I still use animal glue for spine lining and I don't care what anyone says

Honestly, everyone acts like PVA is the only way to go now, but I had to pick between that and traditional hide glue for a big rebind job last month. I went with the hide glue, the kind you have to heat up in a double boiler. It was a pain, sure, and my shop smelled like a barn for a day. But the flexibility it gives the spine as it sets is just different. I did a full leather binding on a 1908 poetry collection, and that spine moves like a dream. A guy at a meetup in St. Louis told me I was wasting my time and that modern stuff is stronger. Ngl, maybe it is, but for a book that's meant to be opened and read, not just sit on a shelf, I think the old way works better. Has anyone else stuck with animal glue for specific jobs, or am I just being stubborn?

3 comments

3 Comments

riley_miller257d ago

Oh man, you're not alone at all. I had this old family bible from the 1880s with a totally shot spine. I used hot hide glue for the repair, and the difference is wild. That book opens so flat and easy now, where a stiffer glue would have just fought it. Yeah it's a hassle to work with, but for the right book, it just feels correct.

richard_anderson7d ago

Ever think about how the glue choice changes how a book ages? I've seen old library books with PVA that got brittle and cracked at the hinge after 30 years. The hide glue ones from the same time often just get stiff, but you can sometimes soften them back up with a bit of damp heat. That's a fix you can't really do with the plastic stuff once it fails.

mila_brown107d ago

Totally agree, it's a huge deal. I had a 70s cookbook where the PVA just turned to dust, the whole spine block fell out in one piece. But my grandpa's old workshop manual from the 50s used hide glue. It was rock solid, but a warm, damp cloth over the hinge for a minute let me gently open it again without a crack. That plastic glue is a dead end once it goes.