By putting hot water in the bottom of a cheap deli container, Rousseau creates a heated dish that keeps liquid hide glue at just the right viscosity.
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.
Comments
I too use OBG and to keep it at a good, working temperature fill an insulated coffee mug with hot tap water and keep it there while gluing up dovetails, box joints, etc. The coffee mug keeps the water hot for a long time.
I like Old Brown Glue a lot also. Recently I made a soft maple case about 12" x 12" x 36" with dovetailed joints at each of the corners and glued it up using the brown glue. I finished the case with Liberon Finishing Oil which really is beautiful stuff. Unfortunately didn't realize that I did not get all the squeeze-out out in my final sanding. The brown glue that was left on the case around some of the dovetails definitely shows through. Thanks for the tip that the brown glue can be cleaned up with warm water. Live and learn.
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