The Things You Didn't Know About Hide Glue

Hide glue is an old and versatile substance, and to this day, it is the go-to glue for many applications.

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[nerdsunscripted]

I’m a professional piano tech specializing in replacing soundboards. Steinway & Sons has quit using hot hide glue in favor of Unibond 800 with medium hardener for many of the joints. It’s a 2 part mix of urea formaldehyde and catalyst. Unlike hot hide glue it doesn’t require a hot pot, hours of time to get it up to temp, and has a working time of about 10-15 minutes. Downside is it needs to be clamped for 24 hours for a bent lamination glueup, although not for simple glueups like most woodworkers use. But once it’s dry it’s acoustic properties are nigh indistinguishable from hot hide glue. There’s actually some violin luthiers that have switched to it and the customers have not noticed a change in quality. Steinway has been using it since the 1970’s and there hasn’t been any issues with glue failure since then.

As for the hardener, it’s available in white, medium, and dark. It has nothing to do with strength but is just tint. Use dark hardener for walnut, medium for yellower woods like maple/spruce, and white for really light woods.

It’s not quite as easily reversible as old school hide glue, but it’s pretty darn close. A bit of water and heat and it will soften enough to remove. A bit more moisture soaked in with a damp rag over the course of about 20 minutes and the joint can be scraped bone dry with a chisel.

It’s glass hard quality is also sought after in piano hammer to shank glueups as most companies use titebond quick and thick, but people are realizing you can get more power and responsiveness out of the piano when using glue that dries harder, such as hide glue and Unibond. For that, the preference is to hot hide glue for the slight reversibility benefit but I’ve had great success with the Unibond 800 as well, including reversing the joints to repair it. Biggest downside is you do have to make sure to get the joint clean before re glueing as it’s a lot harder to melt it and get it to re bond well on hammers as there is no clamping force, but on clamped joints it seems to re glue to itself just fine.

[dougdavidson]

Thanks James. I was glued to the screen for the whole video! Take care & stay safe.

[itsjoshwood]

Great video, James. I'm really glad I stuck around. Really, a gripping video.

[evanmorris]

James; Another use for Hide Glue is in glass art, doing “Peels”. You stencil a pattern on the glass and apply hide glue in a thin even layer. When dry grab an edge and pull hard. The very top layer of glass peels off with the glue leaving a refractive textured face which contrasts nicely with the smooth glass. Very popular in the 80’s. I don’t see it much now. But it proves how damn strong hide glue is. It is also used in making traditional asiatic recurve bows with horn and sinew. It binds these items together exceedingly well and can flex with the curving limbs. Nothing else works like that.

[DavidBeede]

I searched long hard to find an affordable glue pot for hide glue. Finally stumbled on the very same wax warmer that I see on your bench there. Wish you had mentioned it, but I’m glad to see it in your product links. Only 30 bucks, working fine so far. Great overview!

[PhilipEdmondson]

First experience with hide glue was watching my grandfather use it to repair a violin. Had a jar of granulated hide glue, wish I knew where it went. Watching him work it all was a memory I will treasure.

[wilsonhernandez]

Perfect timing I just bought rawhide toys to follow along with your tutorial glad to hear you still advocating this method :D

[ThePacificNomad]

I swear, everytime I think " I wonder" you come out with a video about that exact thing... keep it up! Thanks.

[BuckSterling]

Lost art press is also selling hide glue now. I also like the cleanup for hide glue, and you can wash it out with water to prevent staining under a finish.

[maxwelljohnson]

Ngl "It's around here somewhere" got me 😂😂

[ronhochhalter]

I made a delivery to a Jello plant back when I was an OTR driver, not knowing what they produced in the factory I made the mistake of asking and got a tour. I've never consumed Jello again. Interesting to know that Hide glue is the same product. Makes sense because my delivery that at the factory was 50k lbs of pig skins. Thanks for the great videos!!!

[supergeek]

Thank you. I really didn't know that much about hide glue, and your video was quite enlightening.

[hammerfret]

I’ve been building guitars for about ten years and most of the talk about hide glue has been by traditionalist who claim they can hear the difference between hide glue and pva—I’m skeptical— but you have provided the best explanation for its use in instrument making. Thanks!

You ought to go into luthiery. 🙂

[jmrivera]

Great video! I like all your videos, especially the long ones!!!

[tvviewer]

For those of you looking for a non steam way to warm up wood to loosen up the Hyde or other glue - you can look up battery warmers. They make small ones for motorcycles that can really target an area without warming up too much.

[cjbrooks]

Great video, I'm going to have to try some of this! I'm always interested in finding more natural stuff for my woodworking, and I had a similar experience a couple years ago when Stumpy Nubs turned me on to mixing Shellac from flakes.

[garychaiken]

Back in the day carpenters had a glue pot. It’s a double boiler cast iron pot. Yes. I have one. Great job. Thank you 😊

[cliffwood]

I currently use the Titebond stuff as my go-to for most things - when it runs out I might switch to Old Brown. Definitely want to try out the heated stuff, I think having it tack up as it cools would be really handy!

[douglasmagruder]

If you want to do a longer vid then Im here for it.

[revrinn]

Thanks for that thorough treatment of a sticky subject.