Reading a 1905 carpentry manual and the glue recipe called for boiling animal hides

I found this old book at a yard sale in Portland for five bucks. It was a guide for building houses from that time. The section on making your own glue said to boil down horse or cow hides for hours. It got me thinking about how we argue about modern wood glues like Titebond versus epoxy. One side says the old ways worked fine for a hundred years, so why mess with it. The other side says we have stronger, faster, and more reliable products now. Has anyone here ever tried making or using hide glue on a real project?

3 comments

3 Comments

carr.luna21h ago

Remember trying to make my own glue from a recipe like that once. Ended up with a pot of stuff that smelled like a wet dog and wouldn't stick anything together. My project fell apart faster than my confidence in being a pioneer.

jade_king1d ago

That hide glue recipe is basically how they still make Jell-O.

jamesc791d ago

Ugh, that's a gross but fair point. Gelatin does come from boiling animal skin and bones, just like old hide glue. The main difference is how pure and clean the food grade stuff is. They process it a lot more so it doesn't taste like glue and is safe to eat. So yeah, you're basically eating a very refined version of the same stuff. Kinda makes you look at a jiggly dessert a bit differently.