I was reading a woodworking history book and found out something wild about old glue pots

I picked up a book from the library called 'The Furniture Maker's Craft' and was flipping through the section on 18th century shops. It said that before modern glues, they would keep a pot of hot animal glue on a stove all day, and a single shop might use over 50 pounds of the stuff in a month. I guess I never thought about the sheer volume they went through just to keep things together before PVA was invented. Has anyone here ever tried working with the old hot hide glue on a big project?

3 comments

3 Comments

nguyen.tara10d ago

Actually, big shops really did use that much!

amy48320d ago

That 50 pound number seems high to me. I've mixed small batches of hide glue for instrument repair. It gels up fast and you only heat what you need right then. Keeping a huge pot simmering all day sounds like a waste. It would just burn and lose strength. Maybe the book meant over a whole busy season, not a single month.

irismartinez20d ago

You ever notice how we forget how much work simple stuff used to be? Like, we just grab a bottle of glue now, but back then the glue itself was a whole day's job to manage. Makes you see old furniture differently.