My old teacher told me to always use PVA glue for endpapers

She said it was the only thing that would hold up over time. I followed that for years, but a book I bound in 2020 started to show a tiny bit of pull at the hinge after heavy use. A binder I met at a craft fair in Boise said to try a wheat paste mix for more flexibility. I switched and my last three books feel way more solid when you open them. Has anyone else found a better glue for heavy-duty hinges?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_lisa1mo ago

My old mentor in Portland swore by pure PVA for everything. I had a whole batch of sketchbooks from 2018 where the first few pages started to lift after a year of daily use, just like you said. Switched to a 60/40 mix of wheat paste and PVA on a binder's advice, and the difference is night and day. The hinge moves with the book now instead of fighting it. That craft fair binder in Boise gave you solid advice.

the_wyatt1mo ago

Totally. That pure PVA just gets brittle. I had a custom journal fall apart after six months, the spine cracked clean. Switched to a similar mix for my own stuff, maybe 70/30 PVA to rice paste. The flexibility is everything. Pages lie flat without that weird tension. Never going back.