I'm a little late to the party, but thought I'd toss in my two cents' worth about hide glue. Yes, right now Milligan and Higgins is the only company left in the US that makes hide glue.
The hide glue you use is your preference, but it is important, I think, to remember that even the weakest grade of hide glue makes a joint stronger than the wood itself. High gram-strength glue is a problematic term for me. The test measures how much force it takes in grams to depress a steel rod of a certain diameter to a depth of 4 mm into a glue cookie. The glue cookie is made under certain conditions that I can post here if anyone is interested. The more weight it takes, the more the gram number increases. This is really a test of glue hardness, not necessarily strength. While the contention is that high gram-strength glue is stronger, I have never seen any data that supports this claim.
Working alone as I do, what I value in hide glue is a long open time before tacking. I find that the high gram-strength glues require more dilution with water to keep them consistent, which essentially diminishes their strength, and that the open time gets progressively shorter. This means that the glue gels faster. In the highest strength glues, I have found that when I glue together big pieces, like the boards that make up a top or back, the glue at one end is already drying before I can get coverage at the other end. It will be past the tack point before I can get the pieces in clamps!
I now recommend standard hide glue in the 160 - 200 gram range, if you can find it.
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