That old bookbinder in Denver told me to stop using PVA glue for leather hinges, I argued for a week, then tried wheat paste and it held way better after 6 months.

He saw me messing up a red morocco binding at the Rocky Mountain Book Fair and just shook his head, said PVA makes leather brittle over time, and now my test cover from back in March is still flexible while my old PVA ones from last winter are cracking already, has anyone else switched to wheat paste for their leather joints?

3 comments

3 Comments

reese_singh874d ago

Wait, you had a bookbinder call you out in public like that? I've been messing with some old cloth bindings and started using wheat paste for the spine linings, stuff dries way harder than PVA ever did for me.

rileyjones4d ago

Stuff dries way harder than PVA" is exactly what I found too. I switched to wheat paste for my cloth spine linings last year and it's held up way better than any PVA job I ever did.

jana_henderson5212h ago

Wait, have you tried the PVA with a longer tack time? I get way better adhesion that way.