Hot hide glue pot and storage

Posted by Charlotte Henry on February 10, 2013 at 1:07am

Recently I have become a fan of hot hide glue.  Making my own boxes got me started using hide glue and the more I have used it the more I want to use it.   In my work on pianos I find that I have need of a lot of different kinds of glues and each one has its place, but more and more I find I'm opting for hide glue when I'm doing guitar work.  Here is a link to Woodcraft and hide glues. http://www.woodcraft.com/search2/search.aspx?query=hide%20glue

 I'm using the 315 gram strength which has a little shorter open time but that can be extended a bit by the addition of urea or simply adding a little of the liquid hide glue which has urea already in it.

Hide glue needs to be heated to about 150 degrees F and you really need some kind of a glue pot. A glue pot will cost about $125, but I bought a 1 quart crock pot for $14 and it has a temperature control on it and it works perfect.  The thing about granular hide glue is that when you mix up a batch it goes bad in about a week or so if left out, so only mix what you are gong to use.  It does store very well in the freezer and a great way to store it is in a plastic ice tray. Just pop out a cube or two when you get ready to do some gluing.

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Replies

  • Charlotte Henry February 10, 2013 at 12:26pm

    Thanks Dave. I spent a while looking at the mandolins being built. Really nice, but I thought the tinted lacquers hid the beauty of the contrasting woods.  Just a personal thing and not a criticism, I always thought guitars look their absolute best before the lacquer is on.

    • David McQueen > Charlotte Henry February 10, 2013 at 1:16pm
      I also like natural. From what I can see this fellow has an amazing reputation in the bluegrass market. It is a music sector I do not follow. But sunbursts and tints may be the thing there.

      I went back into the guitar section. He is using a water bath for the hot hide glue and he has a few nuts or bolts n the bowl to hold heat when he takes it out of the bath to use. I knew there was something in there.
  • David McQueen February 10, 2013 at 6:47am
    Here is a link to Mario Proulx's guitar site. He makes really fine bluegrass guitars (banjo killers). He swears by this stuff. The link is to the start of a full build of two guitars. I think burried in there are some references to hide glue and how to use it. The rest is facinating too. There are also pages showing the build for two mandolins. If you are building your own boxes you may be able to pick some things up from full size guitar building that will help you. The is a ton of stuff there and I use his site like a reference.

    http://www.proulxguitars.com/construction.htm

    Dave
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