Hide Glue Advice

[needsmorecowbel]

Howdy guys...been trying out some hide glue on some scrap pieces of timber by following an instructional thread which Matthew posted a while back and a few you tube tutorials. I have had to undo the joins several times due to the join not being perfect (the join line before glue is applied was perfect). The consistency of the first batch was too thick...The second was like very hot, runny honey and the third was like a very runny honey.

Are there any tips/ advice to give someone who has never used this glue before?

The process i am using to make the Hide Glue and join the plates:
I get a tiny jam jar and fill it up 1/4 of the way then add water to just a little above the hide glue- I leave this for 10 minutes on the bench to absorb the water.
I boil some water in a kettle and put it into a small pot. I then put the pot on the stove (with the stove off) and place the jam jar in the pot (in a similar way to melting chocolate) and stir the glue until it is a nice consistency adding water if i need it. I then replace the boiling water in the pot and move the pot across to the bench where i brush the hide glue on quickly to one of the edges of the tops which i stand up at 45 degrees with a roll of tape. Then i quickly join the two pieces and clamp the two halves together against a circular saw table fence.

[liam_fnq]

I keep mine hot in a baby bottle warmer. I like it to be at about the consistency of maple syrup. I usually brush it on to both surfaces to be joined then just clamp up.

Persist with it. Once you get it down pat it really is the best stuff to use. Easiest clean up by far and if a bit (of, say the bindings) doesn't pull down, it can be heated and clamped and bob's your uncle.

[needsmorecowbel]

How would you hypothetically get it off the edges? Say if you wanted to redo the join?

[kiwigeo]

How would you hypothetically get it off the edges? Say if you wanted to redo the join?

I would just heat up the glue on the joint and rejoin. To do this you can either just apply more hot glue (the heat from same will melt the existing glue) or simply heat up the joint with a heat gun or similar and join using the old glue only.

[liam_fnq]

Ahh Haa!

Here's the kicker........You don't have to.

the stuff doesn't irreversibly cure like a pva, epoxy, etc. glue. It just gets hot and gooey/runny or cold (ambient temp) and solid.
If you want to re-do a HHG join just heat it till the parts come apart, then add more glue and reclamp. Or, you don't even have to separate the bits. You can just heat the join and reclamp.

[jeffhigh]

It sounds like you need some temperature control.
If you are not hot enough and then thin with more water to get the glue flowing, you may be diluting it too much (and it will gel too quickly)

[Allen]

I reckon people hear that using HHG is tricky and they convince themselves as much. It really is a piece of piss to use.

Just relax and know that anything that you are doing can be undone very easily. Temperature control, at least keeping it hot is reasonably important. Frank Ford says on his web site that he will over heat a small amount to 180 F in the microwave and then use it on a job.

I use to use a baby bottle warmer (the one that Liam has now) but now have a commercial glue pot. I apply to both sides of the join and close the join up as quick as possible though up here in the tropics it's true I most likely have more open time than most. But really, the open time is more than most people think.

Then you have some time to get the clamps or what have you applied as the glue is already doing it's thing and not gelling off without contact to it's mating surface.