The glue debate: PVA vs. paste, what's your take?

I had a conversation with a 70 year old binder named Frank at a guild meeting in Portland last month. He told me he only uses wheat paste for everything and said PVA is the ruination of the craft. I've been using PVA for years and never had a problem, but he showed me a book he did in 1985 that was still holding up perfectly with paste. It made me wonder if I've been cutting corners without realizing it. Does anyone here use paste exclusively, or am I overthinking this?

3 comments

3 Comments

nathan9011mo ago

I met Frank at a guild thing in Denver once, and he told me the same thing about paste.

jasonallen1mo ago

Frank's a smooth talker, I'll give him that. But he told me the same paste story at a hardware expo in Phoenix a couple years back, and then again on a zoom call last spring. Third time around I started noticing little details that didn't add up. He said the paste was a special blend from some old German recipe, but then he couldn't name a single ingredient when I pressed him. The guy works an angle, plain and simple. I bet if you compared notes with everyone who's heard that spiel, you'd find he changes the story just enough to keep it fresh but the core is always the same sales pitch.

kimr741mo ago

Wait till you hear what happened to my buddy Mark! He actually ran into Frank at a coffee shop in Austin and got the exact same spiel about paste. Wild how consistent Frank is, right @nathan901?