Quality Hide Glue From Scratch #6 part one, Cooking the Glue

[@phillybusta]

Very cool. I liked seeing the trial and error process when you were cutting the hides. I figure a solid pair of kitchen shears that were big enough would have been ideal. It's been quite interesting seeing the whole process and how much work goes into the finished product.

[@SkillCult]

The stuff is hella tough man. I'm doing another batch now and soaked it longer. It was quite a bit easier. Cooking is still a trial and error process too. I added too much water yet again! New rule is only half full and let it sink down... Next installment should come out on Wed.

[@lukemcloch8839]

Great vids! Keep it up 😁. When I saw all that hide bein soaked n dehaired etc I was wonderin if u might even experiment in parchment/vellum makin too.

[@SkillCult]

parchment has been on my list for about 20 years ;) I already make the ink and pens. Of course my writing looks like an evil 6 year olds....

[@lukemcloch8839]

Awesome! Haha it's never too late to try. lookin forward to more vids soon.

[@kingdarkem]

Just a thought....could a shredder be built and used to crunch the raw hide into small pieces before soaking?

[@marektaziar5402]

3:30 You can heat it in water until it's rubbery and then cut it into small pieces.

[@SkillCult]

Great idea that seems like it would work great.

[@jasonneugebauer5310]

Thanks again for this awesome video series.

[@TheEmptynester]

That was really interesting. Thanks. You put a lot of work into the process. This also makes me wonder if this was common knowledge back in the day. Yet not passed on to the newer generation.

[@SkillCult]

I'm sure everyone knew what glue was and more or less how it was made at least. I'm not sure how long people have thought it was made from hooves. It sort of is, but not really. It was made from feet, but the hooves themselves are worthless for glue. Actual manufacture of glue was a special trade from way back, though I've got the impression that tanners often made it with hide scraps and such if there wasn't a glue maker to sell them to. the bits of animals like hide trimmings and legs that weren't used for anything else were items of value sold to glue boilers. I read about that in old tanning books all the time. Hide scraps were a side source of income for tanneries, albeit a small one.

[@JamesJohnson-ls2ev]

Another great video, well done! glad to see this hide glue series finished. I wondered if you have ever found any info regarding "pocket Soup"??? in any of your old skills research, basically boiled meat or bone dried for storability and rehydrated for soup. couldn't find too much about it and thought it would be worth the ask. thanks for the great content.

[@SkillCult]

I have seen a full recipe for that somewhere. I remember it just being to make glue like this more or less, but starting with meat instead of hide or whatever. I can't remember if there were vegetables in it or not. I think the recipe might have just called it bouillon. It was probably in one of my collection of formulas books like Henley's or the Scientific American Cyclopedia of Receipts, Notes and Queries. there are a number of those old books. I have 3 or 4 of them, but they are all online for free now.

[@JamesJohnson-ls2ev]

Cool I will be looking into those notes. Makes me sick to think of all the knowledge that has slipped away from us over time.

[@jonathanprins712]

would a leather strap cutter be of use in making thin straps cut into small pieces? would that increase the yield?

[@SkillCult]

hadn't thought of that. Maybe it could work if the rawhide was soaked enough, but not on this stuff. I don't think it would increase yield to reduce the stock more, at least not much, but it would decrease cooking time which I think is generally a good thing.

[@viscache1]

When we make hide glue in our furniture shop we simmer for about 16 hours (and it really stinks!) we have other proprietary ingredients keeping it all natural but making it as strong as many modern glues. We use it on antique restoration where possible. One downside to hide glue..It attracts vermin such as book worms and cellulite eating wood worm. But there are things to add to keep them away.

[@SkillCult]

I've got old recipes with alternate preservative ingredients, but never tried any. Why proprietary? People could use that information

[@KRIMZONMEKANISM]

I think that using a small bandsaw could've done the trick for those hide strips :p They sure were hell to cut with just a small knife

[@SkillCult]

Yeah, probably. Don't have one. In the early part of the century, they used to have grinders of some kind to reduce the stock.

[@sebastiaantheartartist]

How many times can one extract glue from skin? When will I know Ive extracted enough glue to throw away the skin? I have been extracting 4 batches of glue from a store bought ' dog Hide bone' . About 2 hours of low cooking per batch. And I still get glue. So Im curious, when will I know I have extracted enough glue? Hope this question makes sense.

[@williamcryts5337]

Would using some sort of blender or food processor work for this? Or would that be TOO fine and damage the glues strength? would using a mortar and pestle even be feasible or is the hide too tough?

[@zr_no5773]

How was raw hide made tightened?

[@user-wy4mp9ts3u]

Plumbers tin snips would be good to cut that stuff

[@jayempress4203]

I don't live in the boonies any more. I got old and it's too much work. Would a slow cooker work?

