Had to choose between PVA glue and paste for my last rebinding project

I went with PVA because I needed faster drying time for the spine lining, and it held up great even with the heavy endpapers, but has anyone had trouble with PVA cracking on a rounded back compared to paste?

2 comments

2 Comments

lisa_bennett12d ago

Honestly, the trick is mixing a little paste into the PVA for rounded backs - stops the cracking without losing the fast dry time.

the_charlie11d ago

Call paste into PVA every time and see how fast that dries when you're fighting against a humidity spike, @lisa_bennett. Plain PVA already takes long enough in winter, and you're adding thickener that needs more water to mix, which means longer wait times. For small work on a flat surface maybe it works fine, but for production stuff or rounded backs that need to hold shape fast, you're asking for sagging. I'd rather skip the paste and just let the PVA crack a little on the inside, then fill it with a second coat.

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