Every time I watch that video working there seems like it would be a fever dream..
coti glue gave up
- Thread starter kayvee
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I bet many French swear words were invented, working in that place.
Edit; Actually, now I think about it, in Ardennes do they speak French of Flemish? I actually don't know.... It's south, so I assume French.
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I'm sure the constant stream of unfiltered cigarettes was to keep those guys on an even keel. That or it was their respiratory ppe.. Or both...
Cant suck coticule dust through a cigarette. Everyone knew that back in the day. Safety first.
Back in the Sheffield knife works, same thing. The smoke would make you squint, to stop sparks flying into your eyes.
It had to be dreadful.. Apart from that young boy at the lapidary disc they were all old guys who looked well and truly beat.
That's a rather odd combo when mixed together for gluing purposes, it would counteract one another's purpose, I believe?
Until 1980 I was told and read they used resin. It's a wonderful thing a damaged tree in nature does, creating resin as a protective shield. Very sticky and water resistant. Not to be confused with the tree's gum, which is not water resistant.
Bone, hide, rabbit, fish glue etc., as already said, was highly unlikely as those dissolve in water.
They're fantastic glues to use outside an application that sees a lot of water or moisture; I'm a big fan of hide glue for indoor woodworking.
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Possibly. I just remembered that’s what Bart from the old coticule forum always said it was. I figured he knew what he was taking about. Here’s a partial quote from Bart from 2009 responding to a question asking what kind of glue they used in the old days.
“In the old days, they used a mixture of hide glue and beeswax, but that unless you were using really hot water, it wouldn't melt. Equally difficult to tell from a picture, but that "Blue" looks more like slate to me than like a real blue. Ardennes is the only company that ever glued to slate, and they don't use the hide glue/beeswax mixture. In that case, your hone is not a vintage one.”
Good to know, thanks for sharing!
That would be a good invention, making hide glue water resistant by adding beeswax, I have plenty of both, I must experiment!
I've yet to have to re-glue a coti(cule), but 2 part epoxy would be my choice. And, one of the slower setting varieties.
In that old video I posted it appeared to be resin and perhaps they added beeswax to it....
exarc.net
Beeswax an Addition to the Production of European Stone Age Adhesives | EXARC
Summary: Beeswax is a frequently mentioned binder additive in the literature. Unfortunately, it is not so durable as to be well preserved in archaeological records, although there are faint exceptions. Because of its strengthening capabilities, which is believed to be its role, this research set...
From -
Grinding and Honing Part 4.
Belgian Whetstones
Bonding
The period in which a Coticule whetstone is made is difficult to estimate. An aid thereto may be by looking at the bonding of unnatural combos.
* Until about 1980 resin was used to bond the parts.
Resin is a tough, sticky plant product that is mainly derived from pine trees. Resin sometimes is confused with gum. The difference is that resin is soluble in alcohol, gum however, is soluble in water.
In nature resin occurs among trees that are damaged.
The tree when damaged in this way produces resin when the bark of the tree is damaged, in order to have protection against viruses and pests which are attacking the inside of the tree. The fossil amber comes from damaged conifers. Some people have an allergic reaction to the resin, it sometimes causes eczema.
Grinding and Honing Part 4.
Belgian Whetstones
Bonding
The period in which a Coticule whetstone is made is difficult to estimate. An aid thereto may be by looking at the bonding of unnatural combos.
* Until about 1980 resin was used to bond the parts.
Resin is a tough, sticky plant product that is mainly derived from pine trees. Resin sometimes is confused with gum. The difference is that resin is soluble in alcohol, gum however, is soluble in water.
In nature resin occurs among trees that are damaged.
The tree when damaged in this way produces resin when the bark of the tree is damaged, in order to have protection against viruses and pests which are attacking the inside of the tree. The fossil amber comes from damaged conifers. Some people have an allergic reaction to the resin, it sometimes causes eczema.
It did look like natural resin. I find it fascinating that it was still in use so late.
I would speculate that the glue failures we see with stones is probably due to high temperatures.
I would speculate that the glue failures we see with stones is probably due to high temperatures.
I wouldn't think adding wax to hide glue makes it waterproof. doesn't add up. Maybe more water resistant to some degree. Seems like an odd mix to be honest because I'd guess that the wax would lower the bonding strength.
Bart was saying you need very hot water to melt the mixture, well hide glue melts @ 145 F, beeswax is about the same. Typical home temp for hot water would be 120-ish.
Adding aluminum sulfate to hide glue will make it waterproof though.
Bart was saying you need very hot water to melt the mixture, well hide glue melts @ 145 F, beeswax is about the same. Typical home temp for hot water would be 120-ish.
Adding aluminum sulfate to hide glue will make it waterproof though.
I've got a couple it was used to fill gaps on, on the sides. Now to learn the historical recipes of this glue(have beehives, so I have bees wax) because I'm odd when it comes to that kind of stuff... I had a 90 year old gentleman, whom I love dearly, telling me how water lines used to be constructed. He said "you put the male side of the iron pipe in the female side and the you lay type in the groove and put some stuff on it, I can't remember what it's called." I said "oakum" and I got real scared because he looked like he saw a ghost. I'm really interested in those little details about how men produced what they needed, with what the had, in that circumstance/ locale. People who can take the garbage around them and turn it into gold will always be valued. Why do you think alchemists are a thing, for a long bit now?
Picture related is a beeswax candle I made from scrap cotton and beeswax because I was bored.
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I thought the same thing. 1980s? Crazy stuff, hide glue must work. We got rid of a bunch of stuff that worked well in the 80s.
Your not confusing natural resin with hide glue? Hide glue is applied in liquid form and resin or rosin could be like sap on a stick like in that video.
Commercially available resin or the refined rosin is usually from pine trees. There are lots of uses for it including making varnish. If you collect it from the wild it will be very dirty so filtering is a pain. Tapping trees for turpentine production was an industry at one time in the southern US.
