Yesterday, Glen Huey squeezed out equal amounts of Old Brown Glue and Titebond liquid hide glue onto two glass plates, then we walked around the offices accosting F+W employees, thrust the plates under their noses, and said, Here , smell this! The camera was whipped out and we got strange looks.
Despite Glen’s preface to the sniff test, which said, “Which one smells worst?”, most people agreed to take part. If a stranger came up to me with some unidentified brown gooey stuff on plates and asked, Which one smells worst?, I’m pretty certain that I would recoil and decline to take part. But just about everyone was game, and the results were surprising.
Glen is currently working on a story about liquid hide glue for the Winter 2009 Woodworking Magazine. (On newsstands Dec. 15, 2009). One objection to hide glue is its strong and persistent scent. However, this is usually when it is used to cook hot hide glue. We wanted to find out which liquid hide glue was the most offensive in terms of olfactory sensitivity. 100 percent of woodworkers voted for Old Brown Glue.
The test was then administered to staff members for our writing and art magazines, as well as a few support staff, IT, and creative services. Among the non-woodworkers, Titebond was the smelliest. I dont know what that tells usexcept that if youre on a date with a woodworker, go for eau de Titebond.
