That knife hinge I glued up last week warped overnight

I was finishing a small leather-bound journal cover last Wednesday and used a new batch of wheat paste on the hinge. By Thursday morning the spine had curled up almost a quarter inch at the top. Anyone dealt with warping from handmade adhesives and found a fix that doesn't require starting over?

3 comments

Log in to join the discussion

Log In

3 Comments

fiona_kim1mo ago

Wheat paste needs more time to dry before you close the hinge.

5

hannah3201mo ago

That whole "wheat paste needs more time" thing reminds me of a buddy who makes folk art frames. He glued up a big oak frame with his own paste, left it clamped overnight, and woke up to find it had twisted into a kind of wave shape. He ended up having to soak the whole thing in warm water to soften the glue, then press it flat under a ton of books for two days. He said next time he'd just let the paste sit out for an hour first, so it wasn't so wet. It's a real pain when the moisture plays tricks on you like that.

4

ivan_murphy801mo ago

Your buddy's gonna hate me for this, but that soak-and-press method sounds like way more work than just letting the paste sit out for an hour. I've messed around with homemade wheat paste on a few bookbinding projects and honestly, I always mix it thick as hell and apply it wet. Never had a wave problem because I close the hinge while it's still tacky and let the whole thing dry together. That moisture helps the fibers settle into place. Letting it sit out for an hour just makes it grabby and uneven in my experience. Plus, twice I've had paste dry out on the brush before I even got the hinge closed, and that's a nightmare to scrape off.

0