How to make a Hide Glue brush

[John Coloccia]

Short, sweet and to the point. What's the traditional method for making a hot hide glue brush?

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I bet Joel Moskowitz would know. Maybe there's something in Stephen Shepherd's hide glue book?

from the page at TFWW about the glue brush they carry:

The classic brush is made of white hog bristle and is bridled with a wire loop tightly bound about halfway down the length of the brush. The natural bristle really grabs the glue and allows it flow evenly so that you can apply it in even strokes. The bridle keeps the glue from saturating the entire brush, so that when the brush gets old and clogged with dried glue, you can remove the bridle, trim the bristles and you have a brush that will last twice as long.

(Speaking of, anyone used TFWWs glue brush?)

[Chris Vandiver]

Short, sweet and to the point. What's the traditional method for making a hot hide glue brush?

Well, first you have to raise yourself a hog and then................

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

Well, first you have to raise yourself a hog and then................

Do you shampoo it before the shave, or wash the bristles after the fact? And where do you get a hog-sized barber's chair?

[george wilson]

I just use a throw away acid brush myself. Too much trouble to keep a brush clean. Of course,I don't usually make large furniture where I have to have a large brush full of glue. But then,there are always the throw away 1" Chinese brushes.

If you really don't want the hairs falling out,squirt some super glue right along the base of the hairs to cement them to the ferrule. That works well,even on better quality varnish brushes.

[John Coloccia]

I have an artist's brush that I've been using for a while. I chopped it down so it was easier to handle. I love that I never actually need to clean the thing. Just a few minutes in the HHG and it turns into a brush again. My glue pot just died, though, and my backup (trusty Rival Hot Pot) is deeper so my stubby brush doesn't work anymore.

I can't get those disposable ones to work for me. Even using the superglue trick, I'm always pulling hairs out of my glue ups. Maybe I'm just buying "cheap" disposable brushes? I don't know.

[Sam Takeuchi]

I use cheapo brush as well. Coarse hair works really well. Not sure what mine is, it's almost spiky coarse, but gets very nicely soft once in glue and very easy to wash it.

[David Keller NC]

You might give these that Joel M. sells a try. They work way better than acid brushes, and the price is right:

http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com//Merchant/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=toolshop&Product_Code=MS-GLUEBRUSH.XX&Category_Code=&ScWidth=javascript:ScreenWidth()

[Zach Dillinger]

Another vote for acid brushes. Work great, cheap as heck. No need to get too fancy with it. In a pinch, I have used a scrap of wood with the end split a few hundred times to make "hairs". Works ok, but not for long (the glue sets and sticks the hairs together again).

[John Coloccia]

I picked up some of Joel's brushes, David. I just ordered 10lbs of hide glue through him a day or two ago...I wish I had thought of it then. There's a maker in Germany that makes a very nice glue brush, but shipping and duties to the US is absolutely ridiculous. There doesn't really appear to be anyone that makes a high quality glue brush in the US.

I know people like the acid brushes but I REALLY hate them, especially for hide glue and not just because they shed. There's something to be said for having quality bristles that really load up with glue. Not only does it mean quicker spreading, but all that glue is a large thermal mass that stays hot longer....so you spread faster to begin with because there's more glue, and the glue that's put down is hotter. There's no reason to toss the brushes, or even clean them, as far as I can tell. When you take it out it hardens up. When you put it back in the next time, it softens and is good as new. Maybe I'm the only one that never really cleans my brush? I've been using the same brush for over a year and it's never been cleaned.

My hide glue also seems to last for MONTHS in the fridge....not that I ever use it after storing it that long, but occasionally I find some I forgot about, and it's never moldy nor does it seem to degrade in any way. Maybe I'm just very lucky with hide glue.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

Anyone have experience with a glue spoon? TFWW sells one; it's interesting. I don't think I do anything large enough to warrant one, but they're neat.

[David Keller NC]

My hide glue also seems to last for MONTHS in the fridge....not that I ever use it after storing it that long, but occasionally I find some I forgot about, and it's never moldy nor does it seem to degrade in any way. Maybe I'm just very lucky with hide glue.

I'm with you on despising the acid brushes; seems like the little buggers will shed a black fiber at just the wrong time during a glue-up. Joel's brushes are much better. I bought 5 of them (at the "bundled" price) 3 years ago, and based on the first one's longevity, I suspect I've a lifetime supply.

You've probably got very high quality hide glue if yours never gets moldy in the fridge. Hide glue is often highly contaminated with nascent bacteria and mold spores, and will grow mold quickly in the fridge.

But, for those that do have the mold problem, there's a solution. If you use a small mason jar to mix and use your hide glue, and you put the lid and sealing ring on it while it's still in the glue pot, let it set for 20-30 minutes, then tighten the sealing ring, take it out of the pot, and let it cool on the counter, you will have much less mold/bacterial growth issues in the refrigerator. The temperatures in the glue pot, while not sufficient to completely sterilize the glue & jar, are still hot enough to kill most species of bacteria and mold. So long as the jar is sealed while it is still hot, the contents will be largely bacteria & mold free and will last much longer in the refrigerator.

