Found out old bookbinding glue has animal bones in it and I didn't know

I was reading a forum post last night about historical bookbinding methods and saw that most old-school glues were made from boiled animal hides and bones. It kinda threw me off because I never thought about where the sticky stuff came from. Has anyone else looked into what's actually in their glue?

2 comments

2 Comments

parker54314d ago

Yeah no that stuff is everywhere once you start looking. Gelatin, marshmallows, some yogurts, even the glue on envelopes and stamps all come from animal bones and hides. It's funny how we don't think about it until someone points it out. Then you realize half the random things in your kitchen and workshop are basically boiled animal byproducts. Just another one of those weird facts you can't unsee once you know it.

xena_murphy14d ago

Start noticing all the little surprises hiding in plain sight. Once you start tracking where materials actually come from, it's like an endless loop of "oh wait, that too?" The rubber in tires, the phosphates in fertilizer, even the stuff that makes plastic flexible comes from some wild sources. Its almost like we built our whole modern world on leftovers and byproducts we'd rather not think about too hard. Makes you wonder what other invisible materials are propping up everyday objects we just take for granted.