Titebond Hide Glue

[Coop]

After a bit of difficulty on a glue up yesterday lining up a couple of pieces that involved 16 dominos, I decided to use the hide glue on a couple of scrap pieces to view the results. I used a couple of spring clamps to hold them together. After about 17 hours I can remove most of the squeeze out with my fingernail. It’s like TB III after an hour or so. Instructions say not to stress the joint for 24 hours. I’ll call TB’s customer support to see if this is normal. 

[Wimayo]

See my comment of May 30 above. From my experience, I think this is normal. I'll look forward to what customer support has to say.

Could you cut you test sample in half and do a failure test on each half; one at 24 hours and maybe 72 hours for the second?

Is this fresh glue or has it been on the shelf for a while?

[BonPacific]

I've heard reports that Amazon has had issues with selling expired Titebond glues, so depending on where you got this stuff from you may want to check the manufacturing date (it's part of a serial number somewhere on the bottle IIRC).

[Coop]

I purchased it at Rockler last week so it should be freshish. I spoke with a young lady at Titebond (Franklin International) and gave her the number on the bottle which was a series of just numbers. She said it should have started with an A for America. I emailed her a pic of the number and have not heard back yet.

On 6/14/2022 at 11:37 AM, Wimayo said:

Could you cut you test sample in half and do a failure test on each half; one at 24 hours and maybe 72 hours for the second?

I’ll do. Right now, I doubt I could pull it apart but there is some give, not rock solid like the other TB glues that I’m used to.

[Coop]

So it’s been 24 hours and this pulled apart pretty easily. I doubt I will be using this on my project.

 

[treeslayer]

I suppose hide glue has its place but when I glue something together I want it to stay glued for a long, long time. Nice info to know @Coop

[Mark J]

16 hours ago, Coop said:

So it’s been 24 hours and this pulled apart pretty easily. I doubt I will be using this on my project.

 

Coop, obviously that's not "right", but it still may be "that bottle" of glue.  I'd keep after the folks at Franklin.

[Coop]

I talked again with the young lady at Franklin International today. It seams that the code on my bottle is not in her files. I called Rockler and their remaining on shelf stock does meet within the 2 year shelf life that TB recommends. It appears that I got an old bottle. Will drive 70 miles, round trip to exchange this stuff tomorrow. I’ll give the new bottle a try before applying it to my project. 

[JohnG]

Shame on that Rockler for letting the glue sit on the shelf that long. I’d be checking dates on all glues and finishes from that store before buying.

[drzaius]

10 hours ago, Coop said:

I talked again with the young lady at Franklin International today. It seams that the code on my bottle is not in her files. I called Rockler and their remaining on shelf stock does meet within the 2 year shelf life that TB recommends. It appears that I got an old bottle. Will drive 70 miles, round trip to exchange this stuff tomorrow. I’ll give the new bottle a try before applying it to my project. 

I would politely (as I'm sure you would) suggest to them that they make some sort of gesture for having cost you that trip and inconvenience. The mileage on your vehicle alone is worth over $50. This one is clearly entirely on them.

[Coop]

I didn’t think to ask. I did get a “ sorry about that” though. 

[Wimayo]

It would be interesting to find out if the other half of the test piece ever properly hardens. Maybe give it a week just for the hell of it.

[Coop]

I can’t separate the two pieces but the squeeze out is still pliable. 
After I returned from Rockler today, I glued a couple more scraps with the new bottle that had an acceptable mfg date of 09/21. Same scenario, face grain to face with spring clamps. 15 minutes in, I could still move the pieces. An hour later, they were firmly secured and the squeeze out was hard as a rock. Now my beef is not with Franklin International (TiteBond) but with Rockler where I received little concern from my audience. But I guess I wasn’t too pissed as I bought some Blum hinges while there. Stuff happens as they say. The next time I go in, I am going to look to see if they put that bottle back on the shelf. If so, then WoodCraft will be my new bff. 

[Tom King]

Glad to hear it does work, and thanks for the effort and education.

[Wimayo]

Thanks for the testing. That helps far more than a whole truck load of opinions.

[Mark J]

You know, that "foreign" bottle of hide glue may not have been Rockler's fault.  It's in the realm of possibility that was a customer's doing.  Someone buys a fresh bottle, then "returns" an unopened, but out of date, bottle.  Not saying that's what happened, just throwing out some doubt shadow. 

Still, one of the take home points is to check the expiration date on products with a shelf life.

[Wimayo]

On 6/19/2022 at 8:12 AM, Mark J said:

You know, that "foreign" bottle of hide glue may not have been Rockler's fault.  It's in the realm of possibility that was a customer's doing.  Someone buys a fresh bottle, then "returns" an unopened, but out of date, bottle.  Not saying that's what happened, just throwing out some doubt shadow. 

Still, one of the take home points is to check the expiration date on products with a shelf life.

Yes. And, it would help a lot if manufacturers would stop "hiding" their production date in unreadable codes. They should be required to apply a straight forward "best if used by" date on the containers like what you mostly find at the grocery stores these days.