Hide Glue In 2015?

[Daniel Rode]

I read a blog post by Joshua Kline extolling the virtues of hide glue today. I use PVA glue 99.9% of the time for woodworking. The other .1% is 2-part epoxy. The arguments for using hide glue to replace PVA glue are pretty convincing for my furniture building. Reversibility, sustainability, adjustability. It's non-toxic and has some attractive working properties. The reversibility would have been nice more often than I'd like to admit. I wonder what the downsides are?

Is anyone here regularly using hide glue?

[Winton Applegate]

I use it. I like it.

Down sides :
Set up time/waiting for glue to melt.
An extra tool is required : A melter/glue pot/baby bottle warmer works super well.
Waste/glue can mold and it gets old and a portion of it may need to be discarded.
Smell; some people don't like it

[Judson Green]

I use the liquid hide glue most of the time. Warm it up in hot tap water for about 5 minutes before use, basements kinda cold these days. Hopefully some day I get the real stuff.

Try a bottle of the liquid stuff and get your toe wet.

[John Coloccia]

Hide glue is a bit inconvenient to use, though if you use it all the time it's not that bad. It can get brittle with age. That said, basic furniture and cabinetry joints have so much surface area, and are generally mechanically sound on their own if they're to be stressed, that this is generally not a problem in practice.

I'm not a fan of liquid hide glue, but if you're going to try it, at least get Old Brown. It's probably the best liquid hide glue out there.

[Jerry Thompson]

I use it about 75% of the time.

[Curt Putnam]

The biggest downside, for me, is that it loosens with either heat, or water, or especially both. If the joint is going to be finished or buried inside a carcass then you are just fine. I haven't yet needed reversibility yet, so for me, it's case of just as good as without a compelling reason to switch.

[Glen Johnson]

It is great for veneering and for small pieces because of its quick tack time. I keep it in my garage shop in the winter. I have a small crock pot with three setting. I put the hide glue in a cup and water in crock pot to make a double boiler. When I turn on my kerosene heater to heat my garage, I also tun on my hide glue on a timer. It is ready to use when I need it. When the weather warms up, the glue goes bad fast in warm weather and I switch to PVA glue or make small batches. If you get hide glue on your clothes, it washes out. I also keep PVA glue around for convenience. I also like hide glue because if it gets on the surface during glue ups, it cleans up better and does not show through as much when finishing. I also like how I can store the pellets until I need a new batch of fresh glue.

[george wilson]

I used it to veneer a large harpsichord I made in 1970,as well as in the rest of the construction. The harpsichord case was veneered with very dark mahogany banding,with maple stringers surrounding highly figured Cuban mahogany panels. The glue came completely through the veneer. There is nothing wrong with this happening. Indeed, the correct way of veneering with a veneer hammer involves putting hide glue on the outside of veneer as well as beneath it.

To this day,the veneer is as well stuck down as the day it was done. I saw a piano which the maker had tried to veneer with contact cement. The veneer had come loose in bubbles the size of foot balls. When pushed back down,the veneer would make a sticky sound and pop back up. Years ago Fine Woodworking published an article stating exactly that this would happen with contact cement. There would be no way to conveniently rescue a mess like that!! The maker had missed that article!

This hide glue coming through the veneer did not affect in the slightest the color of the veneers(I did,of course,scrape the glue down,but it still permeated every pore of the veneers). This is a great advantage of using hide glue. Just about every other glue will show up big time after a finish is applied.

It is also transparent to sound transmission when making violins or guitars. It does not creep under load,as in where the acoustic guitar neck,or the violin neck joins the body. The hot hide glue is the best for this acoustic transparency,as liquid hide glue always maintains a bit of flexibility when dry. Hot hide glue is hard and crystalline. It will last thousands of years if kept from moisture. It was used in Ancient Egypt. Well kept articles glued with it are still together. I mean things retrieved from King Tut's tomb and the like.

The main downside is you have to make it fresh or it will rot. I keep left over dissolved hide glue in the fridge for 3 or possibly 4 days,but after that,it rots and must not be used. What I do is mix some in a smaller glass bottle,which I put into my electric glue pot in hot water. This keeps the glue pot like new,and I can remove the bottle to refrigerate it.

[Daniel Rode]

It's more popular that I expected. Seems like the downside to using hide glue is time to heat it and that it goes bad quickly. The smell may be unpleasant but I doubt I'll notice.

George, I've done a little veneering with PVA glue but nothing complex nor have I even tried hammer veneering (yet). I never knew that the glue came all the way through the veneer. I'm really surprised to learn that it didn't effect the color at all.

The rotting after a few days is a real issue for me as I'll often only get out to the shop on weekends. I'll get 1 glue-up and and have to toss the rest but I'll have it all weekend.

I might give the liquid hide glue a try first and see how it goes.

[John Coloccia]

It's more popular that I expected. Seems like the downside to using hide glue is time to heat it and that it goes bad quickly. The smell may be unpleasant but I doubt I'll notice.

Everyone talks about the smell. Unless you're making gallons of glue at a time, it's a very mild and fain smell, about like making chicken stock.

[ken hatch]

I use both, liquid hide glue is good with most of the hot hide glue upsides and has some advantages but when able I will use hot hide. Winton covered the down sides.

One of the big advantages of hot hide glue is the ability to do "rub" joints, another is it's great for taking care of bleeding fingers :-).

About the only time I use something other than liquid or hot hide glue is when making cutting boards or something that will stay wet.

[ken hatch]

It's more popular that I expected. Seems like the downside to using hide glue is time to heat it and that it goes bad quickly. The smell may be unpleasant but I doubt I'll notice.

George, I've done a little veneering with PVA glue but nothing complex nor have I even tried hammer veneering (yet). I never knew that the glue came all the way through the veneer. I'm really surprised to learn that it didn't effect the color at all.

The rotting after a few days is a real issue for me as I'll often only get out to the shop on weekends. I'll get 1 glue-up and and have to toss the rest but I'll have it all weekend.

I might give the liquid hide glue a try first and see how it goes.

Just make what you need for the weekend plus just a bit. If you have extra at the end of the weekend put it in the fridge and it will last several weeks, test by seeing if it "strings" between your fingers, if it does you are good to go. Most of the down sides can be easily overcome with just a little paying attention and the upsides are worth the small extra effort.

[Winton Applegate]

Try a bottle of the liquid stuff and get your toe wet.

For phalangeal application I prefer Gorilla glue but that's just a personal preference.

[Winton Applegate]

it's great for taking care of bleeding fingers

I have no facts to draw on but I would be concerned about infection.
At the very least if you start to have an insatiable craving for alfalfa or find your self jumping over your neighbors hedges often you might want to stop applying hide glue to wounds.

PS: in hind site I get better results for hedge jumping with oats anyway and the alfalfa gets all over my fingers and stains the wood green.

[Dave Anderson NH]

I use both hot hide glue and Old Brown Glue depending on my laziness factor and how much gluing I intend to do. One of the big things I like about hot hide glue when hammer veneering is that the glue on the top side is a fantastic pore filler which when dry is transparent and does not interfere with finishes. Doing rub joints is also convenient since it means no clamps. Over all there is a long list of advantages to hide glue including the fact that the high gram strength versions actually produce joints stronger than any glue except epoxy.