Gotta love hot hide glue, a small shop mishap

Paul,

You’re an awfully good salesman for HHG!

L/W

I love the idea of the easy cleanup. I’m leaning closer and closer to trying it out.

COOL way to save some glue… :)

My mishap is the small glass jar where I put the HHG got lighter and flipped inside the electric warmer/kettle .
The was no recovery for me.
I think it’s great for many projects I am using it on two of them right now.
I had to go out and buy titebond 3 last weekend since I will be making some cutting board for Christmas.

I was meaning to ask you.
Can I weight the small jar that contains the HHG with some glass marbles or small pebbles?

I’m not sure what you’re using. If you can zoom on this photo you can see what I started with. The jar is about a pint and it is trapped in the cover which is made from coroplast.

Paul: Not to hijack anything but I have the same mortiser as you do. I am very unhappy with the chisels that came with the tool. Do you have any experience any other chisels?
I like the tool as a whole even with its faults.

It works fine for my needs but if I were doing it again I would go for a tilting one.
I’m doing more and more with hand tools these days so some of my machines are collecting dust. This is one.

I see. Putting the Jar on top is a better idea then what I am doing (putting the jar inside and access it from the opening.
How far your glass container is submerge into the water?
I am trying to figure how much water you put in the electric kettle.

I guess I can try and figure out what will work.

The jar goes to the bottom. The kettle is about half full. The nice thing is you always have hot water to add to the glue. With a commercial (HoldHeet) pot you don’t have that. :-(

Thanks Paul!

That is very helpful.
I am always scared to add more water in the glue. When do you know to add water. Is it when it gets less fluid or when it gels sooner?

I really appreciate you are taking the time to answer my questions.

The usual mistake for HHG beginners is to have the glue too thick. Consistency is what you are looking for. If you lift a brush out of it Patrick says you should get a steady stream of about a foot before it separates into droplets. That can get messy but a good way to get comfortable is just to experiment.

A few thoughts off the top of my head

1)Thicker is not stronger.
2)Thicker cools quicker as the water holds the heat.
3) If hammer veneering isn’t working, it is a good bet you are too thick.
4) If it’s as thick as your PVA glue, it’s likely too thick
5) If it seems a little too thick, just add some (hot) water.
6) If seems too thin, leave the lid off and let it cook a while or add a bit more (hydrated) glue.
7) I would rather err on the thin side than the thick side.

Patrick Edwards is the best authority that I know on the subject. Here’s a video he made on HHG.

Enjoy!

Thanks Paul!

I think I understand.
I have 2 glue up this weekend. I will have lots of pieces to experiment :)

I got my pot modified. Now it’s more accessible and easier to work with.



And a new brush too :)

I did a glue up after the mod. Much easier to use.
Thanks!

That looks really good. Is that a toolsforworkingwood brush? It looks just like mine except the retaining bands on mine are blue and the bristles are white.

No I found the brush at home. I think it came with the expresso machine. I thought I would give it a try first. It does load pretty good. Much better than the acid brush.

The jar sitting higher gave me unhindered access to the glue really speed up thing. It made it so much easier.

It does look a lot like this.

It does.
It looks like the bristles are thinner on yours. I am planning to buy some now that I know it’s working.