Removing Old Hide Glue

[Argus]

I’ll start by saying that I try to avoid “restoration” work….

However, I’ve been sweet-talked into repairing an Oak nesting-table set, where just about every M&T joint has failed. There’s no problem knocking it all apart – most of it arrived in a box.

The residue glue is hard and crumbling – other than that the M&T sets are in good order.

I intend re-gluing the lot with Titebond hide glue, but as I’m not familiar with getting the old stuff off, I guess that gentle heat and scraping is the way to go, but is there another way that I’m not familiar with?

Thanks to all in advance for useful suggestions..

 

[Droogs]

If you are intending to repair using hide glue again, having a little of the old is not a major problem. Careful use of a shoulder plane or chisel etc will get rid of most and then you just need to wrap whats left in wet tissue paper for a couple of hours just before re-gluing. Apply a little heat from a hairdryer just before applying some new glue and you're good to go in most cases I've found.
hth

 

[ED65]

If you want to scrape the majority of the residual glue off I think it's best to do this cold so it is as dry and brittle as possible.

 

[RogerS]

For the tenons, I use a cheap iron from Argos to warm the glue up to soften it. Then use an old chisel to scrape it off.

 

[custard]

Why has a nest of tables fallen apart so comprehensively, with all the M&T joints failing? After all, it's not a highly stressed piece of furniture like a chair.

Possibly the joints are way too loose and the gap filling properties of hide glue was used to disguise the problem. Clean the old glue out completely and check. If the M&T fit is excessively sloppy then veneers glued to the tenon cheeks is the way to make a permanent repair.

Good luck!

 

[Argus]

Thanks to all who sent useful suggestions regarding getting the old glue residue off.

This item has some intrinsic value to the owner, but is in fact a mass-produced piece from about 40 or 50 years ago, which has router-cut mortises and rounded tenons, so in consequence each corner is rounded over. The side-wall fit of the tenons is quite tight, though there is some play at each of the ends and the tenon ends are about 3mm shy of the base of the mortise in each case. There is an amount of old glue residue at the base of each mortise that was pushed ahead during assembly.

Most of the joints were apart when it came to me and the rest needed little more than a light tap to move. This leads me to think that the original glue was diluted or at the end of its useful life…. Who knows? It may have been sitting in the glue-pot all week.

Anyway.. I think I can see the way forward - a bit of experimental scraping coming up....

My next problem is preventing word geting around that muggins can do furniture repairs..... this is a small village.