Thread: Hide glue pot

Plenty on Ebay

For example https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Antique-...frcectupt=true

Hope this helps, Jeff

Edit, sorry I missed the Electric bit.
You can buy Electric heater pads for these.

I use a bottle warmer (for baby's bottle).

Grtz,
Tom

Verstuurd vanaf mijn BLA-L29 met Tapatalk

They are available from the US .
For me there has been huge changes in the way I use Hide Glue .
I would now only use a traditional glue pot if I wanted to glue up a whole cabinet or table . Basically it’s if I needed that much glue . If it’s not all used it gets wasted with pots . And applying with knife , brush , stick is a pain .
I now like mixing up just what I need and using a jar or plastic bottle has proved to be a lot better . Application out of a plastic sauce bottle or an eye dropper bottle is a lot less messy and easier .
And preparation by using old electric coffee grinder for grinding to a powder , placing ground glue in jar , pouring in hot water , sit jar in bowl of hot water , wait 5 minutes , stir , pour into plastic bottle , place that in bowl of hot water near the job . Is my favourite way .
A few weeks ago I needed a fair bit of glue and used a pot . I had one of my old copper glue pots and I tried using it in a bucket surrounded by 50 mm of sawdust for insulation . I used a scrunched up ball of bubble wrap for a thick insulating tennis ball size stopper . I was experimenting with how long I could keep it useable by keeping it warm for free . It lasted for half a day . I went and had lunch came back and kept going with it . It did need one water change . I emptied the cool stuff and re filled with boiling water from the jug . Had to place a rag over the sawdust and hold the sawdust in place .
I get a lot of joy from keeping every cent from the power company I can . My wife drives me nuts by putting the porch light on for the dog to take a ! Then it gets left on when she lets it in . FFS!!
Thats where my half a day without electrically heating the glue went .

Rob

Adam, I've got a 'good 'ol traditional' cast-iron double glue pot that you can have - haven't used it in many a year. They have their drawbacks, apart from needing a heat-source, they are hard to clean, and don't have lids (at least I've never seen any that came with a lid), which means your glue skins and is liable to contamination if left cool over-night.

I reckon the best bet for an amateur, particularly if you are new to hot hide-glue, is a wax warmer or bottle warmer. Wax-warmers are available from hairdresser suppliers for all sorts of prices, starting from not much. The ones from K-Mart et al are even cheaper, but looked a bit flimsy to me. You can probably find one 2nd hand for a few $$s.

They come in various sizes, but even the smaller ones hold plenty enough for any furniture glue-up job I've encountered. Their advantages are ease of use, a reasonably reliable thermostat, and convenience! They also have fairly well-fitting lids, so if you keep the cover on between uses, it minimises evaporation & skinning. Also, if you cover the pot at the end of the day, and leave it on for a few minutes before switching off, you'll kill off any stray microbes that have lobbed in, and your glue won't go off - just switch on & start using any left-over brew next day. Don't rely on any temperature scale marked on the appliance, use a reliable thermometer to check & mark the setting that gives you 60 degrees. Over-cooked glue is ruined glue.

I'm not recommending you use re-heated glue indefinitely, the generally-suggested working temperature for hide glue is 60C, which is the point where proteins begin to denature, and long exposure even to 'working' temperatures will cause some deterioration of your glue. It's good practice to mix a fresh batch each day, or at most every few days - you'll soon learn to mix the right amount & minimise wastage.

The wax warmer I'm using cost me $40 new & has been going for at least 12 years so far. The glue ate a hole in the aluminium inner container after a few years, but I found a cheap stainless-steel jug at a kitchen shop that was a good fit, cut it down, & problem solved.

Rob, I applaud your contributions to saving the planet, and to defend myself, I'll point out that my 'lectric pot consumes just a few watts, adequately supplied by our rooftop panels, unless it's a very dull day.....

Cheers,

I bought one of these glue pots directly from Music Caravan in the US: https://www.musicaravan.com/gluepot

It's easy to clean and perfect for small jobs.

I also bought the 110V hotplate as I already had a 110V voltage converter. You can buy laboratory heating plates really cheap these days. The ceramic surround got split so I just hold it together with a metal band clamp.

Get a wax pot from a beauty seller.

For example: https://www.auswax.com.au/lycopro-baby-wax-heater

Regards from Perth

Derek

Thanks everyone.

That's given me plenty of options and some great advice

Best regards.

Adam

Don't want to hijack the thread but what is the difference between the genuine hide glue which needs to be mixed with H2O & heated and the Titebond ready-made hide glue? Is Titebond's all "synthetic" ?

Yvan

Originally Posted by yvan

Don't want to hijack the thread but what is the difference between the genuine hide glue which needs to be mixed with H2O & heated and the Titebond ready-made hide glue? Is Titebond's all "synthetic" ?

Yvan

I think like shellac the ready made stuff has a shelf life.

Originally Posted by yvan

Don't want to hijack the thread but what is the difference between the genuine hide glue which needs to be mixed with H2O & heated and the Titebond ready-made hide glue? ...

