Boiled my own wheat paste and now I'm never going back to store bought

Everyone in my guild kept raving about the fancy pH neutral PVA from the art supply shop, so I spent 6 months using it on all my rebinds and repairs. Then last month I got cheap and decided to try a traditional wheat paste recipe from a 1920s manual I found at a flea market near Portland. Cooked it on my stove with just flour and water, added a tiny bit of glycerin, and it took about 20 minutes to get this smooth, glossy texture. My spine joints came out flatter, the covers settled without that annoying ripple I always blamed on humidity, and it wiped off my bone folder like nothing. Even left it open overnight and it didn't warp the boards, which the PVA absolutely did on my last two projects. Honestly, the stuff costs pennies per batch and I can control the thickness for every single step. Has anyone else ditched modern adhesives for old school paste, or am I just nostalgic for a messier workflow?

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