Advantages of hide glue?

[George Neill]

- Hide glue is worry free; you can slop it all over the shop with no fear of it resisting dye/stain. A quick wipe down with a hot cloth when all is done and any spills, drips or squeeze-out is removed. With PVA, you are always paranoid that you've missed a bit and it will spoil the finish. With the panic and worry factor removed, hide glue glue-ups can go quickly and smoothly.
- Hide glue open time can easily be extended well beyond that of PVA by the simple addition of a small quantity of urea or ordinary table salt.
- In its dry state, hide glue has an infinite shelf life, so you can buy it in bulk and save.
- The best glue pot I have ever owned is an electric wax pot. Wax pots can be bought on eBay, new, for as little as $28. The wax pot is more efficient than commercial glue pots; the glue can be brought up to working temperature in under 15 minutes which is hardly an inconvenience if you plan a head a little. With the tight fitting lid on a wax pot, glue will remain usable for at least a week.
- If only using the glue sporadically, any unused glue can be put in the freezer until next required.

[Larry Feltner]

Quick question. I've seen comments that liquid hide glue is not considered real hide glue. Aren't they exactly the same thing except liquid hide glue has urea added to it so it doesn't set up in the bottle?

[George Neill]

Correct, the commercial liquid hide glues that I'm aware of just contain urea. You can easily make your own. I occasionally make some from leftover hot glue rather than put it in the freezer.

[John Coloccia]

The problem with LHG, particularly Titebond's, is you really have no idea how the stuff has been handled and stored before you get it. I think Old Brown is a little better in this respect. You will get all the advantages and disadvantages of hide glue with urea in it (Old Brown, at any rate....I don't know what Titebond uses). Titebond is going to spend significant time being shipped in trailers, and things like that. It gets pretty hot in there on a summer day. 140 degrees plus? Maybe....I'm guessing so.

People have consistently had mixed results with Titebond's LHG for whatever reason. Sometimes it works great, and sometimes it's an issue. I don't know why. I do know that there are many complaints about failures, and certainly complaints about the glue staying sticky or becoming sticky and gummy under moderate heat.

I'm just trying to convey information I've collected. I don't know much about Titebond's version. I also don't read much bad....any bad, actually....about Old Brown.

[George Neill]

It's so simple to make; I don't understand why anyone would actually buy commercial liquid versions and run the risk of it being out of date or otherwise damaged.

[Federico Mena Quintero]

It's so simple to make; I don't understand why anyone would actually buy commercial liquid versions and run the risk of it being out of date or otherwise damaged.

How would one go about making some?

[George Neill]

Depending on the gram strength of your animal glue, adding 5-20% of urea by weight will create liquid glue. You can also use ordinary table salt to make liquid glue.



I would suggest you experiment with these additives to determine which works best for your glue/temperature/humidity.

[Federico Mena Quintero]

Depending on the gram strength of your animal glue, adding 5-20% of urea by weight will create liquid glue. You can also use ordinary table salt to make liquid glue.

Oh! I was asking about how to make hide glue itself. Sorry for the confusion.

[George Neill]

Oh! I was asking about how to make hide glue itself. Sorry for the confusion.

Ah OK; boil up some roadkill skin and bones then let it cool. Scoop off the fat and detritus and boil again. Clean the muck away for a second time and you will be left with gelatin – which is what animal glue is.

[Rich Engelhardt]

I don't recall what it was that sparked me to look for info on this topic.
It may actually have been this thread - since the thread is a couple of months old.

I ran across this real gem in the process of looking at hide glues/gelatin glues:

http://www.archive.org/stream/chemis...age/2/mode/2up

You can read or download the whole book.

I thought it was an interesting read - based on the perspective of old time honored glues vs what would have been the "new and improved" stuff - PVA, which was discovered in 1912. The copyright of the book is 1922.
While I don't recall seeing a direct reference to PVA, the author spends a lot of time and effort pointing out the sheer volume of sales/distribution/use of hide glues.

Anyhow - thought I'd share the link.

[Jerome Hanby]

All of my glue seems to be hide glue. Soon as I buy a new bottle, it stops hiding...