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PSA: Ph neutral glue is not always the better choice

Everyone pushes that line of PVA ph neutral glue for everything. But I just finished a run of 30 textbooks from the 1960s and the acid free stuff was peeling right off those old coated covers. Switched back to my older Elmer's Carpenter's Glue and it held solid after 3 days of pressing. Has anyone else run into this with vintage paper stocks?
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2 Comments
grant_torres
Jumped on that bandwagon too a while back, thought ph neutral was the holy grail for everything. Then I tried fixing up some old paperback covers from the 70s and the acid free stuff just didn't grab right. @patricia385 hit the nail on the head with that house paint comparison, sometimes the old formula just works better with older surfaces. I've started keeping a bottle of the standard carpenter's glue around for anything that's got that weird coated or glossy cover stock. It's like the new stuff wasn't even designed for that kind of material, it just sits on top instead of bonding in.
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patricia385
Three decades of house paint taught me the new stuff ain't always better.
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