More Hot Hide Glue tips...
John Aniano, somewhere in NJ...
>Hello All,
I was speaking the other day with my friend, the well-known NYC violinmaker James McKean, about hot hide glue. He related an observance made by an equally well-known violinmaker and restorer, William Monical. In essence it is this: hot hide glue develops it's greatest strength after it is heated thoroughly, allowed to cool thoroughly and reheated a second time. If hide glue is used to glue a wood joint while liquid from it's first heating cycle, it will not be satisfactory and will fail. Bill Monical somehow learned this "fact", told James and helped solve a number of strength issues James had had with his instruments very early on in his instrument making career.
James said that he normally makes a new batch of hot hide glue when he wants the glue joint to be as invisible as possible. Otherwise, he feels that allowing the glue to cool and stay unused for up to about a week will not make all that much difference in the strength.
At my asking, James also said that some makers did put garlic into hot hide glue and felt that of the modern NY makers doing this, they probably got the idea from Mr. Simone Sacconi, the great maker and restorer who ran the shop at the now-closed Wurlitzers in NYC.
Hope this was of interest...
John