Another liquid hide glue question

[Judson Green]

Is it normal for the drops of squeeze out to not harden?

The joints seem strongly glued.

The bottle is brand new (expiry date April 2015), the basement shop is cool at 63-65°, but the gumminess persists even when I bring the work upstairs to the mid 70's.

The squeeze out stays gummy and is not fun to try and get cleaned off, really uncool when it ends up on the floor, on my shoes and tracked upstairs to the carpeting.

[Brian Loran]

I just used liquid hide glue for the first time last weekend. I am seeing the same issue, globs stay gooey. I hope that is OK! I don't want this thing to pop apart in a couple years.

[Zach Dillinger]

It happens to me as well, usually when the humidity is on the high end with somewhat high temps. Makes cleanup a pain in the rear.

[Mel Fulks]

That's why I don't like it. It's kept liquid by an additive, the blobs don't know they "are not in the bottle anymore".

[Michael Kellough]

That's why I don't like it. It's kept liquid by an additive, the blobs don't know they "are not in the bottle anymore".

That's funny!

Don't know what brand you're having trouble with but I've never been happy with Franklin's liquid hide glue.
It is absolutely supposed to harden and it never has in my experience. Even freshly manufactured stuff fails to harden.

I've never set up to use the real stuff but I've worked with a guy who has. He used real hide glue for stretching a canvas aroound a complicated form. The fact that the glue would tack quickly and could be loosened with steam was a revelation. He could steam and stretch and burnish and continue to make small gains that way until it was perfect and virtually as soon as he quit steaming it was done. No clamping needed.

[Judson Green]

I'm using Franklin's. Soon I'd like to start using the hot stuff. Glad to hear I haven't a defective bottle of glue.

[george wilson]

Strange,I have had no problem with Franklin's hide glue at all. Glued a lot of instruments with it. I make sure it is not out of date,and I DO put the bottle into a pan of hot water to get it good and hot before I use it. Really makes the glue very thin and runny when it's hot.

I do prefer to use glue i make up myself,but it's not easy to keep,even in the fridge,for more than 3 or 4 days. The bottled stuff is handier,and a FWW glue test years ago found the liquid hide glue to be stronger than the normal hide glue.

i ALWAYS put a sample of liquid hide glue on a piece of wood to make sure it hardens before I actually use it. Perhaps my heating it up helps it to start drying better? It's possible.

P.S.: I did have some out of date Franklins that did not harden. But,I caught that with my pre use test. The in date stuff has been fine.

[Dave Anderson NH]

I haven't used the Franklin liquid form so I can't comment on that. I do use both hot hide glue I mix from pearls and Patrick Edwards' Old Brown Glue. Like George said, warming up liquid hide glue, no matter the brand, is useful and makes application a lot easier. I do prefer the hot hide glue from the pot anywhere I want to make a rub joint or when I want to hammer veneer. The quick tack makes life so much easier.

[Judson Green]

George

When your making a sample are you spreading it out or making a blob/pool of glue?

I heat up the bottle in the sink with hot tap water for about 5 minutes.

[Jim Belair]

I have found if I have a bit of Old Brown Glue left in a small cup it takes much longer to harder to the "brittle" stage than that made from granular. In the thin layer within the joint I suspect it hardens faster.

[Simon MacGowen]

I use Old Brown glue and have not had any problem. The last project was done in the winter and I kept the bottle in a warm bath. The glue used was at least one year old, probably longer but I keep my Old Brown in the fridge. I wonder it was not the glue but the condition of the shop that caused the problem you reported. Did you try a small glue-up inside the house and at a place with significantly different environment?

Simon

[paul cottingham]

I use old brown glue almost exclusively. I buy it in the small bottles, so I wind up using it up before it goes funky. Heat it up with a hot pot full of scalding water. Squeeze out is a little gummy when it is thick, and stays that way for a good while.
i don't know if that is normal or not.

[Jim Matthews]

I like the fact that squeeze out remains soft enough to remove without a chisel.

I go to a lot of trouble to get tight joints, and don't want to gouge an edge.
What happens inside the joint (just like Vegas) stays in the joint.

I've been using Old Brown Glue for nearly three years, and things seem to be holding up.
Humidity approached 100% here, when Arthur blew by - everything is still assembled.

[Judson Green]

Did you try a small glue-up inside the house and at a place with significantly different environment?

Simon



Sort of, I've done glue ups in the basement and then the next day bring them upstairs for a day hoping the glue would harden, but no luck.

[Judson Green]

I like the fact that squeeze out remains soft enough to remove without a chisel.



I would too, but my squeezed out glue acts like gum... rolling, smearing and just getting messy.

I'm now cleaning what I can immediately after gluing up with a warm wet rag, this works much better.

[David Barnett]

The squeeze out stays gummy and is not fun to try and get cleaned off, really uncool when it ends up on the floor, on my shoes and tracked upstairs to the carpeting.

...that keeps liquid hide glue liquid in the bottle can keep it plastic before fully drying, especially if it's not thinly spread. As George Wilson and Dave Anderson have noted, warming helps in this respect.

Because of these and other issues, I rarely use LHG for pieces where it's a clear advantage to do so, opting for HHG in most cases—even for very small glue-ups where I just microwave a tiny bit with minimal waste. I've never used up a whole bottle of LHG before it's gone iffy. Besides, I'm impatient.