Talked with a retired binder from the 60s last week and he laughed at my PVA glue setup

He told me he used to make his own wheat paste from scratch every morning and said the smell alone taught him more about paper grain than any book ever could, and now I'm wondering if I rely too much on modern stuff - anyone else ever switch their glue method and notice a real difference?

4 comments

4 Comments

henrycooper2mo agoMost Upvoted

Yeah @elizabethhayes my buddy used wheat paste on a barn sign and it lasted ten years.

blakem372mo ago

Secret sauce" is pretty on the nose. I did a fence mural with wheat paste like five years ago. It's still there, just a little faded. The trick is you gotta seal it with a clear coat after it dries or the rain will wreck it fast. My buddy skipped that step and his peeled off in two weeks.

elizabethhayes2mo ago

Is wheat paste just the secret sauce we're all missing? Maybe the old school methods actually do have some magic.

lopez.simon2mo ago

Buddy of mine tried wheat paste on a plywood board for a mural. Stuff held up through three rainstorms and a heatwave before he took it down himself.