choose the right glue

[shipwright]

If they are valuable antiques, hide glue is the only thing to use to preserve their value.
The reversible quality comes in as well as you can disassemble to do better repairs.
Also you don't have to remove old glue from joints before re-glueing. The new glue will restore the old.

[beeg]

Paul, doesn't the strength depend upon which granular form you buy. Or is it how ya mix it for different strengths?

[shipwright]

Yes it does but any of the available choices are much stronger than the wood they are glueing.

The usual woodworking strength is 192 gm. and that is what Old Brown Glue (LHG) is made from. I don't know for sure but I would guess that the Tightbond LHG is the same.

The higher the gram strength the stronger the glue but also the shorter the working time. Luthiers working with high stress, small area joints will often use higher strengths like 225gm. or even higher. I have used 180 gram and found it very similar to my usual 192.

[benush26]

We were never allowed to do the critical glue ups but I would watch my boss as he made his magic voodoo hide glue in an old pot on a hot plate. He talked about how critical it was to get the right temperature and mixture. I also remember something he said about a certain smell when it was just right (though at 45 plus years ago I don't have clear memories any more).

You make it sound easy, however I remember it being anything but easy!! We were allowed to try our hand at it on old spindle back chairs and ottomans where he could fix our mistakes. I could never get the hang of how much glue to use without starving the joint or making a BIG mess

Thanks for the memories!

Be well,
Ben

[shipwright]

I didn't know there was this much interest in hide glue. If you want to see a little more here is a link to a blog series I did on Lumberjocks on the topic.
http://lumberjocks.com/shipwright/blog/series/5437