A natural Glue

[grey-array]

Hello dear friends, I'm on a quest to finding a Natural glue that is makable either by hand, or is commercially available
Not a real project bound question yet, but more a knowledge expanding question.
So have you heard, or know of a type of glue made entirely or partially environmentally friendly post it on.

I found some data on Starch Based wood glues yet they are still very hard to come by on a small scale, or large scale. and another Con of these types of glue is that they dissolve in water so are anything but water proof.

Another thing I heard was a mix of Spruce resin, mixed with ground Charcoal, yet I never tried this before, can anyone shed some more light on this, how effective is it , on which materials, and perhaps even a recipe, like 20 grams of charcoal with 100 ml of resin? something alike.

Lets improve this list of natural glues guys ^^
Yours sincerely Ruud

 

[tinderbox]

Rabbit skin glue might be what you're after.

 

[dwardo]

Hide glue,
gelatine glue.
fish bladder glue,

All the same thing i guess.

 

[grey-array]

Try to get some characteristics with those glues guys,

For instance Hide glue, isn't waterproof is it?

 

[tinderbox]

Hide glue is water resistant in a strange kind of way, in that it needs warmth to unset it. It can be made waterproof by adding alum, (1% by weight or 2% by volume).

Traditionally it was used as size, because of its resistance to water, though it does absorb water.

 

[ateallthepies]

CASEIN GLUE...

You can make a good glue from curdled skimmed milk or low fat cottage cheese. You want the curds or the lumpy bits and discard the whey the watery bit. Add 5 % lime to make the mix a smoother consistency and also quite waterproof.

Wooden furniture was found in Egyptian tombs that had been glued with this type of glue.

BLOOD...

Also blood mixed with wood dust or lime makes a moderately strong water resistant glue. Plywood was made using cattle blood pre 1940's!

HIDE GLUE...

Animal skin/sinew glue can be made water resistant by adding tannic acid made from oak tree bark. Also tung oil can also be added but only marginally makes hide glue water resistant.
Another way to make hide glue a little more water resistant is to let it cure in a wood smoke filled environment but this may only work for bows that have a large glue surface area for the wood smoke to act on?

BLUEBELL BULBS...

I remember Ray Mears using Bluebell bulbs to make a very sticky glue used to fletch an arrow. Caution is needed as the bulbs are poisonous.

Steve.

 

[grey-array]

@Tinderbox how do you mean size? keep in mind English is not my first language, Size just means Size to me or is there another translation I did not yet know?
@ ateallthepies That is amazing ^^ Good info there thanks for contributing.

Yours sincerely Ruud

 

[tinderbox]

No problem Ruud, your English is far superior to my non existent Dutch. Size is the coating you put on porous surfaces to stop them absorbing paint. Canvas for art or plaster walls being the main examples.

 

[forestwalker]

Pine resin and charcoal works quite well. Melt the pine resin, add powdered charcoal (not too much, a little goas a long way). There is a good tutorial on

http://paleoplanet69529.yuku.com/reply/346902/Pine-Pitch-Glue-PPG-Tutorial#reply-346902

If you want a softer glue (e.g. a flexible sealant for a container) add some fat. Hair, other fibres, dung, etc have been added as well.

 

[grey-array]

Thanks for adding Forestwalker, great tutorial ^^
Yours sincerely Ruud

 

[Androo]

I remember Ray Mears using Bluebell bulbs to make a very sticky glue used to fletch an arrow. Caution is needed as the bulbs are poisonous.

This post (from the archive) explains a bit more about the Bluebell Glue - bambodoggy, are you reading this, did you get a reply?

I for one would love to hear Gordon's opinion! And if Spanish bluebells have the same constituents as the English native ones, or not.

 

[Skaukraft]

Fish glue.

http://cool.conservation-us.org/coolaic/sg/bpg/annual/v19/bp19-29.html

 

[udamiano]

Molten suger was used to bind the metal plates together on many of the victorian bridges, prior to riveting.

the good old flour and water to make a simple paste (remember using it in junior school LOL)

Many plants have a natural latex that can be used as a form of glue.

 

[palace]

Molten suger was used to bind the metal plates together on many of the victorian bridges, prior to riveting.

the good old flour and water to make a simple paste (remember using it in junior school LOL)

Many plants have a natural latex that can be used as a form of glue.

I can remember whilst helping my father 50 odd years ago decorate an elderly woman's flat as a favour at 11pm running out of wall paper paste and adding boiling water to flour and finishing off ....

 

[Androo]

Molten suger was used to bind the metal plates together on many of the victorian bridges, prior to riveting.

Wow! That sounds brittle!

 

[Androo]

Has any one experience of using exclusively Larch (European or Japanese) Pitch?

I'm just off to to woods to source some to finish my Ash bark baskets...and wonder (if I use some sheep dung (as I don't want it to be too brittle) & charcoal) if that will be sufficient for my needs?

 

[udamiano]

Wow! That sounds brittle!

the forth bridge is still there. It has very little strength in certain directions, but has very high shear, and peel strength, besides they added rivets to take the load, the sugar was used to hold the plates in place until the riveter got to them, so it can't have been to bad as a glue

 

[Androo]

To answer my own question, Larch is comparatively poor for collecting pitch. Atleast my breif foray would seem to suggest. There were Larch with weeping sap, but it was a very thin covering, and almost inseperable from the bark, hardly worth collecting any. It wasn't until I was deep in the woods that a true facepalm moment occured - Larch are deciduous...and not pine.
As I delved deeper into the woods I spotted a Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) branch which had fallen and had more pitch on it 2 metre length than all the 100 or so middle aged Larch I'd checked. But could I find the parent tree? ... could I 'eck! (something strange going on there...)

 

[mrcharly]

the good old flour and water to make a simple paste (remember using it in junior school LOL).

I have a german friend who comes from a long line of stone carvers.

In days gone by, when a carving fractured part-way through the job, they used to stick the bits back together using milk and flour.

These days they use epoxy.

Friend says the milk and flour was better, because it eroded away with the stone. epoxy doesn't, so as the carving weathers, you are left with a hard line of epoxy glue on the repair.

 

[grey-array]

What an unexpected but very welcome thread revival ^^, and Damian, that is amazing any details on how far it was molten, until it caramelized? any idea? it sounds amazing. and flour and water, I'm really learning new things here ^^
Yours sincerely Ruud