Paper grain direction - do you actually plan around it or just wing it?

I spent years just grabbing whatever paper was handy and cutting it without thinking. Last month I finally decided to test both methods on a run of 6 hardcover notebooks. For half of them I carefully matched the grain parallel to the spine, and the other half I cut cross-grain like I used to. After seeing the cross-grain ones warp and refuse to lay flat even after pressing overnight, I'm seriously rethinking my whole approach. But some old timer at the shop told me grain only matters for larger formats, not small notebooks. Anyone here actually check grain direction on every project, or do you skip it for certain sizes?

3 comments

3 Comments

anthony_jackson3118d agoMost Upvoted

Buddy of mine ruined an entire art show portfolio that way.

victorhernandez18d ago

Yeah it definitely depends on size. I had good luck with A6 notebooks ignoring grain too, but once I tried it on some A4 sketchbooks they went totally wavy on me. Ever since I've just made sure to match grain direction when I go bigger than A5 and haven't had a problem since.

waderamirez18d ago

That old timer's got a point about size mattering, but I'd push back on it being the whole story. I've made a hundred or so A6 notebooks where I didn't bother with grain direction and they came out fine, barely any warping. But then I tried the same thing on a batch of B5 sketchbooks and those things curled up like potato chips after a day. What size were those notebooks you tested? I'm wondering if there's a cutoff around A5 where grain really starts becoming make or break, or if paper thickness changes things too.