Dye & Hide Gllue

[Jerry Thompson]

Will hide glue take dye? I have cut over thirty mortises, as practice, and I cannot square them. These are through tenons and the reveal side of the mortises look terrible. If I can get enough hide glue into the gaps and it will take dye I will continue. Other wise it is obvious I do not have what it takes to chisel the mortises square. I have used guides and you name it only one came out OK and I have no idea how that happened.

[ben bothwell]

Hide glue does take stains and dyes quite well, but it does not fill gaps very well. I recently did a large job of 30 flat panel doors with through tenons in red cedar which was a nightmare to work with. I had uneven reveals so I glued up the doors and when they were set I took lighter cedar and made an outline around the reveal as an accent piece. They turned out great almost as if it were planned all along. This could also be done with matching end grain just clean out the gaps brush some glue on some scrap strips and fill the cracks. Let this dry and then cut off the excess and you will barely be able to tell where the gaps were. Good luck.

Ben

[Jerry Thompson]

Ben;
Thanks for the reply. I have over 2 dozen of these to do. I am tired of it and realize I do not have the ability to do this. I am not about to further my frustration doing what you did. I would blow an 0 ring before I got done. I have done enough failures to know I need to move on. The maple is going under the bed until something comes along I can handle.
I even chopped a bunch by hand and the ends looked terrible. With that amount of mortises and maple 1.5" thick forget about it.