Yvan

Yvan, that's a good question but Titebond won't answer it! The 'active ingredient' in the liquid stuff is dinky-di protein, same as the stuff you have to faff about with & cook, but with a few secret ingredients to help maintain its liquidity & preserve it. Wherever there is protein plus moisture, there's a good culture medium for fungi & bacteria, as anyone who has left mixed glue in a pot for a few days knows (I suspect most of us have done it, at least once or twice! )

Like so many things in our world, opinions abound, but facts are few. I've tried to discover what is actually in the Titebond brew, but truly reliable info is scarce. There are plenty of recipes for making your own liquid hide glue, and the most common recipes involve adding a salt like urea or common table salt to a water/glue mix - I imagine TB use a similar ruse.

Two things are certain, the bottled glue gives you more open time and more convenience, everything else is conjecture. Under ideal conditions, the bond is perfectly adequate, by all accounts, but it seems (& I use the word because I cannot find any objective test) that the liquid stuff is more moisture sensitive than the old-fashioned HHG. I find that plausible, because part of the additives' job would be to prevent premature 'drying' in the bottle, so they will have an effect on the way the 'dried' glue interacts with water.

Reversibility of the bond, and the fact that a protein glue will bond to itself (quite the opposite of 'synthetic' glues) are their strengths, which is why HHG is used a lot (but not exclusively) in instrument-making & for fine furniture that's expected to last a few generations. Both may need a bit of repair at some stage of their lives, and having reversible glues is a great help, as folks like Auscab will affirm. The general consensus among instrument makers is that the liquid stuff is inferior, but apart from the (apparently) greater moisture sensitivity, I can't find any objective reasons why.

For an amateur like myself, the bit of extra faffing with HHG is not a problem, I'm not working at commercial pace, preparing the glue is a pleasant ritual that gives me extra thinking time, & it adds to the 'mystery' of what happens down in grandpa's shed....

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

Adam, I've got a 'good 'ol traditional' cast-iron double glue pot that you can have - haven't used it in many a year. They have their drawbacks, apart from needing a heat-source, they are hard to clean, and don't have lids (at least I've never seen any that came with a lid), which means your glue skins and is liable to contamination if left cool over-night.

I reckon the best bet for an amateur, particularly if you are new to hot hide-glue, is a wax warmer or bottle warmer. Wax-warmers are available from hairdresser suppliers for all sorts of prices, starting from not much. The ones from K-Mart et al are even cheaper, but looked a bit flimsy to me. You can probably find one 2nd hand for a few $$s.

They come in various sizes, but even the smaller ones hold plenty enough for any furniture glue-up job I've encountered. Their advantages are ease of use, a reasonably reliable thermostat, and convenience! They also have fairly well-fitting lids, so if you keep the cover on between uses, it minimises evaporation & skinning. Also, if you cover the pot at the end of the day, and leave it on for a few minutes before switching off, you'll kill off any stray microbes that have lobbed in, and your glue won't go off - just switch on & start using any left-over brew next day. Don't rely on any temperature scale marked on the appliance, use a reliable thermometer to check & mark the setting that gives you 60 degrees. Over-cooked glue is ruined glue.

I'm not recommending you use re-heated glue indefinitely, the generally-suggested working temperature for hide glue is 60C, which is the point where proteins begin to denature, and long exposure even to 'working' temperatures will cause some deterioration of your glue. It's good practice to mix a fresh batch each day, or at most every few days - you'll soon learn to mix the right amount & minimise wastage.

The wax warmer I'm using cost me $40 new & has been going for at least 12 years so far. The glue ate a hole in the aluminium inner container after a few years, but I found a cheap stainless-steel jug at a kitchen shop that was a good fit, cut it down, & problem solved.

Rob, I applaud your contributions to saving the planet, and to defend myself, I'll point out that my 'lectric pot consumes just a few watts, adequately supplied by our rooftop panels, unless it's a very dull day.....

Cheers,

I forgot to say thank you for your offer Ian. Based on the advice so far i don't think I'll be needing a traditional pot.

The disadvantages you mention, plus that the wax options above have more than enough capacity for my needs, has given me direction.

Best regards,

Adam

Originally Posted by taz01

I forgot to say thank you for your offer Ian. Based on the advice so far i don't think I'll be needing a traditional pot.

The disadvantages you mention, plus that the wax options above have more than enough capacity for my needs, has given me direction.

Best regards,

Adam

Since I made the same choice, Adam, I can hardly dispute your decision.

The old thing is totally superfluous here, but I'm reluctant to just throw it out, so if anyone wants to drop by & take it away, you're most welcome to it (warning: I'll probably try to slip a few more superfluous items in your boot at the same time....)

Cheers,

Originally Posted by yvan

Don't want to hijack the thread but what is the difference between the genuine hide glue which needs to be mixed with H2O & heated and the Titebond ready-made hide glue? Is Titebond's all "synthetic" ?

Yvan

Essentially, it is the addition of urea, which aids in open time.

Regards from Perth

Derek

This one seems to work: https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Pro-500m...frcectupt=true