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So I was looking at the local woodworking supply place's website. In particular I was looking at the blurry photo of what they were calling a hot glue pot. It turns out that it was a hot wax pot that women use to torture themselves while de-hairing.

Are these things any good for hide glue? I can get one on ebay for less than $50.

Paul, what you want is a hot pot. Here is a link to the old archives where Mario discusses his setup. Follow the thread on Waterborne finishes, Center Seam sinkage.
link to archive Hope this helps.

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

I wrote a short article on the use of a "hot pot" at my website. See
my article. It
works great and is a very cheap solution!

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Sylvan
http://www.wellsguitars.com

If you do the Hot Pot(and you may as well, they work great, are cheap, and last years....), wire in a timer of some sort. I'm using a 4 hour timer with mine. Available at any well stocked electrical supplier's ... Sooner or later, you will forget to un-plug it before leaving the shop, trust me. And if that happens when you leave for a few days, disater may strike.

Timer, everyone, get a timer....

Hi All,

Just wanted to add my two cents about the Rival Hot Pot alternative.

After hearing about the affordable glue pot option the Rival pot provided I went and purchased one. I found that the pot would not keep the glue at the proper temp. I found that the first pot I purchased kept the glue no cooler then 150F so I returned it and tried another. This one kept the contents even warmer, closer to 160F. After that I went to the thrift store and bought an older Rival and found the same thing.

I checked these temps with several different thermometers and got similar results. I don't know if this is to big of a deal but I've heard that if the glue goes above 150F it will begin to lose some of its strength. I wonder if it's a regional thing or what, but I got my pots in Olympia, WA at Fred Meyer.

I've kind of given up on Hide glue for the time being until I can get this thing ironed out. I did find a pretty good price on the traditional glue pot at International Luthiers Supply, Inc. They have one listed for around 86 dollars. I haven't purchased it yet, but I did by their bending iron which is the Ibex/Sloane type and it is the same model that LMI and Stew-Mac sell and they were good to do business with.

At the Brune french polishing class this summer, Marshall showed us how they mix up hide glue. They use an inexpensive baby bottle warmer. I'd have to check my notes, but I think they were shooting for a 140-145F temp and they were able to do that. I picked up one at Walmart for $10-15, but haven't mixed up any glue yet.

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Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR

I use the rival pot- set at its lowest setting keeps my HHG right at 145* all day.
Maybe I got a good one

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

[QUOTE=woltho18] Hi All,

Just wanted to add my two cents about the Rival Hot Pot alternative.I found that the pot would not keep the glue at the proper temp. I found that the first pot I purchased kept the glue no cooler then 150F so I returned it and tried another. This one kept the contents even warmer, closer to 160F. After that I went to the thrift store and bought an older Rival and found the same thing.

I checked these temps with several different thermometers and got similar results. I don't know if this is to big of a deal but I've heard that if the glue goes above 150F it will begin to lose some of its strength. I wonder if it's a regional thing or what, but I got my pots in Olympia, WA at Fred Meyer.

[/QUOTE]

Don't give up! I figured I'd have that problem, and did. I opened up the thing and sure enough, there was a trim pot (potentiometer adjustable with screwdriver) Adjust so it's within temp range. I keep mine at least half full of water. The heat goes on and off, and the temp always is in flux, so to even that out, keep it fairly full, as a buffer. You must be patient while adjusting and testing (get a digital thermometer) It'll take an hour or 2

More water! If it gets below half, it gets too warm. I keep mine about 3/4 full all the time. It was also a bit hot at first(150 at its lowest, but within a couple hours' use, it settled down, adn now I have to have the adjusment on mine turned up about two points to hold 145. I have calibrated thermometers to double check the cheap one that lives in the pot, and it holds 145 all day, every day.

Just need to give it a bit of time, and much water.

OK, I PM'ed Sylvan but I am sure many of you can answer these questions.

1) What is the process for preparing hide glue for the plastic bottles?

2) How do you store the glue when not in use?

3) What is the shelf life of the glue in the bottle?

I have used hide glue manu years ago but we had a glue pot and it just lived in the pot...and was smmmmeeeellllly!

Thanks

Shane

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Canada

1) Frank Ford has a very nice and quite detailed recipe for it on his site. (I can find it for you if you need me too...)

2) Freezer

3) Not sure what the recommended time is but I just did a side by side comparison gluing two pieces of spruce together. One with a fresh batch, and one with a batch at least a year old (stored in the freezer). They both worked great. I did a bit of an unscientific test of finding the failure point by haning weights off of the glued part and neither of the glue joints failed. The wood broke first.

(for the scientists in the crowd... I know it wasn't all that scientific... I was not trying to "prove" anything other than the glue was still ok to use.    )

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Thanks Brock...I am off to Canadian Tire to find a Rival!! I will look on Franks site for the recipe!

Shane

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Canada

Freezer works...refrigerator won't work for long. I keep my stuff in small plastic bottles double wrapped and frozen forever (18 months so far). I had similar results to Brock.

When I'm working with it I use the refrigerator thereafter for a single bottle... no longer than 2 months. After that mold appears and I toss it.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Thanks again guys! Just bought a proctor silex hot pot and a thermomenter from the cooking utensils section at the local Wal-Mart. I followed brocks advice and went to Frank Fords site and copied everything he had to say on hide glue into a WORD file and printed it off in 22 pages. I am about to order the glue and fix a banjo, and glue up my guitar bits.

So again...THANKS!!

Shane

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Canada