Titebond Liquid Hide Glue has let me down again. 10 years ago it let me down and I haven’t used it till recently. I thought I would give it another go, and it worked real good. After using the bottle, I bought another one and made sure the manufacturing date was recent. It’s 6 months old and according to their website it has a two-year shelf life. It was working fine until it didn’t any longer. The glue will not cure anymore, but why? Is the date on the bottle bogus?
I called titebond here in Australia, and it turned out that they are just a distributor for titebond. I spoke to their so called “tech” department, who knew very little about the product. After speaking to him for a while and listening to the much shit that dribbled out of his mouth, he realised somewhere along the line of his bullshit that I wasn’t the average dick who relied on the salesperson to teach him/her about a product he/she should already know about. So he paused for a sec, made a small cough and then admitted he knew nothing about the product as they do not manufacture the glue and will write to Titebond in the US and get back to me in 24hrs.
So there you have it, chaps. It pays to educate yourselves in whatever chosen field you’re in, so people don’t spin you stories just to get you off the phone or to convince into buying something you actually don’t need under the pretence that it is something you need because it will do a better job. Never be afraid to call their bluff if you see it. After all, it’s your money.
Journeyman's Journal 
Well said about educating oneself in a chosen field.Totally agree. 😍
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I have had the same problem. Make your own . You can get hide glue a lot of places and it ain’t rocket science dude, I make mine in $15.00 crockpot Igot from Amazon. Good luck.
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I’ve making my own for many years, but the time saved in using a ready made batch is too good not to. I will be experimenting in making my own liquid hide. Relying on companies to do it is just working out for me anymore. The risk is too great to ignore.
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I used the glue – wasn’t aware that it had a short shelf life , thanks for sharing
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I think that’s the truth to the matter. The manufacturing date is bogus.
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What was the exact failure you had with the hide glue? I’ve been using titebond for years without any problems.
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Remember the adjustable lamp stand I did? The glue failed at the lower end of the main body near the base where I glued the separator. I know that probably didn’t make sense. There’s the upright body and then there’s the space where the arm goes into it. To make that gap I inserted spacers and that’s where the glue failed. This is long grain to long grain gluing, the strongest form of gluing and it just snapped off cleanly. That’s the issue. Had the wood fibres remained then I would’ve said I need a lighter lamp, but it came off clean with the glue sticky.
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Hi Salko,
I’m reading this a couple of days later, so I’m guessing that they didn’t make a follow-up…
In my experiments, I had some issues but only after the 1 plus years glue passed the expiration date.
Never the less after my own (limited) research took me through the “minefield” of storage/transportation/humidity/freezing -and oxidation during the life span of any glue that could provide alterations on the molecular structure of glue.
I’m only mentioning this because – like you – I live in another continent than the glue is manufactured.
As a rule of thumb a German store where I use to buy supplies have a warning asking us not to buy Titebond glue in the winter months
https://www.fine-tools.com/holzleim.html
Like you, I would love to get the pearls of Hide Brown Glue at a reasonable price in my country, but that is just not a option.
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Hi Antonio, yeah for sure using this in sub zero temperature will not work. As for it being destroyed, that’s the first I’ve heard of it. The prices I saw on that website is pretty much on par with our prices. Hide glue is expensive compared to regular pva glue. Buy what you can afford.
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I had an edge joint fail during a glue up with TiteBond Liquid Hide Glue about two years ago. I date a bottle of glue and toss it one year after I purchase it as I’m paranoid about glue going bad. My joint came apart cleanly during a glue up and I was shocked about this. I had been very proud of how well I had bookmatch edged planed those two boards and how good of a job I had done in that part of the earlier glue up. Glad to hear I’m not the only one who had seen this. I had been thinking of switching to Old Brown Glue and may do so now that I’ve seen I’m not alone in this issue.
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It seems to be a common issue with Titebond. The manufacturing date on this bottle is May 2020 so it’s 2 months shy of 1 year old. I’ve also had Old Brown Glue do that to me once, but I also think that the glue was old. I’m not going to start saying anything negative about OBG. It was one time but I’ve never had issues with it other than the high price. In Australia they charge the converted US dollar and then what it would cost you if you had to pay for shipping and then they charge you for shipping. That’s why I say high price.
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OBG has never failed in any of my projects…I store it in a refrigerator (not a freezer) and it remains useful for two years or more (vs one year shelf-life). Product defect or user error was of course possible if the glue failed.
Any glue of any brand, and, in fact, anything can go wrong due to manufacturing defects. I don’t think bottle dates in general are bogus. No reputable companies would risk by deliberately providing false info on their containers.
I wouldn’t be surprised if a minute % of things that leave the production line has slipped through the QA process.
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I am stoked that LH I made works so good as it should and because of the salt there should be no shelf life. I wonder if I should keep the full untouched and see if in a couple of years it goes off or not.
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Though the glue itself might have given you trouble, consider retaining the bottle. I found that it easier to work with other liquid hide glues like OBG when I put a smaller amount into an old Titebond bottle. The glue warms up much quicker in a small tub of hot water this way, and it seems easier (at least to me) to control when squeezing it out. (Remove the label to lessen confusion, of course.)
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