Messed up a leather spine yesterday and learned the hard way about glue temp

Was working on a rebind of an old novel in my garage shop around 2pm. I got lazy and didn't wait for the PVA to cool down after warming it up. Ended up with this ugly seeping stain through the leather right on the hinge. Had to peel the whole thing off and start over with fresh material. Anyone else had glue temp ruin a cover like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

zara_hill4613d ago

Wait, you actually warmed up the PVA? I've been doing this for like 6 years and I've never even thought about heating glue for leather. That sounds like a disaster waiting to happen honestly. I just use my PVA straight from the bottle at room temp and it's never given me any seeping problems. The fact that you got a stain through the leather on the hinge makes me cringe so hard because that's like the most visible spot on a rebind. I bet you felt that peel in your soul when you had to rip it all off. Props for just starting over instead of trying to cover it up though, that takes guts.

theawest13d ago

You gotta wait for the PVA to drop back to room temp after warming, that heat forces moisture right through the leather grain. I keep a little infrared thermometer gun in my shop now just to check before brushing anything on a hinge. Once you've peeled one of those off you never forget that sinking feeling of wasted hours and materials.