Tried using PVA instead of wheat paste for a repair last week

I was fixing an old 1920s novel for a customer last Thursday and ran out of wheat paste halfway through. Figured I'd try PVA glue since it was right there on my bench. The spine cracked two days later and now I have to redo the whole thing from scratch. That was a $40 mistake and a lesson I won't repeat. Has anyone else had a glue job come back to bite them?

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2 Comments

veraj531mo ago

Thinned PVA works. Straight out the bottle ruins everything.

7

mason.brian1mo ago

Hold up - did you use PVA straight out of the bottle or did you thin it down a bit? I've had decent luck with PVA on book spines but only after mixing it like 60/40 with water.

2