Natural Glue

I was once told that glue can be made out of ground up horse hooves. I have no way of verifying this. Does any one know if this is true or not? Another glue source is ground up flower (wheat). Add water to make a glue-paste. Sap or resin from trees could make a good glue if forced to dry with heat.

Offered by Mike.

When I was a kid I was told of a glue factory that used whale bones to make glue. I guess you can use any bones to make glue, but I’m just not sure of the mechanics of it. I guess it’s the gluten in bones. Maybe that's why its called glue.

Offered by Ian.

About 2 years ago, I saw a program on TV that said ancient humans used all of the parts of the animals they killed. Meat for food, hide for clothing and shelter, bones for tools, tendons for cord, and cartilage for glue. When they made arrows, they inserted the arrowhead into the shaft, wrapped it with tendon, then painted the area with glue. They then used the glue to fletch the arrow. Information from another source:

Cartilage has two main components: reinforced gel and very strong collagen fibers (made up of glue-like protein). The reinforced gel is made up of proteoglycans (long molecules covered with bristle-like texture, the chondroitin sulfate molecules. The chondrocyte cells make collagen and proteoglycans, which are spread about the cartilage matrix. The chondrocytes also get rid of old collagen and proteoglycans. Chondroitin sulfate collects nutrients for the chondrocytes, because cartilage has no blood supply to provide nutrients.

Offered by Larry.

I've discovered that most glues are derived from protein. Collagen is such a protein and is available in all animal tissue. Sinew/hide/bone and blood can all be utilized for this purpose, (although bone glues require the use of acids to separate the minerals from the collagen). Similarly fish skin and air bladder are also useful. So are some tree pitch or resins. Also curdled milk or low-fat cottage cheese. Any source of protein should yield glue when boiled down. However silk, animal hooves and horns are not sources of glue even though they are protein based, despite common belief, dictionary definitions, encyclopedia entries, and other literature. According to my source this is pure myth and glue cannot be made from any of them.

Offered by Brian.