Lost Art Press

How to Make Our Glue

Posted on by Lost Art Press
Buy ours or make your own using the same recipe.

Recently we started making our own animal-based glue called “Piggly No Wiggly.” It’s made from three ingredients: food-grade gelatin, uniodized table salt and tap water.

The glue is great for furniture. It has an open time of about 18-20 minutes (depending on the temperature and humidity in your shop). That extra time is nice for complex assemblies. The glue is reversible, like hide glue. It dries clear, which is great when using light-colored woods. It has little smell. And if you store it correctly it will last indefinitely. (Complete instructions can be downloaded at the bottom of the product description.)

Megan and I make several batches a week now as we are gearing up this project. You can buy a bottle of ours for $16. Or you can easily make your own using ingredients from your grocery store and a slow cooker (such as a Crock Pot).

The whole process takes about 15 minutes of active time during two days.

When experimenting, we measure by weight. Eventually we convert that to volume for speed.

Piggly No Wiggly

4 parts gelatin, such as Knox

4 parts hot water from the tap

1 part uniodized table salt (the regular fine-ground stuff)

We make the glue in pretty big batches in vats. But a great way to make it at home is to mix it and cook it in a squeeze bottle for ketchup or mustard.

Start by pouring hot tap water into your bottle. Then add the gelatin and salt. Stir it up. Then close the lid and shake the mixture vigorously. Let it sit for 30 minutes, which is plenty of time for the finely ground gelatin to absorb the water.

The glue after mixing and shaking.

Now heat the bottle in a slow cooker, glue pot or a double boiler. The heat should be about 140° to 150° F. Don’t let it get much hotter or the glue will lose its strength. Cook the glue for two hours. Shake the bottle a couple times during the process. 

At the end of two hours, put the glue in your fridge overnight.

The next day, heat the glue the same way as detailed above for two hours. Your glue is done.

The glue being cooked in our glue pot.

At room temperature, it will be a bit like Jell-O. Heat it in a warm water bath (or in your glue pot or slow cooker) before using it. If it’s too thick for your liking, add a little water. If it’s too thin, cook it a little longer.

Store the glue in the fridge, and it will last and last and last.

I know you have questions. Here are some answers. Gelatin has been used to make glue for many years and is basically a form of refined collagen (aka hide glue). It is plenty strong – a good joint will demonstrate wood failure and not glue failure. The gelatin we use is 250 bloom strength, which is the same as most general-use hide glues.

This glue is the result of about a 100 different batches of glue that used different ingredients – everything from vinegar to glycerin to urea.

Will iodized salt work? Yes, we haven’t noticed any difference. Can you use distilled water? Sure. How long should I clamp my joints? Read the instructions here for a complete discussion.

Why the funny name? Well, it’s funny. And the glue is made from pigs.

Oh, one more thing: Your pets will love to eat the squeeze out (Wally!!!!). 

— Christopher Schwarz

46 thoughts on “How to Make Our Glue”

      1. LOL

        To Make a Glue out of Lime and Cheese.

        There is a glue used by workers in wood; this is made of cheese. After putting it to soak in water, work it over with a little quicklime, using a little board with both hands. Put it between the boards; it joins them and fastens them together well. And let this suffice you for the making of various kinds of glue.

        Andrea Cennini. The Craftsman’s Handbook. The Italian “Il Libro dell’ Arte.” Translated by Daniel V. Thompson, Jr. New York: Dover Publications, Inc. 1933, by Yale University Press.

        The recipe doesn’t detail which cheese to use. I’ve been meaning to try it, but I’m lactose intolerant and my wife refuses to eat all the leftover cheese it would take to get me through the entire experimental period.

        1. That description sounds like it would yield casein glue. It used to be a kind of science fair project to make it from quark here in Germany. It also served as the basis for casein paint which is either closely related, or identical to, milk paint.

  2. Can I make this and then once its cooled use it to make tack cloths?

    Btw, i first read it as “unionized salt”, i was thinking man even the salt is unionizing!

      1. I was just having a similar convo with someone the other night, about certain types of people who will start a statement with 

        “Well, we don’t actually  have evidence that _________ isn’t affecting (intelligently phrased batshit crazy nonsense)”

  4. Thanks for the recipe. I see another use for my light bulb kiln (with temperature controller) besides drying wood, making yogurt and proofing bread dough.

