Thread: what do you think of titebond liquid hide glue ?

G'day Jake,
Liquid hide glue isn't the way to go I'd reckon.
It's basically used because its liquid at room temperature, instead of heating up the pot.
If I were ever to build something that I wanted to last for a cupla hundred years, I'd do what the old folks did, and use proper hide glue.
Just my opinion.

Ubeaut sell a good Pearl Hide glue......just to add some interest.

What Noel said
Cheers Tony.

Spot on Noel, the old style hot glue has stood the test of time.
Jim

+1 for the original pearl hide glue. Good stuff.

(I heat mine in a beautician's wax heater bought new on ebay for cheap.)

Greg

I am not sure if hide glue is the way to go, because of the stresses on the joints I have seen hide glue break down over time particular for the people who rock back on chairs. The performance of the life of a chair is dependent on how it is construction, are the joints doweled or mortise and tenon, the type of timber used and the accuracy of the joinery.
Recently I was asked to look at repairing a expensive imported chair that had come apart, it appeared that what ever adhesive was used it was not compatible with the timber.
I was not confident that I could repair it successfully and decided to pass it onto the experts and engaged a "chair doctor" to have a look and repair it, this particular chap has a business just repairing all sorts of chairs but mainly antiques. He uses on all their repair work 2 pack epoxy.
Just for what it is worth
Mac

Are you guys hidebound or what?

I'm with Mac on this one.
I served my time using hide glue not much else available and cheap.
I can remember a few times re gluing items that had hide glue fixing. In particular, curing squeaky stairs. It was always fairly easy to remove the old glue blocks fixed with hide glue, usually a whack with a hammer or pry off with a chisel.
I wouldn't dream of using it now. There are so many better alternatives.

For chairs as Mac said, epoxy. For re fixing glue blocks under a squeaky stair I'd go for stud glue. Marvelous stuff when looks don't matter.
Cheers
Bill

Thing is, Bill & Mac, some chairs, because of their design, are going to rack & fail at the back, whatever glue is used. If you use epoxy, it will probably be something other than the glue that fails. If you use hide glue, at least it's easy to repair.
You could say that if it's going to fail anyway, it's not worth repairing.

Can't give any advice re titebond liquid v traditional hide glue I'm afraid.

Where I can buy first grade hide glue? It is very clear and pale. I find lot of hide glue sources on net but neither one say if it is first or second grade. I need hide glue for composite bows.

Originally Posted by apricotripper

After a hide glue for my chairs, so they can be easily repaired.

And a tip o' me hat to yer, Jake for thinking of the future. Liquid Titebond Hide Glue is repairable and has a decent open time. I like dabbling with the pot, but for production work the Liquid Hide may be the go.

Bill+Mac the fact is Jake was asking about hide glue and not what's the best glue
available. sure there's stronger glue on the market.but as far as reparing a chair sometime down the track I know wich glue I would use.
Cheers Tony.

Anyone using anything but hide glue on antique furniture should be stuffed feet-first through a thicknesser!

PVA and epoxy are indisputably stronger glues, but that's not the point; hide glue is perfectly strong for the function of gluing a chair together and more importantly, it can be reversed for the purposes of restoring the piece in years to come.

Anyone who sticks a chair together with epoxy so they can rock back on it deserves a broken chair leg up their knot hole.

Liquid hide glue is, to all intents and purposes, as serviceable as hot hide glue. It is only marginally more susceptible to high humidity, so unless the furniture resides in the tropics, there will be no noticeable difference in strength of the glued joints.

I notice billbeee is from Darwin; maybe that's why he has had poor results with hide glue. Having said that, many thousands of fine pieces of antique Indian furniture survive to this day and they were made with hide glue of sometimes dubious composition (Sacred Cow glue?)

Wot WW sed. Though not sure I like the idea of feeding miscreants through thicknessers backwards. Blood does terrible things to good tool steel!

Jake - why do you want to use the liquid stuff rather than brew your own - is it for the convenience? The old double boiler is a bit of a PITA, & I recently got a wax pot too, after another HG thread about a year ago. Wish I'd done so years ago. I suppose it's a bit harder for you to waltz into a hairdressers' supply shop, but they have the ones made to stay on all day, & they don't cost much more than the home-duty ones, which look pretty flimsy to me.

This is going to descend into another of the endless discussions of glues, so what the heck - may as well up the ante.

WW - you say liquid hide glue is probably as strong for all practical purposes as the regular brewed stuff, but I presume you are talking about a tight, well-fitted joint. What about its gap-filling ability? Not that we should be trying to fill gaps with glue, but nothing in this life is perfect......

Just about every glue has it's place (though I haven't yet discovered a place for a few of them, other than the rubbish bin!), and I use several types regularly, including HG. About its only real drawback as far as I can see is its short open time. You simply can't beat it for joints that may have to be taken apart some day. And there are other reasons why a piece may need to be repaired other than poor construction, poor design, or misuse. Normal wear & tear and accidents come to mind. I once had a lovely old set of Walnut chairs that had been chucked out a window to save them from a fire. They survived the ordeal remarkably well, but a couple needed fairly major surgery. Thank goodness for hide glue.

I've also had to repair things that have been 'fixed' with synthetic glues. Sometimes it's simply impossible to get at the broken bits without destructive dismantling, thanks to good 'ol uncle Bill's enthusiasm with the two-pack.

Incidentally, hide glue retains considerable strength even when softened by moisture, as you'll discover if you try to dismantle it too quickly. Just as well, or the Mosquito bombers they used in Burma would have come to unsticky as well as sticky ends.

Cheers,

Originally Posted by apricotripper

After a hide glue for my chairs, so they can be easily repaired.

appreciate any thoughts

thanks

Jake

If and when people use the wrong type of glue for repair, future repair of such items becomes down right difficult and at times impossible! How do I know? I had my fair share of musical instruments that were brought to me to fix after someone attempted fixing them using the WRONG TYPE of glue.

As indicated in the initial request easy repair is important. Wouldwood, IanW and others who recommended fresh hide glue, I agree with you.

Hide glue is the way to go. Hide glue can be made as strong as you want just make it from fresh flakes and use little water. Yes, a sound joint is important for strength. A poorly designed and/or made joint is inviting problems.

Fo those who recommend glues that do not provide an easy way to take the parts apart and carry out repair: would you like such advice that you have given here, if you were the one asking the question "After a hide glue for my chairs, so they can be easily repaired. "? I doubt it. So, please do not give such advice to others. It is just simply not smart.

Regards Andy

If you can not source hide glue get a few packets of gelatin as it is the same only food grade.
Regards
John