[Eliot Ness]

Ron, I forgot to mention something that may or may not be useful to you or others. When I was visiting Kenny (of Richmond Designs) a couple of months back I tried to soak up as much knowledge as possible while watching him work. The first thing I noticed was he is using Hide Glue. He kept a little hot plate with a little double boiler of sorts going almost all of the time. There is an art to it and you want to keep it at about 140 degrees and occasionally add water to keep it the right consistency.

It was extremely fascinating to watch him work with the Hide Glue because it seemed so easy to work with and mistakes were easily corrected by the application of more glue or the use of heat. The use of animal or protein glue is almost becoming a lost art in the U.S., but there are still some sources and videos available. Patrick Edwards is a craftsman who does some incredible inlay work and he uses Hide glue exclusively. Below is a website that has some interesting glue videos as well as other wood related videos such as veneering, etc.:

http://woodtreks.com/animal-protein-hide...tory/1549/

Patrick Edwards has to buy his glue in 50 lb batches, but he has a site where he'll sell glue in both dry granulated or a premixed (just heat and use) version:

http://www.oldbrownglue.com/index.html

Another interesting video he has is on veneering and using a veneer hammer (more like a veneer squeegee) without clamping. Of course the whole secret to using this method is Hide Glue. I saw Kenny doing some intricate inlay work with this process and the results are impressive.

http://woodtreks.com/learn-how-hammer-ve...glue/1493/

What struck me most about the whole process is the concept of not worrying that the glue is on the surface of the wood prior to finishing. As Patrick mentions in the video that the glue is not a problem for stains and finishes, you just sand or scrape off the excess from the surface.

I was impressed enough by the videos and watching Kenny in person that I'll be ordering some of Patrick's Old Brown Glue and some granulated to mix up my own and do some experimenting. Now to go off and search for a veneer hammer and a small double boiler.