hide glue help

A little help from the hide glue experts:

I've mixed up a couple of batches and feel that maybe my mix is two thin. here is what I've done:

pre soaked a quantitiy of glue crystals for 3-4 hours with an excess of water. glue absorbed a lot of the water but still had an excess of free water.

Drained off the excess free water simply by placing a knife against the jar top and letting the excess water drain out. did not try to force any of the rest of the water out. mixture looked like soggy tapioca pudding.

placed in a rigged double boiler. babyfood jar suspended in a small pot on a hot plate with a candy thermometer in the water. heated to approxiamtely 160 degrees F for 30 minutes then let the temp drop back to about 140.

when I dip a stir stick into the hot glue and lift it out it comes off in drips, kind of the viscosity of a light oil. If i rub some between my fingers it feels like cooking oil or light machine oil. It is definitely not thick like a heavy syrup. Is this right? or am I doing something wrong?

Frank

Reply to
Frank Boettcher
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It's right for something - maybe not what you're doing. I'd aim for "golden syrup" consistency for general use.

Get less water in there. Just soak it for less time. Otherwise turn up the heat on your hotplate and let it reduce for a while, making sure you stir the skin in every few minutes. I love my chem lab hotplate for this - easy adjustment between "Start up", "Store it" and "Make it thicker".

Reply to
Andy Dingley

Thanks, I think I used one of your posts to get started with this.

I'm doing repairs to a an upright or double bass. I used the thin batch to repair an open seam between the back and the side skirt and the fact that it was thin was good because I could force it in the open crack and get it fully wetted out. However, I have a structural repair (neck to body) to do tommorrow and I think I would like a thicker glue for that. I'll try to get more water out or heat it for longer to thicken it up.

My little hot plate rig ($8 at big lots) is adjustable and I scratched marks to indicate 140, 160, 175 degrees F with my makeshift double boiler.

Frank

Reply to
Frank Boettcher

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