Tried using PVA glue for a spine hinge after years of wheat paste - wish I'd done it sooner

I've been binding books for about 6 years now and always used wheat paste for my spine hinges because that's what the old guy who taught me did. But last month I had a project with this really heavy text block, like 400 pages of thick art paper, and the wheat paste just wasn't cutting it. The hinge felt weak and I was worried about it snapping after a few opens. So I caved and bought a bottle of Lineco PVA from the craft store down on Main Street. I glued up the hinge and let it dry overnight and honestly the difference was night and day. The spine flexes way smoother and the whole thing feels solid, not like it's gonna fall apart after a year. I still like wheat paste for paper repairs and stuff, but for a heavy book that gets used a lot, PVA seems way better. Has anyone else switched and found cases where you still prefer paste over PVA?

3 comments

3 Comments

grace_white18d ago

That 400 page art book would've been fine with wheat paste if you let it cure longer.

umamartin21d ago

I switched to PVA for hinges about two years ago after a 500-page poetry book just flopped open on me. The wheat paste still wins for mending old pages or working with leather though.

riley_west21d ago

That 500 page poetry book opening up on you must have been gutting. I had a similar thing happen with a 300 page novel that just wouldn't stay shut no matter what I did, and I ended up re-gluing the whole spine with PVA too. Wheat paste is still my go to for fixing old paperbacks though, it just doesn't pull or shrink like PVA can. I've also found wheat paste works better for paper repairs on fragile pages where you don't want any stiffness. You're right that each glue has its own job and it's good to have both around.