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Last week at the bindery in Cleveland, a customer brought in a 1920s prayer book that had been repaired three times with modern glue. The spine was a mess, the text block was falling apart. I told her the old timers would have resewn it on cords and skipped the glue entirely.
Three years ago I took a workshop with a guy named Harold from Boston who taught hand sewing only, no adhesives at all. He showed me how a properly sewn book can flex for decades without cracking, while glued spines fail within ten years. Last week I had to fix a 2018 case bind that someone used PVA on, and the whole thing just snapped in half. Has anyone else had better luck going back to sewn bindings over glued ones?
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mitchell.terry13d ago
Respectfully, I've had way better luck with modern PVA over sewn bindings in my shop. Adhesives have come a long way since the old days and a good PVA joint can outlast sewn cords if applied right.
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anna_carter5313d ago
Right but are we even thinking about how modern adhesives handle long term humidity shifts compared to old school thread?
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