. My right shoulder would ache for a day after a big book, and I just figured that was part of the deal. Then last month a binder at the Rose City meetup handed me her cheap bamboo folder and told me to try it on a test block. I swear the thing glides better than my bone one, and here is the part that bugs me, it cost $30 while my bone folder was $52. I still use the bone folder for corners and tight spots where I need a hard edge, but for running down a full signature the bamboo one wins. My shoulder stopped hurting after two books, and I finished a 300 page rebind in about 4 hours instead of the usual 6. Not saying bone folders are bad, I still love mine, but I wish somebody had handed me a bamboo one way earlier instead of me toughing it out. Has anyone else switched tools and felt dumb for not doing it sooner, or is it just me?

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Used to press every signature by hand with a bone folder, now I use a $30 bamboo folder and my shoulders thank me | Bookbinders - Librear