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Wasted $40 on a "premium" bookbinding glue that dried all wrong and ruined my first hardcover project.
Turned out the pH was way off and it ate through my endpapers after three days, so now I just stick with basic PVA from the craft store - anyone else have a glue that totally failed on them?
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nelson.vera9d ago
Honestly that's rough, sorry that happened to you. Ngl I had a similar experience with a fancy German brand that was supposed to be archival safe. Turned out it crystallized after a month and the whole spine cracked like old plastic. Tbh the $4 bottle of Lineco PVA from the craft store has never let me down, it's all I use now for text blocks and hinges. Just make sure you get the pH neutral kind, some of the basic white glues are actually acidic and will wreck your paper over time. pH strips are cheap and worth testing any new glue on scrap before you commit to a full project.
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aaronsullivan9d ago
pH neutral" sounds like the good glue's secret handshake. I swear some of these fancy brands just charge you extra for a sticker that says "archival" and call it a day. After spending $30 on a tube that turned my book cloth into a petrified sponge, I just use the dirt cheap stuff from the hardware store and slather it on like it's going out of style. If my future grandkids find a glued-up mess, they'll at least know I had fun making it.
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Learned that lesson the hard way myself - $35 down the drain on a glue that turned my endpapers into confetti, so now I test everything on junk paper first like a paranoid grandma.
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