Double Bass First time using hide glue. What was I so afraid of?

[fdeck]

"This rice tastes like glue."

I don't know how critical the temperature really is, but I suggest calibrating any dial thermometer in water that's come to a rolling boil. Those thermometers have failure modes.

 

[T_Bone_TL]

Heat up your workpiece with a hairdryer and you'll extend that hot hide glue working time to about 4 minutes.; it will also sink deeper into the wood pores. Most newbies heat up their glue well, but then use a cold brush to apply it to a cold work surface which kills the useable time to about 15 seconds.

I find that the number one inhibitor for most folks wanting to get started with hot hide glue is all of the suppliers charging $150 for the stupid little heating pot. You can get the same results with a $7 candle heater and a mason jar. The old jedi that I learned from literally used a metal riser with a wax candle underneath it to heat his glue and to bend all of his wood with a copper pipe.

Classic budget WoodDorker approach is a USB mug heater or tiny (or not-tiny; put the glue in a jar in water either way) crock-pot, ideally from the thrift store.

Knox gelatin is the classic easy to find glue.

Pop the glue jar in the fridge between uses.

The limited working time has pluses as well as minuses. You can hold things in place until they grab if clamping is awkward.

 

[ProfChris]

View attachment 7264244

Almost 0$...

Only $0 until the owner of that iron finds you've been using it in the workshop. I'm not making that mistake again

 

[T_Bone_TL]

Only $0 until the owner of that iron finds you've been using it in the workshop. I'm not making that mistake again

The setup is too sketchy for me (I don't like burning myself) but I've had my own iron to abuse since the long-ago days when I cared about how fast my skis would go. Once a wax iron, never a clothes iron again. They are common and cheap at thrift stores if you don't want to tick off someone who uses one for cloth. And like many things common and cheap at thrift stores, they can sometimes be found in working condition in a "free" pile at the side of the road. Given the dedicated cradle, I'm guessing it's a shop iron.

 

[Jazzdogg]

Highly recommended:

Old Brown Glue – Liquid Hide Glue

oldbrownglue.com

 

[KUNGfuSHERIFF]

Highly recommended:

Old Brown Glue – Liquid Hide Glue

oldbrownglue.com

That stuff usually includes formaldehyde as a stabilizer.

 

[Jazzdogg]

That stuff usually includes formaldehyde as a stabilizer.

This does not. The guy who makes it is the real deal, check him out:
Restoration – W Patrick Edwards Restoration – W Patrick Edwards

 

[james condino]

Room temperature liquid "hide glue" in a bottle works great and saves so much time & effort .......

 

[Don Kasper]

"In Russia, glue Hides YOU!"