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Three years back I was fixing a 1908 hymnal for a church in St. Louis.
I kept getting tiny air bubbles under the new leather spine, no matter how careful I was. Finally tried warming the paste in a water bath before applying it, just like my grandma used to do for pie crust. Has anyone else found that a specific temperature works best for paste?
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the_tyler7d ago
Ever try a drop of dish soap in the paste? It breaks the surface tension so the paste flows into the pores instead of trapping air.
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rowan_thomas841mo ago
Actually, temperature matters less than how long you let the paste sit before you use it. Letting it cool down and thicken up a bit for ten minutes after mixing makes a huge difference. That thicker paste doesn't soak in as fast, which gives you more time to work and helps stop those bubbles. The warm water bath trick is good for keeping it workable, but the waiting step is the real key.
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