Spent 6 hours trying to fix a spine hinge gap I created with cheap glue

I grabbed some PVA glue from the craft store instead of my usual stuff last month. Turns out it dries too brittle and my text block pulled away from the spine after 2 days. I had to cut the whole thing open, scrape off the old glue with a putty knife, and redo the rounding and backing from scratch. Took me 6 hours across two nights just to get it back to square one. Has anyone else had a bad batch of glue ruin a project?

2 comments

2 Comments

maxb461mo ago

The glue isn't really the problem here, you just used the wrong type for the job. PVA works great for hinges if you let it cure slow and don't stack the text block too tight.

terryr461mo agoMost Upvoted

Gotta disagree with @maxb46 on this one. PVA is fine for a lot of things but hinges need something with more flex. You get temperature changes or humidity swings and that rigid bond just cracks. Had it happen twice before I switched to a mix of PVA and wheat paste. Still cures slow but gives you room to move. Stacking pressure matters too but I think the glue chemistry is the bigger factor here.