That time I tried to fix a 1920s textbook with wood glue

Last month I picked up a beat-up 1920s chemistry textbook at a thrift store and thought I could save the spine with some wood glue I had laying around. The glue seeped through the fabric and now the cover feels like a hard plastic shell, it's totally ruined. Has anyone here found a good method for reattaching old cloth covers without ruining the look?

2 comments

2 Comments

lindaw299d ago

Wood glue was probably the worst thing you could have grabbed for that. Regular wood glue dries hard and brittle, it's meant for furniture not fabric. You need something flexible for book cloth, like PVA adhesive or even just plain old white glue that says it's acid free on the label. The whole point of old cloth covers is they have some give to them, they're not supposed to feel like a plastic shell. Going forward, test any glue on a tiny hidden spot first before slathering it all over the place. Sometimes the best fix is just leaving the damage alone and storing the book flat instead of trying to Frankenstein it back together.

brooke5339d ago

Ended up in a similar mess with an old poetry book a few years back... tried regular white glue on the spine and it turned into this weird crusty mess that cracked the first time I opened it. Had to carefully peel chunks off with a damp cloth and a toothpick, which took forever and still left some residue. Switched to PVA glue after that and it's like a completely different world... stays flexible, doesn't yellow, and if you mess up you can just wash it off with warm water while it's still wet. That acid free label really matters too, learned that the hard way when some spots on another book started darkening around the glue seams.