I’ve been seeing ads lately for oily glue—a type of glue I hadn’t heard of until now. A bit of searching on Amazon shows that there are several different brands of this stuff, which suggests it isn’t a new invention. Brands include Tree Frog, Jue-Fish, Welding, and SXhyf.
The ads make the stuff look amazing, of course. They show it bonding things instantly, and claim it doesn’t cause cleanup problems. They show it working on all kinds of surfaces, including metal, ceramic, and wood. They imply it works well in wet conditions.
So how good is this stuff, really? What is it good for, and what are its limitations? Would this be a good thing to have around the house for minor repairs?
Several of the brands you listed appear to be brand names based on ethyl cyanoacrylate, which is reasonably useful for quick or temporary household repairs:
According to this website, oily glue is “a highly viscous liquid that is made of synthetic or natural oils mixed with resins or polymers.” According to someone on this website, it’s “an oil-based adhesive which is produced by dissolving acrylic acid or polyurethane with an oily solvent such as toluene or butanone.” Neither description is consistent with cyanoacrylate, which is superglue.
It’s possible that some of the products sold as oily glue are actually cyanoacrylates, and that some aren’t. Jue Fish says their glue remains elastic after drying, which doesn’t sound like superglue to me. Amazon classifies Tree Frog and SXhyf as cyanoacrylates, but not Jue Fish.
This one sounds like the adhesive on many adhesive tapes, which I think is more specifically rubber dissolved in just a little oil. I guess it’d have to have a bit more oil to dispense, but it could work, right?