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Had a run of spine glue failures last Tuesday that made me want to quit
I cracked open 3 books I bound last month and the hinges were all separating - turns out my PVA had skinned over in the bottle and I didn't notice. Anyone else ever get blindsided by batch consistency issues?
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the_dylan28d ago
Temperature swings in my workspace made my glue go bad way faster than usual.
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piper91229d ago
Actually the skinning issue is usually from not squeezing the air out of the bottle before closing it. PVA needs to be stored with practically zero air contact or it'll form that crusty layer on top every time. A quick tip is to transfer it into smaller squeeze bottles so you use it up faster and keep the air out.
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jordang3228d ago
piper912 has a good point about squeezing the air out, but actually that skinning thing isn't just from air. Modern PVA glues have a chemical reaction that happens when they dry, not just from evaporation. So even if you squeeze every bit of air out, the glue can still start curing in the bottle if it sits too long. I've had a bottle of Titebond II that was barely used form a skin on top after a few months, even with the air squeezed out and the cap on tight. The real fix is using a larger bottle with a pump mechanism, or just buying smaller bottles so you use them up before that curing kicks in.
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