Do They Still Make Glue Out Of Old Horses
According to Ed, my old neighbor in Saskatchewan, if I get another tooth pulled out I’ll be a toothless, old, horse ready for the glue factory. Why did I mention to Ed about having my tooth pulled out? Should I have known Ed would use the event to rib me?
I did not want to talk about the needles, the drilling, the wrenching and the pulling on a tooth that fought eviction to its death. A tooth extraction should be forgotten immediately as something too traumatic to dwell on. I told Ed that I did feel like an old horse with no usable teeth when returning from the dentist with my face and lips frozen and a wad of cotton packed in the hole left from the extracted tooth. I was ready for the pasture to lie down in it for sleep; rather than for a trip to the glue factory. I asked Ed if they still make glue from horses and he said, “Maybe?â€
It seems horses are suitable for making glue according to Forrest Wickman (internet) because they have a lot of collagen, which is a key protein in connective tissues such as, cartilage, tendons, ligaments, as well as hides and bones. As large muscled animals, horses contain lots of glue producing collagen. Glue has been produced from animals for thousands of years, not just from horses but from pigs and cattle as well.
Over the second half of the 20th century, synthetic glues have become advanced being produced cheaply, uniform in quality, and with longer shelf lives. Emler’s glue uses no animal parts. Only a few of the glue manufacturers still distribute glue made from animals. Bookbinders use animal glue because it is slower to set. Wickman claims that horses which are no longer wanted will not usually go to the glue factory. Mostly they will go to a slaughterhouse to become food for human consumption or food for feeding greyhounds, and large cats at Zoos.
Ed is a great horse lover, and the mention of horse meat for human consumption had him change the subject back to glue. My old neighbor suggested that it was time for churches to get glue that would stick Christians to the straight and narrow way. I told him that as Christians we have Jesus as the glue that holds us together in faith and grace. We cannot earn eternal life as it is an undeserved gift (grace) provided by Jesus to all who will accept it in faith (trust). He is the glue that leads us to God the Father in heaven. (John 14:6)
