Shopsmith Forums

shipwright wrote:My recommendation would be hide glue and easy water cleanup but not a lot of people want to use hide glue anymore. It's still the best IMHO but not everyone agrees.
Oh yes, for toys in particular, it is absolutely non-toxic, basically the same stuff as Knox gelatin. Glue with hide glue and finish with shellac and the kids can eat them when they get tired of playing with them. :-)

Paul M

I have to echo the hide glue comments. I absolutely won't use regular Gorilla glue. It's a mess to work with and in a test of wood glues a while back in fine Woodworking Mag, it wasn't any stronger than other glues including good old hide glue. I use hide glue for all my projects (I don't make outdoor stuff) because it's easy to work with, strong, and I wipe the joints carefully with a damp cloth & don't have problems with it showing up in the finishing process.

Where does on procure "Hide Glue"?

terrydowning wrote:Where does on procure "Hide Glue"?

The kind I prefer is made by Titebond. (Used to be Franklin Hide glue) I get it at a local hardware store. The big box places don't carry it here, but that might vary by location. I'm in kind of a shopping vacuum. You can always order it. http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=5336

Thanks guys, this is all very useful. Hopefully Lowes will have it, if not, could be a Sat am trip to Woodcraft............

I went in last week for a 7/16 bradpoint and came out with mmooorrre

[quote="mrhart"]Thanks guys, this is all very useful. Hopefully Lowes will have it, if not, could be a Sat am trip to Woodcraft............

I went in last week for a 7/16 bradpoint and came out with mmooorrre ]

This is why I have determined that Woodcraft and Rockler being some distance from my house is a GOOD thing!!;)

I'd use liquid hide glue before PVA or Gorilla for this kind of thing (I'd never use Gorilla for anything) but it only gives you about 1/2 of the hide glue advantages.

Hot hide glue has more advantages yet. In addition to the easy cleanup with no finish problems and non-toxicity you get fast tack, no clamp gluing in many cases, and the ability to hammer veneer (no pressing required).

Then there's the reversibility, and the ability to use heat in situations where pressing is done to dramatically extend working time.

If you want to explore this topic I did a beginners primer on hide glue on LJ's. Here's alink.

Don't worry, no whackos arguing in the blog comments.

Paul M

My list of projects and things to try just keeps growing and growing.

Paul, One of the projects on my list is a work bench build. I pan on using your V8 Degree wagon vise and leg vise. Now I'm wondering would HHG be a good choice of glue for gluing up the top? I'm planning on a bench similar to Paul Seller's Traditional English bench.

I can't comment on the type of glue because I'm not an experienced woodworker yet. But I can comment on the application of whatever type of adhesive you end up using.

Use as thin of a coat as possible. Once it has filled the nooks and covered both mating surfaces, any thing extra is just taking up space. As was mentioned earlier, a q-tip works great.

I also like to put adhesive on each surface and wait, letting it just begin to tack up before putting them together. I seem to get a better bond, and I can further spread the material or clean off excess with a putty knife or plastc scraper.

I must use (waste) way more glue than I should. Cleanup of squeezeout is always a major task for me. The squeeze out tends to ruin the finish too. Even after glue has been cleaned off, it seems there is always enough residue to blotch the finish.

Terry, actually liquid hide glue would give you better open time in that case and would be my choice. You will be clamping anyway and don't need the fast tack qualities of hot hide glue. BTW, this is still available.

Dusty, you can avoid that blotching with hide glue, either kind.