Tried using wheat paste instead of PVA for my last rebind and it worked better than I thought

I was working on a 1940s novel that had really fragile paper and I didn't want to stress it with standard glue. A guy at the Austin book arts center suggested I try wheat paste since it's reversible and way gentler. It took longer to dry, like overnight, but the pages laid flat and nothing puckered. Has anyone else switched to wheat paste for older books?

2 comments

2 Comments

bettyfox9d ago

Totally agree, wheat paste is way kinder to fragile pages than anything synthetic.

kim6939d ago

You mentioned wheat paste being kinder to fragile pages, and I think there's another reason it works so well that people overlook. Wheat paste is reversible which means you can undo it if you mess up or change your mind years later. Synthetic glues tend to bond permanently and can actually cause chemical damage over time that shows up as yellowing or brittleness. I learned this the hard way when I tried using a popular synthetic adhesive on an old paperback and the pages started turning brown around the edges within a year. With wheat paste you just apply it with water and it stays flexible enough to let the paper move naturally. It's honestly the safest option for anything older than twenty years in my experience.