Changed my mind about using PVA for spine linings after a bad experience with a 1950s novel

Used to swear by wheat paste like everyone in my guild, but after a humid summer made three books go wavy on me, I switched to PVA last spring and haven't looked back, so has anyone else gotten pushback from traditional binders for ditching paste?

2 comments

2 Comments

james_ramirez22d agoTop Commenter

Blew my mind that you actually got pushback for switching. I've had binders tell me PVA is "cheating" but like, my books don't fall apart in the heat so who cares. Was the guild stuff real hostile about it or just side-eye?

adam_hernandez22d ago

Wait were they actually hostile about it or just giving you the side eye? I've run into both types. The hardcore traditionalists who act like you're burning a book if you use anything but that old gelatin glue. PVA is way more practical for most of us. I had a guy at a guild meetup literally tell me my books were "less valid" because I used it. Like dude, your 18th century recipe might look nice but my books survive a car trunk in July. I don't get the gatekeeping. We're all trying to keep pages together, right? If your bindings hold and your customers are happy, who cares what glue you use. The whole "cheating" thing is just silly, especially when half those purists can't even get a consistent PH level in their own paste.