Folks, I was perusing one of my favorite woodworking tools sites, and found a bottle of glue, liquid hide. I have always known about liquid hide, or hide that you would heat up in a glue pot, the one benefit I always knew about was you can repair work that was joined with hide glue, you can heat it up and the joint will release and repairs are possible.

 

One of the benefits I did not know about, is this quote:

Quote

The reason why I swear by it is that it is basically transparent to finishes.

Source: https://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/store/item/MS-OLDBROWN.XX

 Doing some more indepth research I found that while it's always a good thing to clean up the glue from the surface of your work, if you miss any with hide glue, it does dry transparent, and as long as you are not using stain, but a clear type finish, it's really no worry as the dried hide glue blends very well with natural wood and natural finishes.

 

It also sounds like there is a much longer open time for assembly, in chair making that is a very desirable benefit, getting all those parts coated and assembled can be stressful.

 

All that being said, does anyone else have any experience with hide glue? Benefits, pitfalls?

Here is the glue I was previewing, a bit pricey, but perhaps hide glue just is. Oh ya, one more thing, with this liquid hide glue you don't have to worry about glue pots, since it's already liquifide.

 

Here is the source I am reading about now: https://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/store/item/MS-OLDBROWN.XX

 

 

 

I don't have a lot of experience with the new stuff.   My dad used it to repair stuff when i was much younger and it always had to be heated up and it stunk.   Worked ok though.   Don't recall taking stuff apart once it was glued.

9 hours ago, p_toad said:

had to be heated up and it stunk.

I think that may be a non issue with this glue, since it's in liquid form already, no heating, so no dead animal being cooked smell.

Let us know how you like it. It's always good to have alternatives. The open time is a definite plus.

Due to stresses imparted by users I wold say that all chairs, should be hide glues for easy dis-assembly later on.

Table leges are mechanically fastened these days. 

 

Other furniture where the legs are glued in should probably be done with Hide glue for disassembly to repair when draging a loaded furniture across some uneven floors.

That said if you never drag and always lift the Titebond transparent is your friend.

 

 

I also found a nice article by Paul Sellers on Titebond Hide Glue.

Titebond Liquid Hide Glue - Good to Go? - Paul Sellers' Blog

PAULSELLERS.COM

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When I visited Highland Hardware last month I picked up several things I wanted to test out and one of them was a bottle of the...

 

I've used the liquid hide glue for repairs.   It has a long closed assembly time and will re-activate old hide glue, so immaculate cleaning is not needed.  It's often used for instrument (e.g., guitar) repairs because it's easily reversible with a little alcohol or heat.

 

The hot version has a shorter open and closed assembly time and can be used for "rubbed joints" (hold the pieces together for a few seconds) and also for hammer veneering.   

 

Liquid has a relatively short shelf life.   Hot version can be reheated a few times, but think of it as a hot dog -- you wouldn't re-heat a hot dog 10 times over three months.

 

According to Franklin's glue guide, Hide glue has 3650 PSI shear strength that is in the same range as most of their other glues (PVA, polyurethane, etc.)FF683_GlueGuideTB.pdf

@kmealy, thank you for that!