[pianotech] Gram weight question

[Chuck Behm]

>Hide glue comes in different gram strengths. In practical
terms, it's a measure of the ultimate strength and gel rate of
the glue. Most people start with too high a gram strength and
shoot themselves in the foot. Those who say they found hot
hide to be unmanageable usually bought it from Schaff. Theirs
is 370-399 gram, which I consider to be impossible for general
use. Pianotek sells a 251 gram weight, which is manageable,
but still touchy for general work. I prefer 192 gram. It's a
balancing act between thickness and gel time. For hammers,
particularly, you want a fairly thick glue that won't
"string", and will still gel before it runs down into the
hammer tail cove<

Ron - I'm coming up near the end of a 20 lb. bag of glue crystals that I
bought quite a few years back from a local technician who was going out of
business. He has since died, and I have absolutely no idea of where he
purchased the glue from.

I've always been happy with the glue, using it for veneer work, felt work,
hammers, and gluing bellows to decks in players, etc., but until now, was
unaware that there were differences in weight. I guess since I never had a
problem with the glue I was using, I never even looked into the topic.

So here's my question. Since I'm down to about half of a coffee can full of
crystals, is there an easy way to determine its gram weight? Is that weight
per unit volume, or some other measure? When I'm ready to reorder a supply,
I would like to get something with the same characteristics of what I've
gotten used to.

Thanks for sharing your knowledge about the subject. You have an incredible
depth of experience.  Chuck Behm
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