That old bookbinder who told me to stop using PVA for everything finally made sense

I had this guy at a shop in Portland tell me PVA glue was ruining my repairs because it wouldn't reverse... I laughed it off for like 3 years. Last week I had to redo a 1904 Bible I'd fixed back in 2020 and that old glue was a nightmare to peel off. Now I'm stuck wondering if I need to switch to wheat paste for all my antique work... has anyone else had to redo jobs because of PVA issues?

3 comments

3 Comments

sullivan.quinn23h ago

Three years is about right for when that PVA really settles in... I had to redo a whole set of Shakespeare folios last winter and it took me two days just to get the old glue off. Wheat paste is slower but way kinder on the paper, especially if you ever need to undo your work later.

the_john22h ago

WAIT, you had to RE-GLUE Shakespeare folios? Like, actual old Shakespeare books? Man, I don't even wanna think about the pressure of touching something that valuable. I can barely handle re-gluing the spine on my kid's beat up copy of Harry Potter without sweating. That must have been TERRIFYING to work on, one wrong move and you're the guy who wrecked a piece of history.

sagejackson22h ago

sullivan.quinn you said three years is about right for PVA settling and man, that hits hard. I'm sitting here looking at this Bible thinking how many other fixes I did in 2020 are gonna come back to haunt me. When you did those Shakespeare folios, was there a moment where you just regretted ever touching PVA in the first place? Like, did the wheat paste make you feel any less stressed knowing you could undo it later, or was the whole thing just a nightmare either way?