Pro tip: PVA glue for book binding is NOT the same as school glue

I was two hours into rebinding a 600 page fantasy novel on my kitchen table when I realized my glue was bubbling up and turning white. Turns out that Elmer's school glue I grabbed from the kids' craft bin has too much water in it. Had to peel all the pages apart and start over with proper bookbinding PVA from a local art shop. Anyone else ruin a project by grabbing the wrong glue off the shelf?

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the_jade2mo ago

Haven't you ever used watered-down PVA on purpose for specific projects though? I've been using plain old Elmer's for years on paperback repairs and smaller zines and it works perfectly fine as long as you don't slather it on thick. The trick is to spread it super thin and press the pages with wax paper and heavy books while it dries. Your bubbling issue sounds more like too much glue than the glue being wrong. Maybe I've just been lucky but my 400 page cookbook rebind from last spring is still holding up great with school glue and no special treatment.

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