Another hide glue question

[EricU]

do the hide glue users here use something to heat the pieces of wood they are gluing together?

[JGrout]

normal room temperatures 

but back in the day that could have been anything above 40 

 preheating stock not required

[JGrout]

And they're off...................


Anyone??

considering hide glue is used to chip certain glass I often wonder how we get off on these tangents 

Joe

[packerguy®]

(Packerguy said:
I hammer veneer. Also use for inlay and inlay bandings, and delicate stuff that is hard to clamp, but doesn't require structural strength and stuff that I want to set fast (like small moldings and such))

The strength of hide glue is relatively the same as pva glue. It's stronger than the wood so why wouldn't you use it when structural strength is required? I've been using liquid hide guy for a few yours now and wouldn't go back to pva.

I didnt mean hide was any less strong than anything else. But its all about application. Your not going to use hot hide if you need open time. Sure you can use liquid hide, but you can work PVA faster (in my experience) 

There is no one perfect adhesive for every need. Taking advantage of a number of adhesives works best IMHO.

[EricU]

normal room temperatures 

but back in the day that could have been anything above 40 

 preheating stock not required

I must be doing it wrong, I get really weak joints and a thick glue line.  I'm just a beginner with it though.
Good news is it's easy to do over.

[Alan S]

I must be doing it wrong, I get really weak joints and a thick glue line.  I'm just a beginner with it though.
Good news is it's easy to do over.

It sounds as if you may have let it cool and gel before putting the parts together.  Try putting warm glue on, and immediately putting parts together and rubbing them against one another to spread the glue, then sliding into position as movement gets harder.  It takes seconds, and frequently does not even need clamping.

I have nowhere near the experience of some here, but hide glue has always worked well for me.

If you only need a very small amount of hide glue, and don't want to use the liquid stuff or bother heating a glue pot, you can keep a batch of hide glue ice cubes in the freezer.  You can heat an insulated plastic mug full of water in a microwave, check its temperature with a finger or thermometer, and float a small container with a cube of glue in there.  It will take a while to melt, but stay hot for quite a while as you work.  My shop is close enough to the kitchen that this is convenient.

[Scoony]

I use an old Rival hot pot that I got at a second hand store for $4. Mine holds a very consistent 140 deg. I add urea to my hide glue, but it is not quite liquid. I have to warm it up for use, but it remains open much longer then without the urea.

[Steve N]

I must be doing it wrong, I get really weak joints and a thick glue line.  I'm just a beginner with it though.
Good news is it's easy to do over.

Eric here is all you need to do.

[EricU]

Steve, thanks, I'll have to try that.  My big mistake was to try a really long, thin joint as my first attempt.  I have one of the music caravan pots, so I already committed to some extent.
on edit: after watching some videos of luthiers accomplish the kind of glue job I was attempting, they all seem to use glue bottles to spread the hide glue. I was using a brush, which took longer than necessary

[Rob Young]

Before buying a HoldHeet glue pot I used a Sunbeam brand $10 electric kettle on its lowest setting. Did a good job as a double boiler setup (by the way, a pickle jar seems like a good idea, wide mouth and all, but no mater how well you clean the lid, the gasket will always smell like pickles, hide glue and pickles!) hanging around the 140F-150F range.

A second trick that was suggested to me by something Don Williams was doing was to get condiment (i.e. the tall yellow and red mustard and ketchup squeeze bottles) from Amazon and put glue in those. There is also a three-pack of mini squeeze bottles with good small tips from Harbor Freight. Or at least there used to be. Those work pretty well.

Make the glue in the bottle and drop the bottle in the water. Easy peasy hot hide glue squeezy bottle. Don had different bottles for different G.S. mixes.