Hide Glue and Bad Weather?

[rgarcia26]

Quick question Guys I live in Atlanta, its being raining every day all day, and my Garage/Shop stay around 60f… I have being working on the Edges of a DB TOP… the glue up its not drying its like Jello, well Its a little Thicker … Should I be worry or is something related with the high humidity???

[Cody Sisk]

I'd be more worried about slathering hot hide glue on cold wood, it will congeal instantly. Finding ways to warm wood is tricky but worth it when dealing with hide glue. The humidity might affect your drying time but the temperature is more of a concern.

[rgarcia26]

Originally Posted by DallasStrings

I'd be more worried about slathering hot hide glue on cold wood, it will congeal instantly. Finding ways to warm wood is tricky but worth it when dealing with hide glue. The humidity might affect your drying time but the temperature is more of a concern.

What I did was to pour some hot water on the glue...

[gbaker]

Originally Posted by rgarcia26

Quick question Guys I live in Atlanta, its being raining every day all day, and my Garage/Shop stay around 60f… I have being working on the Edges of a DB TOP… the glue up its not drying its like Jello, well Its a little Thicker … Should I be worry or is something related with the high humidity???

It is the temperature. I had no problem with hot hide glue until this year when nothing worked - cold joints. Took a while to figure out. I installed a new GE hot water heap pump in the basement by my shop. It pulls heat out of the room and into the water. It dropped the room temperature about 5 degrees F, to 62 or so, still comfortable to work in, but low enough to get cold joints. Now I use a little ceramic space heater to warm the parts directly and I am back to good, or actually a little better, results.

[Jake deVilliers]

Originally Posted by rgarcia26

Quick question Guys I live in Atlanta, its being raining every day all day, and my Garage/Shop stay around 60f… I have being working on the Edges of a DB TOP… the glue up its not drying its like Jello, well Its a little Thicker … Should I be worry or is something related with the high humidity???

Sounds like you're describing BC weather!

You need to heat up the mating surfaces before applying the hot hide glue. When I'm gluing something like a fingerboard and the shop is a little cool, I usually position a couple of architect's lamps close to the bonding surfaces for a while. I like the lamps because I can go ahead and do something else, occasionally moving the lamps and checking the temperature.

A heat gun can be very useful to warm things up and for smaller pieces like guitar bridges and bass saddles, the microwave is pretty good - a few seconds of 'Speedy Cook' and I'm good to go!

I also make sure that my glue pot is at 140-145 degrees (no more!) so I have as much time as possible.

[rgarcia26]

Originally Posted by Jake deVilliers

Sounds like you're describing BC weather!

You need to heat up the mating surfaces before applying the hot hide glue. When I'm gluing something like a fingerboard and the shop is a little cool, I usually position a couple of architect's lamps close to the bonding surfaces for a while. I like the lamps because I can go ahead and do something else, occasionally moving the lamps and checking the temperature.

A heat gun can be very useful to warm things up and for smaller pieces like guitar bridges and bass saddles, the microwave is pretty good - a few seconds of 'Speedy Cook' and I'm good to go!

I also make sure that my glue pot is at 140-145 degrees (no more!) so I have as much time as possible.

Heat gum sound like a good idea, cheap and I can have some other uses for it...
PS in few more days, summer will be here, and I wont need any heating element... and also I may move to Miami, so I will never need any heating device for 103f

[Jazzdogg]

When I lived in Anchorage and Denver I had to figure out ways to keep working, gluing, and finishing in an underheated workshop. I came up with a heated work tray with lid.

I made an open-topped box/shallow tray a little bigger than the largest project as I was likely to work on. The work tray had a box lid that I could easily remove; the inside of the box and lid were lined with aluminum foil - shiny side facing inward.

I placed an electric blanket in the bottom of the work tray, and elevated the work on an open plywood torsion box grid above the blanket - to prevent direct contact between the workpiece and the heating coils. Positioning the electric blanket with its centerline in the middle of the work tray enabled me to use the "his" and "her" thermostats to control the heat independently for each side of the blanket. If it got really cold, half of the blanket stayed inside the project box, with the other half wrapped around the outside.

I hung a bare lightbulb inside the lid, positioned to heat only the air, and not the project itself. Back in the day, I kept a thermometer inside the box. Today, a quick-read electronic thermometer would make it easy to monitor the temperature of the air and the project's surface. A moisture meter makes it easy to track the moisture level of the work. Wood may be prone the checking if the end-grain is not sealed and the wood is subjected to extreme wet/dry hot/cold cycles.

Place the project in the box, put on the cover, and turn on the blanket and bulb. When the project is suitably pre-heated, remove the lid and work as usual. If the temerature starts to drop, put on the lid for awhile.

With the lid on, the interior is warm enough to allow glue and finishes to cure in an enviroment relatively free of dust. Circulating air helps finishes cure better than still air, so I installed a small exhaust fan on one side of the lid, and cut a vent slot on the opposite side to provide air flow.

Storing finish and glue containers inside the heated box keeps it warm enough to use.

A small "lightbulb kiln" is also a handy way to remove moisture from greenwood chair parts, dowels, biscuits, etc.

[bigolbassguy]

I use a blow-dryer.

[rgarcia26]

I got it now… or I think I got it…
-Key point, the right glue/water mix 1glue:2water ratio, by weight… I didn’t know that

-Keep some glue in the freezer, very practical take some melted down.. fast and easy

-Very important the parts must be hot… I rather do a dry heating, instead of heating with water its make my glue even more thinner than already is…

[forester]

the glue recipe isn't chiseled in stone...
also keep the the moist rag your cleaning with warm.

[rgarcia26]

Originally Posted by forester

the glue recipe isn't chiseled in stone...
also keep the the moist rag your cleaning with warm.

sure its all depend of type of glue and what are u using it for and all that, but for me I have to stick to some kind of guide line at least at the beginning until I can play with different consistencies.