Hide Glue question!

[Knotty]

Pat , surprisingly here in Brazil , they only sell fresh fish in areas with beaches etc.
Most of the fish we can buy here is frozen.

I'm used to just going in the market in Italy and buying myself some fresh fish, but that doesn't happen here.

[JoJoDapyro]

A few years back (a decade, I think) a widespread rumor about gelatinous candy circulated my country. Supposedly it was made from bones of captured stray dogs. Now, I never saw that many stray dogs around (hardly any), but that doesn't disprove the rumor. Nowadays the rumor is that all the dogs are consumed by Chinese restaurants and such.  Along with ducks. And still I see almost no stray dogs around.

Maybe this somewhat strengthens the claim. Where have all the dogs gone?? Who cares, it's time for Jello!!

We have a joke that all the best Chinese restaurants are right next to pet stores. Whatever, pass the sweet and sour "Chicken".

[DC]

Knox is good stuff. It is not made of hooves, you can't make glue out of hooves. Knox is a combo of bones, connective tissue. and rawhide.

^^ you're right, i was just popping off animal body parts that we don't consume. my bad

but you can make glue out of hooves: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoof_glue

I was going by TBB1 page 203 where Tim Baker says,
"Two other non-sources of glue are hooves and horn. Despite common belief, dictionary definitions, encyclopedia entries, and other literature, glue cannot be made from hooves."

Now I'm stuck between Tim and Wikipedia   I'm inclined to believe Tim. I think horses feet would be an excellent source of glue because there is a lot of connective tissue, ligaments and stuff that have a lot of collagen in it, but the hoof itself is just keratin. It's not important, just interesting.

[lebhuntfish]

You should be able to put your fingers in the hot glue comfortably.  I use a crock pot($5 from thrift shop) as a double boiler to keep my glue hot. I add water as the glue in the pot gels if necessary.
 Isaia, you might find fish air bladders at a local fish market. That makes a very strong glue also.

+1
I put 3 packets in about 1/3 cup of water and sometimes I add a little more water.  I let the Knox dissolve until it's soaked up all the water.  Then do exactly what Pat said. If it's to hot for your fingers it's to hot to use.

Patrick

[mwosborn]

So a Knox and water solution should be heated to 150-160F...

I would say that is on the edge of too hot.  You can dip a small piece of scrap sinew into the glue and if it denatures and curls up you know it is too hot.

[mullet]

When I am working with hide glue I keep it warm on a double burner hot plate. Each side has a dial that I can control the heat.