Hide Glue/Pot questions...

[Justin Roberts]

I am transitioning from "Yellow glues" to hide glues. Wanting to go a bit more period.

Where did you get your glue pot? Any suggestions or things I need to look out for?

Thanks.

[Wes Grass]

The Best Things has a nice assortment of electrics. Luthiers Mercantile has a neat brass pot and a hot plate to go with it.

I got a 1 pint electric. Works OK with small bottles. I haven't used it straight in the pot with a brush. A quart size would be better with bottles I think.

[Frank Drew]

I like the water-jacketed gluepots but they're hard to find nowadays; maybe a source in Britain would still have them.

For my own shop, I picked up a used hotplate somewhere and made up a double-boiler with a saucepan and enough water to surround a smaller stainless steel bowl inside the saucepan. Worked fine and gave me enough control that I didn't either boil away the water or cook the glue. Takes a bit of watching after, of course, and in fact I didn't use hot glue all that often once I was on my own.

[Bill Arnold]

I have a small crock pot that LOML found at Walmart a few years ago for about $9. I use a tall olive jar (after removing the olives and placing them in an appropriate beverage) or pickle jar for the glue. I hang a small meat thermometer from the side to monitor water temperature. Works great!

[Justin Roberts]

Thanks for the tips.

Anyone try the one from Joel at Tools for working wood?

I like the crock pot idea!!

[Bill Arnold]

... I like the crock pot idea!!
Since my earlier post, I tried to find a reference to the crock pot I have. It's a Rival Crock-ette which is no longer made, but I saw some on craig's list when I Googled for it. Any small crock pot should work. Mine is a 5-cup unit so I put about two cups of water in it to start. I found that a wide-mouth 1.5-cup Ball jar actually fits better than the jars I mentioned earlier.

When I got interested in using hide glue, I saw the prices of "official" glue pots and decided I wasn't that interested! :eek: Then, LOML (in her most logical and diplomatic voice) said, "That glue pot thingie looks a lot like a crock pot with a jar in it!" Hmmmmm.......... ;)

[Robert LaPlaca]

Rival makes a product call the Hot Pot Express that can be had at Walmart or Bed Bath and Beyond type stores for about $10. I use a small glass baby food type jar to contain the glue, works great.. Happy gluing

Neglected to add that you should purchase a meat thermometer for $8, use the meat thermometer to calibrate the thermostat on the Hot Pot for 140-150 degrees (it was almost all the way on the left on mine). The Hot Pot heats up pretty fast, so I just let the water bath get hot, then went the temperature stabilizes I place the jar with the glue in the water,,

[Tony Bilello]

Many years ago I used a crock pot and it was just a tad too hot, but it worked good as far as glue joint quality goes. I never though about putting a jar inside the crockpot. Such a simple idea and no reason it shouldnt work.

[Mike Langford]

I use a thermostat controlled baby bottle warmer (I picked up at a yard sale for 2 bucks) filled with water and use a small mason jar and a candy thermometer. (I clip the thermometer to the jar to keep the tip up off the heating element)
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Works great....I can control the temp to keep it between 145*-150* (supposedly hide glue becomes ineffective above 150*)

I've used the small crock pots before (potpourri crock) but like Tony mentioned the temp just kept getting hotter....
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[Barry Vabeach]

Robert is on the money - look for the Rival pot that has a knob on the outside to control the temperature - it doesn't have a scale, but I leave a cheap instant read thermometer in the water next to the glue jar. The Rival is not a crock pot but is designed to boil water for tea, etc, so it heats up pretty quick.

[Ken Whitney]

The Norse Woodsmith has a great tutorial on glue pot construction here (http://norsewoodsmith.com/content/simple-hot-hide-glue-setup).

Good luck!

Ken

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

get a $30.00 crock pot.
one with a temperature control that is variable

As an aside you can get a Light Dimmer to get fine control of the temperature too.

[Colin Cottrell]

I am from the UK and you might find the giue pots hard to come by now but you have double boiler ( chocolate pots over here ), they do a good job as I use one myself.

I can post a pic of mine if it would help.

[Joe Zerafa]

I have been told electric wax pots (used to heat wax for waxing legs etc) make good glue pots.

Joe

[Wayne Cannon]

I got my inspiration using the Rival "Hot Pot Express" from the following article:
http://www.spurlocktools.com/id57.htm.
http://www.spurlocktools.com/0d104c30.jpg http://www.spurlocktools.com/0d204db0.jpg

I made a wooden stopper of sorts to fill the spout opening, holding a thermometer in the water bath. My Hot Pot has a much smaller knob in the center of the lid, so I had to cut the hole for the brush offset a bit.

[Dan O'Sullivan]

Hello Wayne
I too use the hot pot and I really like it. I would caution you on the set up you have posted on the photo. Placing the jar against the heat element gives uneven cooks. I think its best to get the jar up off the heat element and have the jar surrounded by water for an even heat.

You might be thinking?? What?? I never had a problem... but it's coming. I let the pirex jar sit on the element and the glue was routinely hotter at the bottom than at the top. I made a lid to fit over the top of the pot and cut the hole to hold the jar(tapered) about an inch or two off the element and submerged in the water only. Much more consistent heats.

I have used hide for a long time and I found the Rival pot is just great for maintaining 140 for long periods of time without fussing with the pot. I highly recommend this to first timers and old timers looking for an inexpensive set up that works every time. Additionally, it boils water about as fast as anything I've ever seen. Its great for a coffee in the french press around 10am.

Its a small point but I thought it might be useful especially if you get up in the 250gram range. I noticed the importance of the water bath was even more critical with the higher gram stuff. Just a thought

dan

[Scott Stafford]

I use the glue pot like Joel advertises. I have the quart size and it works well. I often put a small jar inside surrounded by water so I don't have to clean the aluminum pot.

Scott in Montana

[John Downey]

For big jobs I use an adjustable lab hot plate.

For smaller jobs I use a 1 1/2" copper pipe cap, tinned with solder, on a coffee cup warmer from walgreens. The cup warmer will still cause the glue to boil after a long time, but I tend to use up all the glue in one glue up, so its rarely a real problem.