- Messages
- 8,104
- Location
- The Gorge Area, Oregon
Looking forward to hearing how well it works for bellows. I've used it for some weirder projects but none of them had to be air tight
If you've mostly used it up I wouldn't bother getting to excited about cleaning the jar to thoroughly especially as you're making a new batch right away. For general cleanup boiling or even just real hot water pretty much cleans it right off. It gets harder to clean the longer it sets but it will still clean off with a bit of patience.
The main risks with old glue are:
Glue degradation with repeated heating it starts to break down (or so I've been told - I've never kept any long enough to notice any difference).
Contamination, either stuff falling in or worse mold/bacterial growth. Usually if you start having the latter you'll usually know it by the smell
Having said that, if the glue completely dries on the jar it could break the jar - I can't find a primary reference to this, but I know it was used for making spalled glass back in the day (put a thin mix of glue on the glass and let it dry and it will pull the top layer of glass off... doesn't work with tempered glass ).
Here's a W Patrick Edwards video that shows some of the glass part way through - and has a few more comments on usage.
http://woodtreks.com/animal-protein-hide-glues-how-to-make-select-history/1549/
Another thing I've been wanting to try but haven't gotten around tuit is making some up then freezing jell cubes - which on the face of it seems like it could be handy.. although it may well be just more steps for no gain... not sure... The idea of putting some stainless nuts in the jar to keep the temp up seems worth stealing though (I was looking for the article for freezing, had forgotten all about the nuts trick).
http://www.norsewoodsmith.com/content/simple-hot-hide-glue-setup