Hot Glue, Brush Management

[Jon Page]

At 01:32 AM 08/19/2000 -0500, you wrote:


> > I'm not certain which list I read this on, but a few weeks ago someone
> > mentioned
> > that 'way back when' in the factory, the assemblers floated a piece of
>wood in
> > the glue pot for dipping the parts into.
>
>This was on MMD  I am sure.  The poster knew a fellow who worked in a radio
>factory in the cabinet dept.
> >
> > In my scrap wood box I just happened to have a small piece which fit
> > comfortably
> > into the jar in the glue pot. This supported the brush and a gentle push
> > submerged
> > the wood to bring fresh glue to the surface with the resurfacing wood.
> > Long lost technology.
> > Jon Page,   piano technician
>
>
>Hmmmm I will give it a try.  I like the "solder's" brushes with the metal
>handle that cost about 75 cents.  I would think the wood floating on top
>would make the skim of the glue even more pesky.  The only way I know to
>avoid this skim is to have the glue deep in the pot and very hot, or a top.
>With the top and a hole a brush is stuck through and a cross nail keeps it
>at the right depth in the pot.  I never worried about that though because
>with a brush you usually need at least three or four brush loads and have to
>work fast with a lot, so the brush is let to the bottom and vigorusly
>stirred when needed and that gives the most glue with the most consistancy.
>I like the glue from the bottom of the pot. Also that way you can tell when
>the glue needs more water as that is always evaporating. You need to
>frequently let glue drip from the brush back into the pot to determine the
>consistancy and temperature. For very small anounts I use unbent paper clips
>or tooth picks.

I keep a dowel in the pot for stirring. On this hammer job, I kept a half 
lid on
to reduce evaporation. The floating wood was about 1/4" thick, it's still 
in the
pot for my next hammer session next week.  No skin ever formed as the wood
was dunked slightly for each application of glue

>     I really liked the suggestion you mentioned because I still do recover
>with rubber cloth sometimes.   So next time I will try the floating wood and
>put the edge(s) (hehe get the picture?) of the pneumatic on it and hope for
>the quick magic coating of glue. Anything to beat brushing it on!.  I will
>need a diff set up, I have never used a glue pot wider than an drinking
>glass execpt my teacher's which was only 5 or 6 inches wide ---ric

Jar width would be a problem for the length of the pneumatic but I don't 
think they used
this for gluing cloth to boards but rather wood to wood. The glue line 
needs to be judiciously
applied so as not to have glue oozing onto the cloth on the inside. A dunk 
would not be
as controllable.

Stick with it,
Jon Page,   piano technician
Harwich Port, Cape Cod, Mass.
mailto:jonpage@mediaone.net
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