[Sam Takeuchi]

I just make glue ice cubes after the first cooking session. I pop ice cubes in as needed and there are hardly any left overs to chuck into the fridge for later.

The cheapo brush I use haven't shed any hair after months of use. The coarse white hair one. On the other hand, another brush I bought for shellac for quick sealing was softer and darker hair brush, shed hair left and right. I quickly chucked it away.

[John Coloccia]

Usually, I use a small glue pot, but it's recently started leaking (the importer has graciously offered to repair or replace it even though it's well over a year old...good guy). That may be some of my luck. When you only mix up an ounce or two at a time, and then put it right in the fridge, it's easy to keep it fresh. Now that I have to use my Rival Hot Pot again, I have to mix up more. I think I'll pick up some ice trays and do the freezer thing. I've done it before, but not in ice trays.

[george wilson]

I can keep hide glue about 4 days in the fridge,then it starts to stink and is time to eat it.:):):)

[John Coloccia]

Mental note: if you ever visit George, grab a sandwich on the way...

[Sam Takeuchi]

Since I use glue ice cubes, I just put water in the glue pot, and in the middle of it, I have a 2 ounce glass jar where I pop glue ice cubes in. My glue pot is a generic one that's sold everywhere, that black one with aluminum container. I just cover the top with aluminum foil. I used to use glass marbles to line the bottom in order to avoid glass jar contacting the bottom of the glue pot, but it doesn't seem to overheat, so I don't do that anymore. Once I'm done with gluing, I just fill the glass jar with hot water from the glue pot along with the brush, so by the time I take it to the sink, it's easy to wash it off clean. My glue pot and glass jar have no glue residue anywhere :)

P.S. In my experience, the day after making glue ice cubes is the hardest time to pop glue cubes out of the tray. Maybe because glue is still slowly solidifying from gelled state. If I wait one more day, they pop out much easier. Maybe it's just me.

[John Coloccia]

The glass beads are important for the Rival hot pot. That heating element gets SUPER hot. It boils water in about a minute. The more traditional glue pots I think are just regulated with a PWM of some kind, and never really get that hot, but they take forever to heat up in the morning. I prefer the real glue pot, actually, and I'll be happy to have my little brass pot back! :)

[Adam Cherubini]

Hi John,

You get a stick, dip it in hide glue, then wrap it with a bundle of hog bristle. You want the hair to lap the stick a good 1" or more. While the glue is still soft, you apply more glue to the outside of the hair (in the area of the stick, then "whip" or over wrap the hair with twine. Once the glue is dry, you can trim the bristle to shape. The business end should be hemispherical.

Adam

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P.S. Since I know people are going to ask, you may be able to find horse hair or other sorts of hair on line that are suitable for this. I have used a variety of different sorts of hair. For a glue brush, long fibers aren't as important as they are for a paint brush. You can often use the hair from a worn out shop dust brush. You may be able to find really cheap "China Bristle" dust brushes from the likes of Harbor Freight and simply up-cycle them.

[John Coloccia]

Thank you, Adam. That's exactly what I needed to know. Do you have a source for information how to wrap the twine? I did a search for "brush whip" and got something completely different than making a glue brush. :eek:

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

Looks similar to what I do on when twining the end of the tape on my bike handlebars . . . plenty of videos online if you look for that. Also look for instructions on whipping rope - same kind of deal. There's a nice PDF on that here: http://www.ropeworks.biz/reader/whipping.pdf

[Adam Cherubini]

That's it Joshua! Thanks a ton. I was wondering how I'd describe that. I use method 2.

That's funny John. I wanted to buy eye glasses for my daughter some years ago and typed in "girls glasses" and promptly lost my respect for humanity.

Adam

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

That's it Joshua! Thanks a ton. I was wondering how I'd describe that. I use method 2.



That's actually pretty much what I use on the end of my bicycle handlebars, too.

[Federico Mena Quintero]

It's not the kind of brush you want, but I found this mesmerizing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHs27N-xmN8

It's part 4 of 5; the first ones are interesting too (especially the tin template for the holes).

[John Coloccia]

I'm actually now discovering that just getting a hold of some bristles is quite a pain in the behind. It doesn't seem like anyone just sells a little tin of bristles retail. Oh well...I'll find them somewhere.

[John Coloccia]

Thanks for that, Joshua. Very helpful and very simple.

[Alex Holden]

You get a stick, dip it in hide glue, then wrap it with a bundle of hog bristle. You want the hair to lap the stick a good 1" or more. While the glue is still soft, you apply more glue to the outside of the hair (in the area of the stick, then "whip" or over wrap the hair with twine. Once the glue is dry, you can trim the bristle to shape. The business end should be hemispherical.

