Glue...

[Fox]

Okay,i know this may not be the right place to ask this but its about sinewing a bow..  ive made a few batches of hide glue.... most of it gelled fairly good and is now drying into flakes. It wasn't really very sticky at all, is it supposed to be sticky?  Is there anyway I can totally mess the glue to the point that it will fail after sinewing my bow?
 

-Fox

[High-Desert]

I’m sure there is a way to screw it up, but I have sinewed a bow with glue that did not even gel for several day. I don’t know what I did, I think I heated it too long and it just dried and not gelled, and the bow worked out just fine, the sinew job just didn’t look very good. I did get rid of the glue after that and started a new batch.
As far as it being sticky, it never really is that sticky, mostly slimy, and a bit tacky

[Pat B]

If there was too much grease in what you made the glue from that could affect the final result. Generally any other material besides the collagen will rise to the surface to be scooped off.  The actual warm hide glue isn't sticky, so to speak, as a liquid but becomes more sticky as it gels.

[Fox]

Okay, cool. I pretty much did what they say in tbb, I used dog chews... first I cut up them up into like 1"  pieces, then I cooked it for 10 fish hours at 170-180. there never really was anything at the top to scoop off the top...

[Pat B]

I have noticed that there are rawhide dog chews that are amber in color and dense consistency and dog chews that are more white in color and less dense in consistency. IMO the amber colored, denser ones still have most of the collagen in them and the white, less dense ones have had most of the collagen taken out for other uses like collagen supplements or commercial hide glue.
 My observation comes from buying lots of rawhide chews for our dogs over the years.

[Fox]

Mine are not the amber in color ones... much more white.... will these still work?

[Pat B]

I have no idea. All I can say is try the amber kind too and make a comparison.

[Fox]

Okay will do pat.

[bownarra]

This is very simple
Does it gel in open air?
If not does it gel in a fridge?
If the answer to either of those questions is yes then great news it is fine
If not then you either started with material that wasn't ideal or you got it too hot. Personally my upper temp level is 65 celcius/150 farenheit. Again this is really simple to check, just stick a finger in....you should be able to hold in in for a few seconds but not much more
As for should it be 'sticky' then once it is thickened and reduced after inteial heating....yes it should be very sticky
I recently got a bag of 'bull muscle' don't ask exactly what body part this is from....but it is available cheaply I cooked them up and made some great glue from them. Very cheap. I've heard bows can even gain reflex in a field of female cows when you use this glue.......

[Fox]

haha thanks bownarra.. id does Gell... but do you mean it should be sticky after rehydrated ? because mine was not really sticky after it had been reduced but before it has been dried...

[bownarra]

Stickiness is subjective
If it gels it is ok to use.

[Fox]

Stickiness is subjective
If it gels it is ok to use.