Glues you can use

Occasionally I glue notes, receipts, reminders, and drawings into my notebooks. After my glue stick that I had been using failed to keep a strong bond, I decided to conduct a glue test.

The good news is that all of the glues below worked with the 3 different notebooks I tested.

Glues

Glues I tested

I purchased the 3 commercial glues at Hobby Lobby. The fourth glue is wheat paste recipe.

Wheat paste is a flour-based adhesive that has been used by book binders throughout the world for centuries. Traditionally, a larger quantity of paste is cooked on a stove. I found a couple of microwavable recipes online, and the one below is what I use. It results in a small amount, perfect for a couple of small projects. It’s not always convenient to mix up paste, so I use all of the other adhesives above too.

WHEAT PASTE RECIPE

  • 1 Tablespoon distilled water
  • 1/2 Teaspoon white flour

Place the water and flour in small bowl and stir well. Microwave for 10 seconds and stir again. Repeat this process 3-4 times, for a total of 30-40 seconds. Give the paste a final stir. Apply a thin layer of paste with a small brush.

Notebooks

Notebooks I used for testing

I currently use 3 notebooks for different purposes.

  • Paperblanks Midi, 120gsm, blank pages – used for sermon notes.
  • Moleskine Large Art Sketch, 160gsm, blank pages – used for work notes.
  • Notes for Learning, 160gsm, dot grid – used for bullet-journal style scheduling and tasks. I create these notebooks myself.

Method

I printed small strips of 120gsm paper (which I use for regular printing) and printed the glue types on the strips.

I applied the various glues to the strips and pressed them into the notebooks.

After 48 hours I pulled off the strips. All of these glues worked well and adhered well to the paper.

Results

Paperblanks
Moleskine
Notes For Learning

Final thoughts

Knowing that all of these glues are effective means that I can use them interchangeably. The easiest to use, and probably the one that I’ll reach for first, is the Elmer’s glue stick, followed by the Elmer’s Glue-all.

Resources

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