My cover board split on a commission piece last Tuesday

Cole Miller · 2026-03-22T13:25:08.097525+00:00

I was finishing a custom leather journal for a client, pressing the final cover board into place. The board was a standard 2mm Davey board I got from Talas in New York. I heard a quiet crack and saw a clean split right down the middle, ruining the grain of the leather. I had to carefully peel everything back, scrape off the old paste, and start the cover from scratch with a new board. Has anyone else had a specific board supplier let them down like this recently?

skylerp205mo ago

Just a bad board, happens to everyone. Aaronowens gets it.

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aaronowens5mo ago

Nah, humidity feels like an easy excuse lol. Sometimes you just get a bad board from a batch, it happens. Blaming the air in your shop seems like a stretch.

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anderson.sandra5mo ago

That's such a gut punch, especially on a final step. Maybe it's just me but I've wondered if humidity swings in the workshop could be a hidden factor, like the board absorbing moisture unevenly before you press it. Could make it more brittle in spots.

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