A followup of last week's glue discussion:
According to Milligan & Higgins Company of Johnstown, NY, hide glue
production has changed alot even within the last couple years. Mr. Jacob
("Jay") Utzig, Technical Director (of their hide glue division), sent me
some literature last week and mentioned some details. In the late '80s,
two US companies still produced hide glue, which is reflected in his most
recent article. Jay said that now only his company produces hide glue,
and that any other hide glue is imported. He mentioned that a major
battle for over the past hundred years is many furniture and piano makers
substituting the cheaper, lower quality "fish" or "bone" glues, or even
lower quality hide glue. He said his company has always tried to produce
the highest quality hide glues, and that his glue is used in
some of the better pianos, including Steinway. Among the technical and
chemical reprints which Jay sent me are two articles from "Woodwork
Magazine" Mar/Apr 1993 p. 38-40, and Oct 1995 p. 46-52. To buy smaller
quantities, he said Mohawk Refinishers catalog 5 pound bag is their
glue. Milligan & Higgins phone is 518-762-4638. Hope this helps anyone
wanting to study hide glue a little further.
Fred Scoles, scoles@oswego.edu
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