Like traditional hand tools, hide glue is an old technology that still can’t be beat, especially since Patrick Edwards started selling it in liquid form. Liquid hide glue has a ton of advantages: It offers plenty of working time, it is slippery for easy assembly, it cleans up easily with warm water (even after it dries), and it won’t show under any type of finish.

But even “liquid” hide glue needs to be warmed a bit to be thin enough to use. Edwards, the maker of “Old Brown Glue,” recommends sitting the bottle in a bath of warm water. But what to do when you want some out in a dish, for spreading with a brush?

I found the solution this week at the shop of Tim Rousseau, one of the lead instructors at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Maine. Rousseau uses liquid hide glue often, not because he loves old technologies, but because it is the best tool for the job.

First he found a hot pot for $1 on eBay. Its low setting keeps water at 140 degrees, the same thing an expensive glue pot does. Then he just sits his bottles of Old Brown Glue in the pot (with water in there too). The bottle does a good job of squirting glue into various spaces. But for spreading the glue, or for times when a little brush makes more sense for applying it, Rousseau uses a small deli-size container to create a heated dish.
Ingeniuous! And the leftover glue just washes off afterward.

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