The Production Recipe (for Now) for Death Grip Glue

The first pre-production bottle of Death Grip Glue. Yes, the bottle will be in the shape of a beehive.

For the last month I’ve made a couple dozen test batches of gelatin glue to experiment with the additives that extend its open time.

We started by adding salt to the glue to extend the glue’s working time. But salt isn’t the only thing that people have used historically to create liquid hide glue. Urea is another common additive, as are vinegar and glycerin.

My goal was to find the minimum amount of stuff we could add to the glue to get the open time we wanted (which is more than 15 minutes). Why? Because additives typically make the glue weaker. So the fewer additives, the better the glue.

Here’s the good news: I have now a recipe that is simple (salt, water and gelatin), easy to make at home and gives you about 18 minutes of open time (in an environment that is 72° F and has a relative humidity of 35 percent). Here it is: