Blew out the spine on a family bible because I rushed the glue pot

A woman brought in her grandmother's bible last week, and the spine was already cracked in two places. I thought I could fix it fast, so I turned my glue pot up higher than I should have and the old hide glue went on too hot. The next morning the whole spine had warped and pulled away from the text block, and I just stood there in my shop in Boise feeling sick. I called her and told her straight what happened, no excuses. She was quiet for a bit, then said her mom would want it fixed right, not fast. So I took the whole thing apart, cleaned off my mess, and sewed it back with linen thread the slow way. Anyone got a trick for judging glue temp when you are in a hurry?

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amy_foster561d ago

The line about turning your glue pot up higher than you should have hits home, I did the same thing on a 1890s ledger last year. Get a cheap candy thermometer and clip it to the pot, hide glue wants 140 to 150 degrees and once it hits 160 it turns watery and soaks in wrong. I keep a small cup of cold water next to the pot too, if the glue drips off the brush in a thin stream instead of a slow blob, it is too hot, so I stir in a splash of water and pull the heat. Taking ten seconds to check the temp beats spending two days undoing the damage, learned that the hard way.

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