Thread vs. glue for hinge repair, picked wrong the first time

I had an 1880s hymnal with the front hinge completely loose, and I went back and forth between sewing it back with linen thread or just using PVA glue. I tried the glue first because it was faster, but it failed after a week when the spine cracked again. Then I took it apart, resewed it with 18 gauge linen thread, and added a Japanese paper hinge, and that thing feels solid now. Has anyone else had better luck with one method over the other on older books?

2 comments

2 Comments

karen_sanchez491mo ago

Wait till you've done this a few dozen times before you declare a winner. Glue fails on old books because the paper is brittle and the spine flexes, but thread lets the whole thing move without fighting it. That said, you could've also just glued it right with the right clamp and it might've held fine, so it's not like one method is always better.

amy_anderson1mo ago

Oh man, that takes me back. A buddy of mine tried the glue-only route on a 1920s poetry book his grandma gave him. It held for about two weeks, then the whole front cover just kind of peeled off like a banana skin when he opened it. He was so mad he almost threw the thing out, but then he re-sewed it with some linen thread and it still sits on his shelf today, opening flat and everything. So yeah, @karen_sanchez49, I hear you on the thread thing, but I also agree it depends on the book. Some pages are just too far gone for either, honestly.