novicemaker:
Tool Spotlight: Glue
What? Glue is totally a tool!
The glue we use for violin making is traditional hide glue, and no we don’t use it because we’re sticks in the mud who don’t realize that there have been major advances in gluing technology since the 1600’s. We do it because it’s still the best glue out there for the job.
Hide-glue is exactly what it sounds like, glue made from the boiled and otherwise mysteriously prepared skins of animals, and it has some specific properties that make it ideal for violin making.
First, it’s weaker than modern glues. I know, that doesn’t sound good at all, but it really is. I promise. What that means is that when some clumsy kid drops your instrument on the concrete floor of his parents basement a hundred years in the future, the glue seam is going to break instead of the wood. It’s a lot easier to fix a popped glue seam than a broken piece of wood.
Second, it can be dissolved by water or alcohol. That means you can take the violin apart to do repairs when you need to. And I guarantee it will happen several times over the lifetime of the violin.
Third, you can varnish over it.
Fourth, it sticks to itself. You can re-glue a seam without having to remove all traces of the old glue.
All four of those properties are the result of some chemical funniness that goes on with hide glue that I won’t bother to explain because I only half-understand it myself and I don’t want to look like an idiot.
The glue comes in a dry powder form (I think you can get it in sheets too.). You mix it one part glue to two parts water and then let it soak for a few minutes with the jar resting in a bath of warm water. After that you stir it up and it’s ready to go. You keep the jar in the warm water in order to keep the glue thin. When you’re done with it you put it in the refrigerator to store it, where it turns into a thick, solid gel-stuff.
Reblogged from Novice Maker.
May 25, 2012, 10:03pm
![thedailywhat:
Case For Sunscreen of the Day: This man is 69 years old.
He drove a truck for 28 years.
The premature aging from sun damage to the left side of his face is extensive enough to warrant a feature in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Trucker or not, don’t forget your sunscreen.
[gizmodo]
I’m always paranoid about getting a tan on half my face when I drive but it never passed my mind to consider the other effects of prolonged sun-light exposure.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4y30jcfVY1qzpwi0o1_500.jpg)
