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Tried to repair a 1950s encyclopedia set and the spine glue turned into a science experiment
So last month I got my hands on this full set of old World Books from a garage sale in Portland. Thought I'd be clever and fix the broken spines with some PVA I had laying around. Nope. The heat wave hit and the glue literally turned into this gooey mess that dripped down the pages. Looked like a slime attack. Had to peel each volume apart and start over with hide glue. Anyone else ever have glue behave completely different based on weather?
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robertsmith10d ago
Whoa, that sounds like a nightmare. I remember reading somewhere that PVA glue is basically temperature sensitive plastic, so a heat wave probably turned it into liquid rubber. I've heard of people using fish glue for old books since it stays flexible but doesn't get runny. My buddy tried fixing a 60s set of encyclopedias with hot glue once and it cracked like glass after a month in a dry room. You're not alone, weather totally screws with adhesive chemistry, especially with old paper that's already brittle.
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