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Thread: Hide glue in winter?

  1. #1

    Hide glue in winter?

    Does anyone use hot hide glue in the winter in unheated shop?
    Have been thinking of trying hot hide glue, but maybe I should wait till spring.
    My shop is in the unheated porch so it does get some residual house heat and solar heat during the day.
    Thanks.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    Charlotte, MI
    Posts
    1,523
    Lots of people refrigerate their hot hide glue in between uses, as it helps keep it fresh a little longer. It will gel quite a bit faster in use, so you'll probably have to warm up the joinery a little before applying the glue. Other than that, you should be fine.
    Your endgrain is like your bellybutton. Yes, I know you have it. No, I don't want to see it.

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by Reinis Kanders View Post
    Does anyone use hot hide glue in the winter in unheated shop?
    Have been thinking of trying hot hide glue, but maybe I should wait till spring.
    My shop is in the unheated porch so it does get some residual house heat and solar heat during the day.
    Thanks.
    Reinis,

    Yep, I do year around....But then I live in the Desert Southwest .

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Jan 2013
    Location
    Temecula,CA
    Posts
    442
    Quote Originally Posted by ken hatch View Post
    Reinis,

    Yep, I do year around....But then I live in the Desert Southwest .
    I also live in the desert and I would recommend liquid hide glue. You just heat it in how water for a couple mins and your golden. http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/pag...at=1,110,42965

  5. #5
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Newburgh, Indiana
    Posts
    918
    You should do your glue up inside if your wife will let you. The colder the wood, the faster the glue will gel when the glue is spread.
    Life's too short to use old sandpaper.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jun 2009
    Location
    Katonah, NY
    Posts
    191
    The answer to your Q will depend how much open time you will need - what exactly are you gluing. The cold ish porch will cause the hot glue to gell quite fast, maybe almost as fast as you can apply it, but if you are just putting two pieces of wood together, quickly, you should be fine. If you will need to fiddle the parts, maybe do it indoors, cause the cold will make the hot hide glue very difficult to pull off. I use hide glue often, but when doing bigger gluing jobs, I bring it indoors, and my shop is kinda semi heated.

    Russ

  7. #7
    To commercial shop owners the replacements for hot glue are big money savers. They kept at least one room really warm for gluing ,above 70 even in the coldest weather and material stayed in there overnight before gluing.

  8. #8
    I was taught to use hide glue around 1966 by a man whose family has made musical instruments since 1642. He liked to warm up the parts before gluing, even though it was not cold in the shop. In a cold shop I like to put the pieces to be glued on or near the heater so they are warm when the glue hits them. In your situation, Reinis, I would get one of the small electric cube heaters and warm the parts. I use this type of heater for gluing when it is cool in the shop, but I don't need the heater. Or you could take the parts into the house for gluing or warming.

    My friend Jake, no longer living, worked in a planing mill around 1935. He glued up doors (maybe veneered) at the shop. The gluing was done in a closed off room in the center of the mill and the room also had the furnace in it. He said it was sometimes 90 degrees in the winter. The heat wasn't wasted because it heated the whole mill.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Oct 2009
    Location
    McLean, VA
    Posts
    75
    I have also heard of people using electric blankets to get wood warm and to put over projects while the glue cures.

    I only use hide glue in the winter because its stays good longer in the cold shop. It goes bad quickly in the warm weather. I turn on my glue pot at the beginning of the day on a time and it self refrigerates in my cold garage when I am not working.

  10. #10
    Thanks for the advice!

    I think I will give it a try. I need to make some panels for the chests I am making so I will warm up the wood in the house and do rub joints on the porch when sun has warmed it up.

    Rub joints do not really need clamping, am I right?

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Reinis Kanders View Post
    Thanks for the advice!

    I think I will give it a try. I need to make some panels for the chests I am making so I will warm up the wood in the house and do rub joints on the porch when sun has warmed it up.

    Rub joints do not really need clamping, am I right?
    Reinis,

    You are correct for hot hide glue, with liquid hide glue you would need clamps. For rub joints I use 251 gram strength glue from TFWW.

    ken

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