[@SkillCult]

that should be perfect

[@greendecor5240]

Could an electric slow cooker work well to cook the stuff

[@SkillCult]

should be perfect

[@zr_no5773]

Hi i know its an old video but i really reallyy wanted to know that if we can do same thing with leather???? Can we make glue from leather tio

[@SkillCult]

not really. Only if the tanning process is reversed. They used to do it, but it requires some kind of chemical treatment.

[@zr_no5773]

@@SkillCult okay thank you. I'll have go restart. But can you tell me how to make raw hide? That you showed in the start???

[@zr_no5773]

I am working on a research and I've been figuring it out since a week

[@SkillCult]

This is a series. Wach the whole series playlist, it is all in there. kzbin.info/www/bejne/e3y0ZmCHiN6YiNUsi=RIfiEwr0XTGHZrHl @@zr_no5773

[@mdwdirect]

Amazing.What do you use it for?

[@SkillCult]

glueing wood, leather, paper, whatever. it has other uses too when mixed with other stuff like making a rubber-like material when mixed with glycerine. It used to be the most common glue used by everyone until modern glues came along.

[@mdwdirect]

I'm just now beginning a KZbin search for glue testing procedures...wish me luck!

[@SkillCult]

Hide glue is graded by testing it when it's in a gel state. A mix is made of a certain ratio of glue to water and when cooled to a gel, it's tested by compression. the measure is in gram strength, enough pressure to deflect the glue a certain depth. The thing is that it also has to be at a certain temperature, which is difficult for me since I don't have any controlled environments. It might be possible to build climate controlled box or something like that, but it's not simple. I don't think the rest of it would be too hard. And here's another interesting thing. Most users don't actually want the strongest glue. It's sort of counter intuitive, but different strength glues have varying working and glueing characteristics. If you read threads on instrument maker forums they have a lot of discussions about glue quality and strength. It certainly would be interesting to know what kind of gram strength glue I'm making. The only other thing I can really do to get an idea is to send some to experienced users who have a feel for glue characteristics. From this page: www.frets.com/FretsPages/Luthier/Data/Materials/hideglue.html "Glue is graded on a basis of its gel strength, a measure of how many grams of force it requires to depress a 1/2” plunger 4mm. into a 12.5% protein solution of the glue at 10° C. Glue is manufactured in standard grades from 32 to 512 grams. 192 gram strength is the most commonly used for woodworking; 251 is the highest normally used for instrument building; 135 is the lowest used for general woodwork." Good luck!

[@9sbth]

Here's a test for indicating the quality of your glue. Take 1 oz. of your dry glue crystals (about 2 tablespoons) and put that in 1 pound of water (which is about a pint) and let it sit for 12 hours. Then pour off the surface water leaving the gelled glue at the bottom. Weigh the gel and if it is 5 or more times the original weight, it is excellent quality. The solidity and coherence of the mass of glue indicates strength.

[@elizabethyates5933]

Have you tried cooking the hide in a crockpot by chance? I wonder if that would be worth testing...

[@SkillCult]

I definitely think so. You'd still want to pour it off when the first pour is cooked enough to gel well, then re-cover with water and cook again as I do in this series.

[@notyourf-inggarden2812]

I just found u!!! Keep it up I like it!!!

[@jerrywhidby.]

Is the quality good enough for glue chipping glass?

[@SkillCult]

Probably, but I've never tried. I've always wanted to, it's a fascinating process.

[@Azzaberjarnix]

Wonder if you could do this with pig ears

[@SkillCult]

I don't see why not. If there is any meat or a lot of fat, that could be an issue. I think I remember some reference to that in an old book, but can't be sure.

[@peterfireflylund]

What happened to part #5 of the hide glue series?

[@SkillCult]

I don't know, it is confusing. the titles are in order, but the thumbs are attached to the wrong videos? kzbin.info/aero/PL60FnyEY-eJCPd_eQyiP4JE6RLtCgmNxE I think the videos are all in there though.

[@vengervoldur6534]

Beautiful end-product. I definitely want to try this out for myself but am concerned about the odor. Does cooking raw hide produce an unpleasant or noticeable smell? I don't have a means to make hide glue outside, leaving only the kitchen as my means to cook. The women-folk of the house are gonna be skeptical enough as is with my cooking hide in one of their pots, but if it stinks, nothing good is gonna happen. Also, I noticed that not all of the hide was dissolved when you poured off the glue. Will the entire hide eventually dissolve? I'd imagine it would, especially given the extensive efforts you went through to remove as much "gunk" off the hide as possible. But I'm completely inexperienced in making hide glue, and so this is only a guess.