  5. When you say “parts,” does it refer to weight or volume? This is why I like the metric system for cooking recipes. Thanks a bunch.

    2. Parts are the same ratio in Metric or customary units. Maybe you have to learn ratios besides 2:5:10

      1. I see your point about the metric/standard side comment, but otherwise the question was quite valid; if you have one ingredient that is quite dense and another that is quite airy then measuring by weight would yield a vastly different combination than measuring by volume. Stupidly exaggerated example: 1 lb feathers plus one pound lead is going to give you a very different end product than 1 cubic foot feathers plus 1 cubic foot lead.

        1. To be more clear about this, parts are not the same because customary units use volume and the usual metric units for recipes use weight. It doesn’t have to be that way, of course. A recipe could be given in ounces weight (as opposed to fluid ounces or cups) or in pounds. Or you could measure with liters in metric. But the American custom is volume units and the usual metric system is to use weight, so that brings density into the mix, which means that the two systems won’t be equivalent.

  7. Have you tried rubbed joints with it?

    Do you have the ratios by weight? I find them more tolerant of lumps in the salt etc.

    1. For rub joints, omit the salt. Then you have a quick-setting glue.

      Gelatin and salt are very consistent, so we use volume. I don’t have the weights available. But there are converters on the web (google “recipe converters”)

  8. I got a bunch of urea some years back, so I might as well stick with it. What were the downsides of the urea?

    Also, I completely understand heating the glue till it’s dissolved and the right temp, but does it actually need that time? And the second heating? I’ve been wondering this about regular hide glue but haven’t ever been able to find a reasoning, nor notice a different in use. I’m impatient sometimes, but it seems fine!

  9. I’m still amazed that you actually made your own glue and now selling it. Thanks for the recipe! I will try it, hopefully in the next few weeks.

    2. I’d imagine any water-soluble coloring agent?

      Should run the gamut from water based crayola paint, to water soluble aniline dyes…

  12. You say the open time is 18-20 minutes “depending on temperature”. My previous experiences with hide glue in my cold shop (60-68 degrees) have not been great. I found the open time of Old Brown Glue to be much shorter than any PVA. I’ve had good success with fish glue, which really does deliver a long open time even in cold temps. Do you think this glue will work in a cold shop?

    I encourage posting the recipe by weight. I don’t have fine table salt, for example, but have kosher salt, whose density is different. Are all brands of gelatin the same density? Who knows? What if I have sheet gelatin?

    1. This is the recipe we use. It’s by volume, and it comes out the same every time. If you want it by weight I encourage you to convert it yourself. If you can’t afford fine table salt…. I don’t know what to say.

      I get 18-20 minutes open time in a shop that is 72° with relative humidity of 30-50 percent.

      You can make a small batch to try for less than $3. Knox gelatin at the grocery is $3 for four packets. The table salt you can get for free from any fast food restaurant.

  13. Would you recommend the glue for larger projects such as glueing table top boards together or 2×4” used for your workbench?

    1. Sadly, the Hold Heet company is no more. I’ve written here quite a bit about using wax melters and the like this summer. The commenters had other suggestions as well, including a company in New Jersey that makes nice (but expensive) glue pots.

    2. I would suggest a thrift store crockpot, especially the fondue variety. Not usually an aesthetically good look, but hey, you can redecorate your shop in harvest gold, or avocado green for the sheik 70’s retro vibe.

      I’ve had the same two small crockpots in my shop for nearly a decade. Also great for soaking clogged rattle can spray tips and acid brushes (cheap bastidges like me use them more than once).

  17. How critical is the “uniodized” salt. Mostly I find iodized salt on the grocery shelves.

  18. When you go to use it, you heat it up. If I just heat up the whole bottle and use some, can I put it back in the fridge for the next use? Is there a limit how many times I could do that?

  20. Bought some of the first batch and had a chance to use it this weekend, love it so far. Works just like hide but smells waaaay better. Speaking of Gibson chairs, Chris I’d be curious what you think of using your Gibson chair as a dining chair. Thinking of bring the back angle up to maybe 15 degrees? Anything else you’d change in the design?

  21. If you add more water to the batch to make it more fluid at room temperature (like liquid hid glue), will it affect the strength?

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