Glue failure on a rebind - ruined my weekend

Used PVA for a leather spine rebind last Saturday. Didn't check the humidity in my shop. The glue tacked up weird and the spine peeled off overnight. Lost about $30 in materials. Anyone have a go-to adhesive for humid conditions?

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2 Comments

blake_cooper5mo ago

Dude that sucks, I feel your pain. Had the exact same thing happen with a textbook rebind last summer, glue just turned into useless rubber overnight and I had to scrape it all off. Ended up switching to a humidity-resistant bookbinding PVA and keep a dehumidifier running in my shop now.

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ben4865mo ago

Scraping off old glue is the absolute worst, I've been there with a project that took three hours just to get the spine clean. That humidity-resistant PVA you mentioned sounds like the smart move though, because I swear summer humidity just destroys certain adhesives overnight. Have you ever tried adding a tiny bit of glycerin to your PVA in humid months, or does that screw with the tack? I'm still fighting with a batch of glue that turned gummy on me last week and I'm about ready to throw the whole bottle out.

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