Same here man, binders were a total game changer for me too.

Honestly I push back on this a little. Yeah the power issue is a real thing but if you had proper UPS monitoring and logging you would have seen the voltage drop way before troubleshooting for weeks. A good UPS with network management gives you a timeline of exactly when and why power events happened. Not saying it's a bad find, just that the tools should have caught this day one.

Did you also suddenly find traffic jams deep and meaningful?

Three weeks ago I watched a guy at my local coffee shop slap an industrial-grade adhesive on a torn paper menu. The thing was already peeling and bubbling two days later. It's like people forget that different materials need different glues the same way you wouldn't use wood glue on your toast. Methylcellulose is the same deal - it's gentle enough for old paper but still holds tight because it dries flexible. PVA is great for heavy book boards or endpapers but on a fragile 1920s hinge it's like using a sledgehammer on a nail.

Get a spray bottle with just a little bit of dish soap in the water, that's the key. The soap keeps the caulk from sticking to everything and lets you slide the spoon right over it without pulling it up. I also dip the spoon in the soapy water between passes, makes a huge difference. You gotta work fast though cause once the caulk starts to skin over it'll get all lumpy and messy. Another thing I learned the hard way is to tape off both sides of the joint with blue tape first, then pull the tape off right after you smooth it. Gives you those perfect straight lines every time.