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I switched from PVA to wheat paste on my last 3 rebacks and I'm never going back to the white stuff
For my first 4 years of repairing spines I used straight PVA because it was fast and I could get a book back to the shelf in an hour. Last spring I picked up a 1911 dictionary at an estate sale in Boise for $8, and the spine was shot, so I decided to do a proper reback with wheat paste instead. The first thing I noticed was working time. PVA grabs in about 30 seconds and you get one shot to line up the text block, but paste let me slide things around for a couple minutes, which saved me on the second book when my hinge wasn't sitting square. It also dries way more flexible, so the book opens flat instead of cracking at the joint like some of my older PVA jobs. Downside is you have to cook it and it spoils in the fridge after about a week, and yeah it takes overnight to fully set. I've done 3 rebacks with it now and all 3 open clean with no creak. So what's your mix ratio? I'm doing 1 part flour to 4 parts water and wondering if I should add a drop of clove oil to keep it from going bad so fast.
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