Howard Jensen asks if he can toss out his hot hide glue pot now that he
has discovered liquid hide glue and fish glue.  I find fish glue very
useful for gluing leather to wood.  I use it to glue leather coverings
to organ pipe stoppers.  It's pretty sticky and it dries very fast.

Likewise, liquid hide glue is very good for gluing wood to wood and
in certain other applications.  I love its long open time.  It is also
very nice that it is compatible with various finishes.  If a little
gets in the grain of the wood, the finish makes it disappear.  I use
it whenever the application is compatible with its characteristics.

If I have to repair a broken part, I use a good PVA glue (like Titebond
III) to restore the broken piece of wood (to make it whole again) and
then I reassemble the parts with liquid hide glue (like the original).
But if I need a glue that will have good tack in a short time, a good
choice would be hot hide glue.  It is almost as strong as PVA and it
holds the parts together as soon as it cools and then bonds the parts
permanently when it dries.

There has long been a debate about the relative strength of hot hide
glue vs. liquid hide glue.  Supposedly, the additive (urea) that keeps
the glue liquid at room temperature reduces the strength of the bond.

Last year Fine Woodworking Magazine conducted tests to compare the
strength of various glues.  They tested tight, snug and loose joints
in three different woods.  They woods were maple (a tight grained
wood), oak (an open grained wood), and Ipe (an oily tropical wood).
In most cases, the two glues were within 5 or 6 percent in strength.
Sometimes one was stronger, sometimes the other.  This was probably
within the experimental variation of the test samples.

In only one case was the hot hide glue a little stronger: a loose joint
in oak.  On the other hand, on a wood like Ipe, the liquid hide glue
was a lot stronger on a snug or loose joint.

So I'll save my glue pot for time when 'quick and sticky" is important
and use the liquid hide glue for all other reassembly.

Regards from a place where even liquid hide glue gets a little thick.

Craig Smith
Upstate New York