That time I glued my fingers to a book board at 2 AM

I was rebacking a 1910 encyclopedia at my kitchen table and used PVA that was way too thick. Spent 20 minutes with my thumb stuck to the spine while my coffee got cold. Has anyone else had a glue disaster with older books?

2 comments

2 Comments

hugo_jones216d ago

Hold up - were you using bookbinding PVA or just regular craft glue? Cause I've found the cheap stuff gets way too tacky on older paper and you're basically asking for trouble. Might be worth switching to something with a longer open time (like Lineco or something similar) if you're working with brittle pages that can't take the stress.

karenw9016d ago

You ever try mixing a tiny bit of water into the PVA before you start? Sounds like yours was basically paste straight out of the bottle, which is a nightmare on old brittle spines. I've had luck thinning it down just enough so it's still tacky but not instant death the second you touch it. What kinda brush you using? Cause a stiff bristle brush will just pull the glue around and mess everything up, you need something softer to avoid ripping the paper.