Fish Glue – a Sticky Solution
I’ve talked about how I use hide glue when building miniature furniture and I’ve discussed the reasons why it is superior to the typical yellow or white glues most use. More recently I’ve talked about Stephen Shepherd’s new book that is a complete treatise on all aspects of animal (hide) glues.
I hope this helped at least a few to learn and experience the virtues of this time-honored glue. Today, though, I’m here to discuss what this discussion has done for me, the author of those posts. Feedback is the best part of a blog and Peter Tucker, a true master miniaturist, wrote to me about hide glue and he mentioned that he was using fish glue in his work and that he liked it.
Being a glue junkie I ordered a bottle from Lee Valley. Fish glue is really a variation on hide glue. All of the animal glues, whether they be hide glue, fish glue, rabbit glue use collagen as their base so in the case of fish glue, fish collagen is used to produce it. Fish glue isn’t quite as strong as hide glue but in miniatures this difference isn’t important.
Lee Valley’s fish glue, however, is sold as a liquid, with urea added to it to keep it liquid at room temperature. There’s no need to heat it as I describe in my hide glue posts. I could also suggest that you ‘don’t get to heat it’ but only those who have actually used hot hide glue would understand what I was saying.
You can buy liquid hide glue as well, of course. In my experience, however, it’s not quite as nice to use. Liquid fish glue, however, has the virtue of being VERY sticky. You can apply it, stick two pieces together, and in most cases, they will stay stuck so you don’t need clamps of any kind. This, to me, is the virtue of hot hide glue as when it cools it will hold things in place as the glue sets.
If there’s a downside to hot hide glue it comes when you have a complex (many parts) glue up as you have a very short time to work as the glue cools quickly. This is a great time to haul out the fish glue. My fish glue “technique(s)” are simple. They are:
1) Use a small applicator bottle. Here’s my bottle.
They’re available from Williamson Walton Marble. You can squirt out the glue just like you would yellow glue except that it’s thinner and so easier to get it through a small tube. It’s also the case that if the nozzle gets plugged, all you need do is put it under hot water and it will clear out.
2) I use micro-applicators to spread the glue. These are too pricey to use with yellow glue as you can’t get them clean. With hide/fish glues, however, hot water will clean them out squeeky clean and so you don’t need to throw them away after use.
The green ones are larger than the white ones so I just choose the one that fits the joinery best.
Once you apply glue and stick the parts together the glue will generally hold them in alignment. The photo below shows two parts right after I’ve stuck them together. The joint needs no clamps, though being the guy that I am I’d generally use some anyway to pull the joint closed.
The downside? Unlike hide glue crystals, that will sit on a shelf forever, liquid hide/fish glues have finite shelf lives, just like yellow and white glues do. With that in mind I still recommend you add this glue to your arsenal.
Cheers — Larry
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