Hide glue???

[BowEd]

Gelatine is not bad glue but it gels very quickly leaving you with less 'open' time.

That it does. Sometimes that is a good thing, sometimes not so good... Are there any tricks people can share to help extend the gell time on the Knox gelatin?


Mark

I've mixed some of my croaker glue with hide and sinew glue before to extend gell time.While making croaker glue it does take longer to gell to cut up into cubes too.Set it in a cooler enviornment and that'll speed up the gelling.Say 45 degrees F. then cut it up.
I've always been able to manipulate my enviornment to extend the gell time.
It really is some very good glue and can take more moisture than what people realize.

[stuckinthemud]

Where do you get fish glue?

[mmattockx]

Where do you get fish glue?

I was going to ask the same about the croaker bladders. I live a long ways from the Atlantic coast and shipping animal parts around is often frowned upon by the gestapo of both our countries. I'm up for trying to make some but the raw materials are somewhat scarce on the Canadian prairies.

On a different note, I had a PM that suggested heating/reducing the Knox gelatin for an hour or more would help slow down its gel time and give a better 'pot life'. Has anyone tried this?


Mark

[Eric Krewson]

I have used a lot of Knox, I have my bundles of sinew sorted and separated, my glue in small pot floating in hot water in a crock pot, I have never been hampered with a quick set-up time. I have noticed no set up time difference from when I used granulated brown hide glue.

Mix your glue thinner and it will set up slower.

[PaSteve]

Dried croaker bladders for making fish glue is available from a seller on Etsy.

[BowEd]

Where do you get fish glue?

I was going to ask the same about the croaker bladders. I live a long ways from the Atlantic coast and shipping animal parts around is often frowned upon by the gestapo of both our countries. I'm up for trying to make some but the raw materials are somewhat scarce on the Canadian prairies.

On a different note, I had a PM that suggested heating/reducing the Knox gelatin for an hour or more would help slow down its gel time and give a better 'pot life'. Has anyone tried this?


Mark

I've never heard of that myself and I seriously doubt it would extend gell time.If anything it would weaken the glue in the end if it got overheated too high and turn a darker color.
I forget exactly where I got my croaker bladders.It was on line.

[BowEd]

I have used a lot of Knox, I have my bundles of sinew sorted and separated, my glue in small pot floating in hot water in a crock pot, I have never been hampered with a quick set-up time. I have noticed no set up time difference from when I used granulated brown hide glue.

Mix your glue thinner and it will set up slower.

Beware of making the glue too thin.Making the glue too thin will starve your sinew.Drying cracks can easily occur doing it that way.Find a happy medium with consistency.I've used many different types of hide/sinew/and croaker glue on a lot of different types of bows with mild reflex to extreme reflex.
After sinewing I place the bow in a cooler place [65 F. or less] for at least a couple of days.It helps to set everything in place drying the outside surface good.Then bring it out to a warmer enviornment.Maybe with a little light air movement too.

[stuckinthemud]

Dried croaker bladders for making fish glue is available from a seller on Etsy.

Yeh, but £110.00 for 500g seems a bit pricey to me, especially as its classed as a waste product

[bownarra]

Stuck - A big tub of EA40 is £200+. That amount of money is worth it once you relaize how good the glue made from them is (it is especially good in our climate, as in nothing else comes close when it is cool).

Knox and hide glue are essentially the same thing.....funny that they act the same....
Heating it for a long time will seriously weaken it.
Watering it down will weaken it and lead to other problems.
Adding croaker (or similar) slow gelling glue is the only way to reduce gelling time.
Quite funny when people try to pick holes I only comment on stuff I know inside out....pick away It is water off a ducks back

[BowEd]

As said before.Making your enviornment warmer around you while using hide glue will extend the gell time.That's an experienced fact.