Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => HowTo's and Build-a-longs => Topic started by: tattoo dave on October 19, 2011, 12:47:27 am
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Anybody have a recipe for fish glue? Or hide glue? Will be starting a horn bow, sinew backed pretty soon and I was wondering which would be better. And how does commercial, Titebond hide glue compare? So a recipe once in The magazine for hide glue using doggie rawhide treats, how would that work out, and I forgot what all was involved. Anybody know? Thanks!!
Tattoo Dave
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Use the leftover scraps of sinew from shredding sinew for the backing,it is excellent as well as yellow croaker airbladders,there are more than a few methods out there on different forums,I have also used commercially bought dry hide glue with great sucess.
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I've made hide glue on the wood stove slowly stewing down bits and pieces of an entire rawhide of an antelope.Don't know how strong of glue it made but it sure dries very hard.I've used canvas sizing glue on bow backs[rabbit hide] which worked good but knox gelitin boughten at a grocery store cheap is supposed to be some of the very best according to Tim Baker.
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tattoo dave, I'm replying to this because I was looking for the same how-to. From what I'm seeing, boil water, toss in cut pieces of rawhide, then simmer till its gelitan like. Lay that out to dry then break off pieces as needed. If you find a more accurate recipe as in amount of water to rawhide, please let me know.
Thanx,
Gary
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I would like to know how people mix the Knox gelatin to make glue.
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GELATIN:
Two packages of the gelatin (unsweetened and unflavored of course) and about 1 1/2 cups of cold water. I use a steel saucepan about 1 qt in capacity. Let it sit until all the crystals have soaked up water and sunk. Then I set that pot in a larger pot half full of hot water, hot but not boiling. Slowly stir the wetted gelatin crystals and water until it all is dissolved. I never apply heat directly to the glue pot because it can easily get too hot and weaken the glue.
HIDE GLUE:
Toss the sinew/hide scraps in a metal pot, cover with distilled water, place a lid on it and pop it in the oven at the lowest temp it will operate at. Stir about once an hour. Keep adding distilled water so that the scraps are always just barely covered. Keep this going for about 6-8 hours. Strain the glue thru muslin or cheesecloth, discard solids. If it's thinner than you like, pop it back in the oven with the lid off and stir every 1/2 hour or so until it's at the thickness you like. Here's a critical part. Let it completely cool in the oven without disturbing it at ALL. It should gel by the time it reaches room temp. While gelled at room temp, blot the surface of the glue gently with paper towels to absorb any grease or oil that has floated to the top. The smaller you cut up the hide scraps the better the yield. Boiling this mess makes for a weaker glue and if it is going to stink it makes sure the stink spreads further and faster.
Clear as mud?
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Thanks JW!! I am going to try that with some flax on a piece of RO.
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JW, I know I want the hide clean of flesh and hair, but can I cook it as is? Everything I've read on this says rawhide. I assume thats because rawhide is usually readily available whereas fresh hide isn't. Can this glue just sit out and dry out to be used at a later application? Will cooking in the oven make it smell up the house? I have a wife who frowns on this type of thing.
Thanx,
Gary
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If the hide didn't stink when it was wet the glue won't stink. Even a stinky hide will make fairly decent glue, but it will stink.
Hide glue will mold pretty quickly if left out. I freeze mine because it's easier to thaw then to rehydrate. If you don't have the freezer space pour your glue out in the thinnest layers you can. When it gels you can cut it in thin strips. If you lay the strips in a cool place with a fan blowing across them it will dry pretty quick. Once dried these skinny little strips will scare you with how much effort it makes to break up.
This winter I dried a batch of hide glue by pouring a 1/4 cup in a large rubber oil pan. I let it run around everywhere so that it was paper thin. It dried in about 4 hours and I'd peel it out and crumble 'em like potato chips so they were tiny flakes. More surface area, should rehydrate faster that way, too.
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JW, could you use a crock pot to make the sinew glue? I just got a new/used one for simmering small skulls that I could use. I'm not even going to ask the wife if I can make hide glue on her new stove. I don't need the glue that bad ;D
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LMAO! Nobody needs it that bad, honor thy missus!
Just don't shut off your crockpot with the glue still in it!!! Don't even leave dribbles of hide glue in a crockpot. As the glue dries and shrinks it will literally pull the glaze off the crockery and utterly ruin it. Don't ask me how I know this.
Don't let the glue dry on glass bowls, dishes or other items either. Hide glue will adhere to the microscopic pores in the glass and pull ships and sheets of glass apart!!!
This glue is not wimpy stuff.
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what about those plastic bag liners you can get for a crock pot? I use them when I make deer roast.
Do you know if your making it to the Classic yet?
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what about those plastic bag liners you can get for a crock pot? I use them when I make deer roast.
I think that would be an awesome idea, glad I thought of it.
Do you know if your making it to the Classic yet?
Dude! Shut up! Don't jinx it! Last year I announced it and the Fates immediately took it upon themselves to punish me! Shhhhh!
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I won't ask again. You just better PM me when you know for sure. ;)
And thanks for the tip on the plastic liners ;D
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And thanks for the tip on the plastic liners ;D
Hey Osage Outlaw, ANY time I can do ANYthing for you, don't ask. ;D
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Don't let the glue dry on glass bowls, dishes or other items either. Hide glue will adhere to the microscopic pores in the glass and pull ships and sheets of glass apart!!!
I use the same Rabbit Skin glue granules that I used to use for making glue chipped glass signs with gold leaf. Just etch your design in the glass with acid and spread rabbit skin glue on it and as the glue shrinks it chips big chips and flakes out of the surface of the glass (where the etch is). Beautiful stuff but keep it covered as it's drying or it's glass shrapnel around the whole room! Then you can apply gold leaf by using a water thin glue (size) made with knox or empty gelatin capsules then sealing the back with paint and varnish.
Rabbit skin glue is also mixed with whiting to make old style gesso to prime and shrink stretch a painter's canvas.
Look for it at an artists supply place.
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this post has a good build along approach to home made hide glue. http://www.primitivearcher.com/smf/index.php/topic,31239.0.html Best of luck folks.
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Anybody have a recipe for fish glue? Or hide glue? Will be starting a horn bow, sinew backed pretty soon and I was wondering which would be better. And how does commercial, Titebond hide glue compare? So a recipe once in The magazine for hide glue using doggie rawhide treats, how would that work out, and I forgot what all was involved. Anybody know? Thanks!!
Tattoo Dave
Tattoo Dave,
Mike Yancy has a great article in the 20.1 issue of PA on page 32. You can still see it on the eMag and it is probably still on the newsstands for about 1 more week?
It is really good with the instructions with some great pictures. good luck!!