Here's my first attempt (I was trying to make one with quite a small head for musical instrument work):
307983

Is there a trick to gluing the bristles to the stick neatly without making a complete mess? I dipped the stick in the glue, pushed it into a small bundle of hog bristle... and when I let go, about a dozen bristles stuck randomly to the stick and the rest fell off on the bench. I then applied a bit more glue to the stick, picked up some of the fallen bristles from the bench, and attempted to apply them to the stick. Result: a few more bristles untidily stuck to the stick and a large mat of bristles stuck to my fingers! A few more rounds of this and I managed to end up with an uneven but adequate head of bristles on the brush. The whipping stage went fine, and the end result after trimming looks usable though not very neat and even.

[Alex Holden]

Actually, thinking about it again this morning, I'm guessing the too-obvious-to-mention step that I missed out is, "tie the bundle of bristles together with a piece of thread before you try to glue it to the stick or most of them will fall off." :rolleyes:

[Bob Glenn]

I use an acid brush for small glue ups and a one inch cheapo boars hair brush (the throw away kind with a wooden handle and yellowish bristles that you can get at home centers) No need to throw either away, just put it in the water bath in your glue pot to wash it out before the water cools.

[ken hatch]

I make 'em the easy way. Go online to TRWW and order a half dozen....takes a couple or three minutes max:). Good brushes to, I expect a pack of 6 will last until I'm planted and pushing up daisies.

[Dave Anderson NH]

I'm an acid brush user too. Being somewhat OCD at times I take a hammer and pound the area where the bristles are inserted into the handle to tighten the crimp. I then pull lightly on the end of the bristles to remove an loose ones which might shred. If I want a stiffer brush I take a pair of sharp scissors and shorten the bristles slightly. I too, like Bob Glenn, reuse the brushes by cleaning in hot water from the glue pot and then brushing on a wood or paper scrap to remove excess.

[Michael Ray Smith]

Short, sweet and to the point. What's the traditional method for making a hot hide glue brush?

I know it doesn't answer the question, and it's not traditional, but for hot glue I use pallet knives instead of brushes. I've also used a lab spatula. Both are cheap and readily available on Amazon. Pallet knives probably work a little better because they're generally more flexible than most lab spatulas. Icing spatulas (for spreading icing on cakes) are pretty much the same idea, and they'd probably work, too. My local Woodcraft sells cheap plastic versions of spatulas for applying glue, about six in a package. I think they're overpriced for what they are and IMO don't work as well as a pallet knife or lab spatula, but they're okay, and it's really easy to remove old glue from them by simply bending the blade.

[Richard Hutchings]

I'll have to try that. I love that they can be cleaned by a little flexing. Awesome.
Thanks



I know it doesn't answer the question, and it's not traditional, but for hot glue I use pallet knives instead of brushes. I've also used a lab spatula. Both are cheap and readily available on Amazon. Pallet knives probably work a little better because they're generally more flexible than most lab spatulas. Icing spatulas (for spreading icing on cakes) are pretty much the same idea, and they'd probably work, too. My local Woodcraft sells cheap plastic versions of spatulas for applying glue, about six in a package. I think they're overpriced for what they are and IMO don't work as well as a pallet knife or lab spatula, but they're okay, and it's really easy to remove old glue from them by simply bending the blade.

[Alex Holden]

I've made a couple more small glue brushes in a range of sizes with Adam's method. Tying the bundle together before gluing it to the stick helped a little, though it tended to make the bristles splay out in a way that made the whipping trickier.

I then made an even smaller brush by simply boiling the end of the stick in water for five minutes to soften the fibres (making an interesting pink dye in the process!) then hammering it to split it apart. This worked pretty well.


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In the past I've used a long matchstick sharpened to a point to apply individual droplets of glue, but without any fibres to hold the glue through capillary action, the size of droplet it dispenses varies too much for my purposes.

[george wilson]

I ain't a payin no $4.50 for a glue brush!!

[John Coloccia]

I know it doesn't answer the question, and it's not traditional, but for hot glue I use pallet knives instead of brushes. I've also used a lab spatula. Both are cheap and readily available on Amazon. Pallet knives probably work a little better because they're generally more flexible than most lab spatulas. Icing spatulas (for spreading icing on cakes) are pretty much the same idea, and they'd probably work, too. My local Woodcraft sells cheap plastic versions of spatulas for applying glue, about six in a package. I think they're overpriced for what they are and IMO don't work as well as a pallet knife or lab spatula, but they're okay, and it's really easy to remove old glue from them by simply bending the blade.

Some luthier friends I know simply put it in a squeeze bottle, and stick the bottle in the glue pot with a bit of water in it. I may try that. It's probably the best way to get the glue to the work in the absolute hottest form.

[Alex Holden]

Some luthier friends I know simply put it in a squeeze bottle, and stick the bottle in the glue pot with a bit of water in it. I may try that. It's probably the best way to get the glue to the work in the absolute hottest form.

Good idea, I'll give that a try too.

[Michael Ray Smith]

I ain't a payin no $4.50 for a glue brush!!

George, you can always use your finger. It's free. Or chew on the end of a green sassafras stick, like we used to do as kids to make toothbrushes. :)

[george wilson]

I'm afraid I'm an acid brush cheap skate!