Hide Glue

[Jerry Thompson]

IIRC I read somewhere that end grain can be successively glued with hot hide glue.
I am building a large picture frame and the 45d corners were trued up on my shooting board and all is spot on.
Would this be a go or no go?

[Mel Fulks]

Sure, “If it’s glue too …it’s a go to”. Lots of good glues now. The main benefit of hide glue is the “ reversibility “.

[Jason Buresh]

Honestly for something like a picture frame I would think PVA glue would be fine too. End grain to end grain is not a strong glue joint, and would be bad for furniture or structural work, but for something that will be hung in the wall and not subject to a lot of stress on the joints you should be fine.

One trick I have seen too is to "prime" the end grain by pressing glue into the grain with your finger so it soaks it in, and then proceed to glue the joint so that the glue doesn't get sucked out of your joint. I haven't personally tried this, but I have read about it and seen a video on it.

If you are worried, there is always the option of adding splines for extra strength too.

Hope this helps.

[Robert L Stewart]

I agree with Jason. Priming the joint is good.

[Daniel Culotta]

An interesting thing I've heard but never tried for sizing (priming) end grain with hide glue is that because new hide glue will bond to old hide glue, you can size the end grain with a thin coat and then fully let it soak in and dry. Then come back with the second coat and clamp. Seems like it'd be a good way to get good coverage and seal on mitres, and I think if the sizing coat is thin it wouldn't throw off alignment. Might be worth a try.