I picked up an old banjo neck off of e-bay a couple of weeks ago to use in a banjo I am making. The stick that goes through the pot is broken and needs to be replaced. It appears to be glued in with hide glue. It seems that I read somewhere that hide glue can be softened with heat or moist heat or something. Can I use a heat gun?There may be a problem in that I don’t want to ruin the old finish on the neck. Any solid advice?
Jim
Replies
Jim,
Hide glue can be softened with heat. If it were a veneered drawer front, I'd run a warm iron over a wet towel on top of the veneer. Here, just try a towel that is soaked with water that's as hot as you can stand barehanded or with some time of oven mit on. But don't go crazy with the water, try to target just where you need it.
I'd skip the heat gun at first. Hot water works better because it is heat and water that make hide glue turn into a liquid that can be spread, and what will return it that liquid state.
Also, there's a good chance that just hot water won't damage the finish. But you might have to resolve yourself to refinishing the neck.
Best of luck, Matt
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Edited 4/4/2009 10:26 pm ET by MKenney
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