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A personal list. Your reasons may vary.
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10. If you rub your glue-y hands on your pants they will smell like a horse’s bum that has been boiled and then left in the sun (but the smell washes out).
— Christopher Schwarz
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Showing 46 comments
I am just getting started in woodworking (at age 66) and would like to do most of my work with hand tools and using traditional methods where practical.
Is Chris’s list telling us that the only drawback to using hide glue is the smell?
Looks like Letterman has nothing to worry about.
The NUMBER 1. reason NOT to use it is the same reason that we do not drive 1937 Fords. The new cars are better for almost everything.
I would like toknow the reasons #1 – 9 as they didn’t show here. Hide glue is perfect if you want to do a crackle finish! Just spread the glue where you want it, both thick and thin. Let it dry and use acrylic paints to cover! Try this on a scarp piece of wookd top see the results.
It’s true that I may be a little slow, but I’m assuming that because 1 thru 9 did not show up you advocate the use of hide glue for furniture? I live in Las Vegas and a friend had me re-glue a box made in Hawaii and put together with hide glue. It was summer and I thought that the heat caused it to come apart. Is this possible?
OK, how about 10 good uses for that foamy polyurethane glue, the stuff with the image of a large primate on the label? My list kinda looks like the one above, with the exception of #10. It’s good for fixing loose drywall anchors, but does it have a niche in woodworking?
1. My German Shepherd dogs start chasing me.
Seems like a lot of conversation over just gluing things up. I’m exhausted! Fun descriptions of the stink made me LOL @work!
If anyone is interested in glue creep I did a study for Gorilla Glue a while back. Used lots of glues, but not the old school LHG. Either way, I promise it doesn’t stink.
http://brownellfurniture.com/2011/11/29/glue-line-creep-study/
Chris –
Spelling error in #7…
😉
I agree with 1 through 9. I would say the smell is more like the garbage cans sitting out behind the tannery for a week in the hot summer sun. But then working my way through school as a garbage man 35 years ago had its downsides too.
My son is a luthier and believes liquid hide glue is horrible stuff. His reasons… Urea is added to the liquify it and this causes the hide glue to have a limited shelf life. The liquid hide glue does not harden if it is too old. You don’t know it has gone bad until you try to glue something up. The standard hide glue is easy to use so why mess around with a product with a limited shelf life?
I’ll say it.
In other words, there is NO reason not to use liquid hide glue!
Chris,
Your wit is as sharp as your blades.
Am i wrong, or do only a few of us “get it”?
You need to rub hide glue on your pants to get them to smell like that? I just need a week for my shop pants.
I love wood geeks–especially literary wood geeks! I’m going to buy a baby bottle warmer tomorrow! (already got the liquid hide glue)
9. The glued joint will, yes will, require repair because the hide glue failed, sooner or later.
The bench dog loves to help with cleaning up the squeeze out, only with the original hyde glue the additive used to extend the drying time may make bench dog sick.
I heat my liquid hide glue using an old baby bottle warmer and small glass baby food jar. It makes the smell worse, but it makes the glue work much better in my cold New England basement workshop.
I have found that if I heat up the entire bottle of LHG in the warmer, the shelf life of the glue is reduced, so I just heat up a small portion.
I would not use any other glue on fine furniture.
What about the results of the glue test?
http://www.finewoodworking.com/FWNPDF/011192036.pdf
(sorry to post a link from the competition :S )
Are we talking store bought brown bottle stuff or the heat ’em up and stink up the shop stuff?
always,
My reason for not using it was that even when I warmed it up in hot water first, in my cool shop it had an open time of about 3 minutes. Five minutes tops. I’m just not that fast… The liquid fish glue, on the other hand, has a nice long open time.
What about the 10 reasons to use!?
What’s wrong with smelling like a horse’s bum? Wear you medal with pride!
Because you’re worth it.
Chris,
Dude, that is way funny. Keep up the good work.
Cheers,
Lee
After two days of repairing piano parts from 1868 glued in with a mammal’s ass, I really appreciate hot hide. I’m soaking the next batch to heat in the morning. Long live mammals.
Wow. Scathing. You just love stirring up controversy, don’t you?