[@SkillCult]

Just cook it outside. If you take good care of the skin there is maybe a mild wet animal smell, but that's about it. It's not too bad. If you use hog skin, really clean the crap out of it to get all the oil out. Probably better to use something else. It's hard to beat cattle skin and you can usually get them for free if you talk to people that raise one or to head for home use. I love this stuff. The whole process is fascinating and the end product is like little jewels. More on Wednsday!

[@RassBrass]

How do you make raw hide?

[@SkillCult]

You do what I did in this series, up until cooking the skin. Just be more careful in fleshing not to cut the skin.

[@fhorst41]

old school paper shear might make good cutter...

[@SkillCult]

I was thinking of something that would cut multiple lines at once, like many parallel rolling circular blades. Kind of like a rolling pizza cutter, but with maybe 8 or so blades on it. It used to be common to dry it and sell it in sheets or larger pieces which were busted up with a hammer. Most people now are accustomed to ground glue and don't want to wait. Back in the day when the stuff was in constant use and every wood shop had a pot of it cooking all the time, I'm sure it was easier to plan ahead a little bit.

[@fhorst41]

I should have been more specific. The point at which I paused the video to make the suggestion was when you were struggling to safely cut the soaked rawhide into smaller pieces. I could see an old school paper shear being useful in this. _lh3.googleusercontent.com/cubhUyjGpkEImzO-JQq8wolJj1UW9TeGBHc9hRy1PJ2vWIb9-Vyr6BK3YICJ-m7FMVvk-xyq3A_

[@SkillCult]

Or, right that might be good if it was really sharp. It's definitely a tough job.

[@drason69]

Did you save out a couple of long heavy strips to make a rawhide mallet? :)

[@SkillCult]

I tried that many years ago and it just shrunk and became loose. I'd like to try again someday though. They are pretty cool. I'm sure it has to do with getting the moisture content very low and then wrapping it super tight. If you've made one I'm down for any tips!

[@Hey-dm7vo]

Could you have cooked without drying?

[@SkillCult]

Yes, but it's not advised in the technical literature for making the best glue.

[@karimjerbi7284]

how does it compare to common(normal) glue

[@SkillCult]

for things it bonds to well, both the bond and the glue itself are very strog, so it compares very favorably in that way. It might be less versatile regarding what it will stick to. It is a poor filler like all glues, best use an epoxy for that. It is hard and transfers high frequencies well so good for instruments. It is water soluble. Bad if you get your glued thing wet, but good if you want to take your glued thing apart.

[@karimjerbi7284]

thanks for sharing :) really interested in what you make with them

[@jakobgrunstein1092]

I wonder why people never made body armor out of this hard raw hide. it looks very tough. leather was used though very often like in japan and eastern europe and iran a.k.a. persia

[@SkillCult]

They did. It could have been less popular because of stability. I would also not doubt that it was sometimes partly tanned, or just tanned on the outside and left hard and crispy in the middle.

[@neilmarshall5087]

Im surprised you do not have a solar cooker. Make one big enough to pot roast dinner at the same time as glue making. For hide cutting. Have you tried multiple discs on a hand crank ? Like 10 pizza cutters stuck together. I have also seen discs and pushbike sprockets (points are for grabbing / moving / cutting) used together - which can then be chain driven. Anyone considering doing this remember chain drive may need to be the opposite of how pushbike is set up (big / small sprocket ratio). And as per usual, I am watching these videos from oldest to newest so I'm probably well behind what ever my comment is on. lol.

[@SkillCult]

I do have one and do use it sometimes, depending on circumstances. I think there were glue cutters something like that and some I know were wires, like a cheese cutter. I don't have much need to be that sophisticated, but if I were a pro, I would probably do something like that.

[@n1nas1m0n3]

Its strange but since this has been happening for months I thought it was worth mentioning, I have a hard time getting my computer to play your videos, they freeze and when I try to pause to restart something pops up asking me if i would like to figure out why it has been interrupted. Then I try another video from someone else, any one will do and it works fine. WTF?

[@SkillCult]

You know what, I was having the same problem on and off, stopping at a certain point and just spinning, but for me it's only when I use Safari, and only some of the time. What browser are you using on what system? I've also noticed it on David the Good's videos and I know he also uses final cut pro. I'll check into export settings. I'll bet it has to do something with that. There are so many different possible formats. I've just been using the default one. Thanks for letting me know. try a different browser and see if it works any better.

[@SkillCult]

I'm still having this happen on my videos and on david the goods, but only sporadically even on the same video and only when using safari. Are you using Safari by chance? I changed some settings and still the same problem on the most recent video.

[@donaldasayers]

And that folks is how they make Haribo.