
Experiments Show How Neanderthals Made the First Glue - Mz
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/experiments-show-how-neanderthals-made-first-glue-180964718/?no-ist
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dom0
Somewhat related household tip:

When something wooden cracks or breaks and needs gluing, but you don't have
any wood glue at home, you don't need to buy any. Just dissolve a sheet of
gelatine (which you do have, no? :) in a bit of water and warm that in a water
bath for five minutes. Use a brush to apply some of that to both glue sides
and press it firmly together. As an added bonus, these glue joints become soft
at ~50-60 °C, so can be fixed up later again. Structurally, it's pretty much
as strong as any wood glue.

~~~
giardini
Hide glues are great in low-humidity environments but can loosen in high
humidity. They're useful for fixing musical instruments, for example, because
hide glue joints are reversible and repairable. Hide glued joints will release
easily with the application of heat and steam. I was surprised to find that
most older musical instruments have been repaired to a greater/lesser degree
thanks to the use of hide glue.

Bow makers (as in "bows and arrows") commonly used hide glues in regions of
low humidity, but a Turkish bow composed of tendon, bone, sinew, wood, horn
and hide glue likely will fail to function properly in a rainy-weather locale.

Animal glue (includes hide glue as a subtopic):

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_glue#Reemergence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_glue#Reemergence)

The Mongolian bow:

[http://www.coldsiberia.org/monbow.htm](http://www.coldsiberia.org/monbow.htm)

The Modern Reproduction of a Mongol Era Bow based on historical facts and
ancient technology research:

[https://exarc.net/issue-2017-2/at/modern-reproduction-
mongol...](https://exarc.net/issue-2017-2/at/modern-reproduction-mongol-era-
bow-based-historical-facts-and-ancient-technology-research)

Here's a fellow who tried both a modern glue and hide glue in making a bow:

A Note on Indian Bow Making or the Secrets of Sinew Revealed

[http://www.primitiveways.com/secrets_of_sinew.html](http://www.primitiveways.com/secrets_of_sinew.html)

