That binder who told me to stop using wheat paste for everything was right

I used to be one of those people who swore by wheat paste for every single book project. Leather, cloth, paper joints, you name it, I was mixing up a batch. Then this older binder at a workshop in Portland last April pulled me aside and told me I was ruining my spines by using something so stiff on flexible materials. I got defensive at first, but she showed me how my last three rebinds had cracks forming right along the hinge because the paste wasn't giving at all. So I switched to a PVA mix for the spine area and kept wheat paste just for paper-to-paper stuff. It hurt my pride a little, but my books are actually lasting way longer now. Has anyone else had to give up a favorite adhesive for something more flexible?

2 comments

2 Comments

wyatt8626d ago

Reminds me of the time I had to switch from hide glue for a whole year.

max8086d ago

and that straight up sucked for you @wyatt862. hide glue is such a pain to get dialed in and once you get used to it switching to anything else feels wrong for months. i remember when i had to use pva for a whole project because i ran out of hide and it never felt right, always checking for creep or weird failures. the smell alone is enough to make you miss the old stuff, that ammonia and hide odor just hits different in the workshop.