Let’s say I’m deep in the jungles of [wherever the strongest natural adhesive is], and I need to MacGyver up a contraption that involves a lot of sticking things to other things. The nearest Home Depot is over 1000 miles away, so I need to come up with some other method of bonding the things together with an adhesive. What would I use?
Some biological glues are incredibly powerful, but they’re produced in minute quantities by insects and molluscs, so good luck in using them.
Casein glue is strong, but it needs milk. If you’re in the wild, you probably won’t get that.
Hide glue is of ancient vintage, msade from hides and other parts of animals. This requires cyou to catch a relevant beast and butcher it.
Probably the easiest thing to go for is gum from various trees – things like Canada Balsam. Thick, viscous, and tenacious liquids that take time to dry, but for a hard seal.
Granted, it’s not much use at the MacGyver level.
Garlic. Smash it and it will get pretty sticky.
You can make glue from pine sap and charcoal.
Starch-based glues are not naturally occurring… but they could be produced from relatively common components. Here’s a website that shows how sugar, corn starch and water can be boiled up to make the paste used in pinatas. This site explains how to use finely ground rice flour and water.
This would not be McGyver-able in a matter of minutes, but it should be achievable within a day, even if you have to start by locating and grinding a starchy grain or vegetable.
Dog spit. You ever try to clean a dog bowl? It takes a lot of elbow grease!
Jizz is pretty damn sticky.
Not exactly easy to harvest, though.
Egg residue is damn tenacious, and fairly easy to find in the jungle.
- purplehorsesehoe, who ALWAYS puts the dishes from eggy meals into the sink to soak immediately
Pine pitch?
Conifer pitch works, sort of, but is really not strong at all. Even ice holds better, while hide glue is some six to seven times stronger. Pitch is useful, however, for water- and fray-proofing all sorts of lashings made with natural, hydroscopic fibers, or water-soluble glue lines (such as hide glue).
Hide glue can be made from sundry animal scraps (mammal skin, fish skin, tendons, fish bladders etc.) using a simple bark or paper container and a little heat - it’s plenty McGyverish.