I got my Fish Glue from Mike Collins so he would be better to answer for where mine came from. What I do know is, this is good stuff and I don't believe at this point I'll be looking back on my glue choice. Tacky? Sticky? Youbetcha! But then, that's what I look for in a glue. That, and compared to HHG and TiteBond, it has a long open time. Strength? I think it is stronger than TiteBond and equal to HHG but better because of the longer open time. Scientific or lab tested proof? I have none, but as tested in my shop after 30+ years of using other glues, for me, it's Fish Glue. I never tried it before these builds and I'm sold, (so far). If it passes the time test, which I have confidence at this point it will, I'll always use it. Thanks a million Mike Collins!
![[:Y:]](./images/smilies/smiley20.gif "Thumbs Up")
Oh, I might also add that based on everything I've read about it, you must use a longer clamp time because it sets slower. I try to plan all my glueups on structural items to dry overnight. Non structural Items I unclamp after about an hour. As far as I've experienced (and heard) there is no creep. I've glued my bracing on with a vacuum clamp and leave it under pressure for about an hour before removing it. Then I let the tops and backs set for two days, after which I tested for glue strength and they are glued very tightly and strong.
After letting the joints dry over night I grabbed the glued pieces (plain sawn) by the edges and applied force bending the outer edges inward. In several instances (though not all) the TiteBond failed at the glue line, sometimes a mix of the glue line and slivers of wood next to the glue line. In the case of the Fish Glue on the same plain sawn cocobolo, I was unable to get it to fail at the glue line using the same Technique. Now the 1/4 sawn was a different story, neither type of glue failed on the glue line because in all 1/4 sawn wood, the glue joint is going to be stronger than the surrounding wood due to the orientation of the annular rings. Another test I performed was a simple test with a scraper on the surface of a piece of American Black Cherry. I chose this due to it's tight pores and it's being a non oily wood. A large drop each of TiteBond & Fish Glue on the smoothly planed surface of this piece of wood allowed to dry for two days. I then simply took a thin flexible paint scraper to try and chip the glue from the surface. The TiteBond popped right off leaving the wood beneath it virtually unscathed. The Fish Glue however was a different story, I had to really work at it to get it off the wood and as hard as I tried, I was unable to remove it from the wood without damaging the surface of the wood (severely). Like I said, this is unscientific but convincing for me. That said, I have been using TiteBond and AR (Carpenter's) Glue for over 3 decades with great results and it by all means is a superb glue. However, I am highly impressed with what I've experienced in the Fish Glue (thus far) and especially like the fact that when it dries it's virtually transparent unlike TiteBond which dries yellow to yellow brown and sticks out like a sore thumb under a clear finish if you happened to miss a little during cleanup which the very best of us can and have done if being truthful.