Smokin' Hot CA Glue

BURN WARNING

I burned the heck out of my fingertip with CA glue this weekend – who knew? I would post some pics but I don’t have the online skills – just imagine a big blister on the fingertip like you touched something really hot ;)

I know many of you use CA (Cyanoacrylate) glues for various jobs in the shop – from durable finishes on turned pens to minor repairs, gluing a cut closed, or what I was doing – combining with some saw dust to fill a gap in a project. I filled my little seam (more on that when I post the finished project) with some curly maple sawdust and dribbled on some ultra-thin CA glue – pretty standard operation for those of us who often have to mend gap errors in projects. As the glue seeped in, I noticed I needed to add a bit more sawdust to top off the gap, so I hastily (glue was setting) brushed on more dust from my little pile and squashed it into the seam with my bare fingertip. What an idiot. Well, the glue had a reaction with the wood dust and got so hot it was literally smoking – right on my fingertip. Who would ever think to have something on fire and then glue it to yourself? By the time I felt the burn and realized what was happening the glue had set and it would not peel off – “SuperGlue – Bonds Skin Instantly!” Ouch ouch ouch! I may as well have put my finger on a hot iron. So I guess the moral of the story is don’t use your finger for packing CA glue and sawdust into a seam. I know I can’t be the only one who uses a finger for a glue spreader (especially with wood glue) from time to time. I had no idea CA glue could react in this way, but after a little web research I see that it can, and did.

So, that is my little heads-up for all you lumber types out there. Thanks for reading!

Cheers,
Tom

-- “I am always doing that which I cannot do, in order that I may learn how to do it.” Pablo Picasso