Spine glue failed on a batch of 10 books yesterday

I was finishing up a run of 10 hardcovers for a local author in Portland and the PVA let go on the first 7 when I went to round the spines. Had to scrape off all the old glue and start over with a fresh batch from a different supplier. Anyone had bad luck with a certain brand of PVA lately?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_diana1mo ago

Ten books? Rookie numbers, I had a whole case of spine glue fail mid-run last month. Had to peel dried PVA off my fingers for a week, felt like a human glue trap. Honestly at this point I'm half convinced the supplier is just shipping us Elmer's in fancy bottles. At least you caught it before the author saw, right? That's a win in my book (pun absolutely intended).

susanb341mo ago

Right?! I had a batch of hardcovers last spring where the glue was like rubber cement, not hot melt. The spines split right down the middle when I opened the first one, pages flew everywhere like confetti. My boss made me hand-glue all sixty of them with a glue stick from the supply closet. My fingers were sticky for days, I couldn't even use my phone properly.

cora5181mo ago

Did you try using a hairdryer on low heat to soften that cheap glue before you start? I had the exact same nightmare with a batch of paperbacks last fall, and I found if you warm the spine just a little bit the glue gets tacky enough to re-stick without splitting. I spread them out on a table, did about 10 at a time with the hairdryer, then pressed the pages together and stacked heavy books on top overnight. Saved me from hand-glueing all 40 of mine, though my arm was still sore from holding that hairdryer for an hour.