Thread: Questions about Hide Glue

1. That's normal. The glue should be stirred prior to use.
2. Again, that's normal. It will thicken (the water evaporates) exponentially the less is in the pot. Just keep some water handy and add some as required.
   I often make the glue a bit thin first thing in the morning so it's at the correct consistency when I am ready for it.
3. If you like.
4. Yes, you can reheat it for a few days (or until it darkens and starts to stink).
5. That's the standard these days.
6. Yes. I prefer a brush and you can buy bundles of cheap disposable glue brushes, though I use a natural bristle brush which lives in the pot and gets washed in very hot water about once a week when I clean the pot out.

HG is fairly high maintenance stuff, but it becomes second nature to give the pot a stir every so often and adjust the consistency in readiness for gluing-up. If you add too much water, just throw in some more pearls and it'll soon thicken up. Don't be afraid of it; as long as it's fresh and not too hot, it's fairly flexible and forgiving.

Excellent, thank you. Yes I suppose I am a bit wary of it at present, but I was similarly shy of shellac until I tried it.

I've stuck a couple of bits of wood together and can't seem to pull them apart, so I must've done something right. So far the only disappointment is that the dog shows no interest in the stuff at all. I'm going to try him on some runny stuff tomorrow

Originally Posted by silentC

My bag of hide glue pearls have arrived and I've got my wax pot plugged in

Coincidentally my bag of the same arrived yesterday so I've got a question for you. What's a wax pot, where do you get it and how much does it cost?

Originally Posted by Glennet

What's a wax pot, where do you get it and how much does it cost?

The $65 pots are the good ones.

I got mine from my wife's hairdresser. It's a thermostat controlled heater with a little aluminium billy that sits inside. They're designed for heating leg wax and just happen to be perfect for melting hide glue. It was about $70 but you can get them cheaper I think.

One more question from me. I've read in Joyce that the parts to be glued should be heated first. Is that common practice and if so, how?

Before I moved here from the UK (where the weather could get quite cool), I used to have dozens of pieces of flat steel bar of various sizes (the same size as the the most common tennons I glued up), to which I welded 1/4" round steel rod onto to form handles. These 'keys' used to live on top of the workshop stove and when I was ready to glue-up a chair or table or whatever, I would insert the hot keys into the mortises for a few minutes to warm them up.

If the joints were too cold, the glue would gel straight away and when the joints were clamped up, the glue would squeeze out like cottage cheese. Bad.

I haven't heated any joints up since I've been in Australia, but I have heated large panels that I was veneering. I wouldn't worry about heating joints if I were you.

Originally Posted by Woodwould

The $65 pots are the good ones.

Thanks. I assume all the $65 pots are rebadged versions of the same thing. I prefer 'Hi Lift' to 'Beauty Pro' somehow.

Good to know someone's using the hairdresser's 'Brazilian' wax pots - I wondered whether they would be ok (as in, the right temperature range for hide glue). Seems from what people have written here, they are.

I saw a whole range of them, about 4 different types and sizes, when I was in at the local hairdresser's suppliers store buying proper hair clippers (ACT Salon Equipment in Mitchell, for anyone who lives in Canberra). Similar prices.

If you read this thread, I describe how I calibrated one of these wax pots to the optimum heat setting. The thread is a good read about HG anyway.

Originally Posted by Gunnaduit

Good to know someone's using the hairdresser's 'Brazilian' wax pots

I avoided the Brazilian ones because I thought the instructions might be in Portugese

Originally Posted by Glennet

I avoided the Brazilian ones because I thought the instructions might be in Portugese

Good thinking Glennet.

Silent, just out of interest what in particular are you using the HG for?

A cabinet I'm building at the moment. I'll probably end up using it for most things I guess.

Originally Posted by silentC

..... I'll probably end up using it for most things I guess.

Silent - you may, but the convenience of the old squeeze bottle for some jobs is still too tempting for me. Then ther are jobs that call for waterproof glues......

You can prolong the life of mixed glue by keeping the lid on as it cools, because fungal spores won't survive at the heating temps. However, some bacterial spores can, & it's pretty hard to avoid contamination with at least a few of the many micro-organisms that seem so fond of the stuff, so you generally get only a few days out of mixed glue. Freezing or total drying will preserve it indefinitely, because it denies the little swine the water they need to do their thing.

After a while, you'll learn not to mix too much more than you need, so the problem of leftovers diminishes. I tend to mix a little less than I think I'll need, (mostly because it always seems to be enough anyway ) because I discovered a long time back that it's easy to chuck few more pearls in the brew if it looks like it's running low. We were taught to soak the dry glue for a couple of hours, at school, but nowadays I often heat it immediately after adding water & it seems to work every bit as well.

As WW says, it's really forgiving stuff if handled with a modicum of care, the temperature range is quite broad, & so is the range of water (though of course there's an optimum). But I've often tested glue I thought was a bit runny or a bit old on some scraps & found when I ripped them apart a few days later that the wood always failed, not the glue. About the worst thing you can do is overheat it, & the thermostat controls ought to make that pretty difficult.

Have fun,