Would love to discuss the using of hide glue...

[Glen Johnson]

I would also add my two cents. I like having it around for veneering small pieces. It is much easier to hammer veneer a piece than to haul out the veneer press. I also like that it gets tacky fast and that I can hold a couple of small pieces together until the glue sets in a few minutes. Then I can set it down and let it cure. I have a small crock pot with three heat settings. I also have it on a timer so that if I forget to turn it off, it wont overheat. I put a cup of hide glue in water in the crock pot and turn it on when I am in the shop. This work well in the winter when I do most of my woodworking. The hide glue keeps well in the cold shop. When the weater warms up, the hide glue will go bad quickly if it is left out. I also keep a bottle of Titebond around.

[John Coloccia]

In the guitar world, Titebond's Liquid Hide Glue has been tried over and over and over and over again, and it's served up failure after failure after failure. Yes, we all know about the expiration date...that's not the problem. There's very little joinery on a guitar. We depend on TIGHT joints, and glue performance. Other than the neck joint, every joint on a guitar is either edge joined, a lamination or a scarf. That's it....no m&t, no dovetails, no lap joints...no real joinery of any kind. If it's going to fail, we'll see it. It does and we do, and it happens so often that it's almost become kind of an inside joke. When a beginner announces he's going to use it we all just kind of shake out heads and snicker and then try to discourage him. We also try not to say "we told you so" when summer time comes along and the guitar starts falling apart.

Old Brown seems to do better. One glue that's gained some traction is fish glue, because of it's long open time. Good for bindings and other time consuming procedures, but more sensitive to moisture and it can make a stringy, tacky mess as it sets up.

I think too much is made about the process of hide glue, though. It's just not that hard. Mix it up a little thick. Stick it in the glue pot...add water to taste. You'll have to keep on adding a little water during the day anyhow. It's just not that critical, though. I don't mix in any salt, but if I need a little extra time I do pre-heat my parts with a heat gun. That can buy you a good amount of time.

[Mike Henderson]

Authentic for reproductions back to around 1900.

The first industrial production of UF glue for the woodworking industry was in 1931 by BASF in Germany. It probably was not commonly used in factory furniture until a few years later.

Mike

[bob blakeborough]

Old Brown seems to do better. One glue that's gained some traction is fish glue, because of it's long open time. Good for bindings and other time consuming procedures, but more sensitive to moisture and it can make a stringy, tacky mess as it sets up.

I think too much is made about the process of hide glue, though. It's just not that hard. Mix it up a little thick. Stick it in the glue pot...add water to taste. You'll have to keep on adding a little water during the day anyhow. It's just not that critical, though. I don't mix in any salt, but if I need a little extra time I do pre-heat my parts with a heat gun. That can buy you a good amount of time.

A good friend of mine who builds violins, violas, cellos, etc says exactly the same thing. He mixes his own hide glue and also uses fish glue. He convinced me to try the fish glue and I now have a bottle in my fridge but have yet to give it a go.

[Matt Lau]

Since posting, I've moved to cold, foggy SF.

One of the local luthiers (Brad Heinzen) pointed me to fish glue...and I quite like it. Another has pointed me to titebond i.

I greatly prefer hot hide glue for braces--easy repairability. I've had luck with jointing the soundboard and back. Also, the bridge.

I don't like it for stuff where it'll take a while to setup--especially where rite bond works better--bindings, neck laminations, fretboard.

I don't build much though.
It'd be nice to try venering sometime.

[Kees Heiden]

I have used hot hide glue a bit, did one big project with M&T joints which was fun to do. I wonder though, how about complex dovetail joints? If the open time is just 1 minute, maybe 2 when the parts are hot, how do you get the wretched thing covered in glue and joined together?