# What's the deal with super glue? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 2, 2011, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-super-glue/569885 "2011-02-02T13:25:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![MobiusStripes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@MobiusStripes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MobiusStripes)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-super-glue/569885/21 "2011-02-02T19:17:42Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > Thanks for the safety tip. I was going to try the CA finishing technique this winter. Although I was planning on using gloves. CA can be a great finish. I’ve used it on numerous pens and a few bowls. There is a cedar bowl in my office that turned out particularly good (esp as not much else sticks to aromatic cedar for long) If you don’t already wear one, consider getting a face mask. I wear a 3M brand half-mask (7000 series maybe?) with organic vapor filters when I turn. It fits fine under my face shield. It’s easy to breath through and I can’t smell a thing through it! Plus it protects the lungs from all that fine dust. It seems to completely block the CA vapor (though it’ll still burn the hell out of your eyes.) ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-super-glue/569885/22 "2011-02-02T19:58:57Z")
Didn’t Crazy Glue used to have an ad on TV, where they had a construction worker glue his hat to an iron girder (or something like that) and then suspend himself from it? ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-super-glue/569885/23 "2011-02-02T20:06:59Z")
Yes [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/SXZv2KZKCCo/hqdefault.jpg "Krazy Glue tv Commercial 1980") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXZv2KZKCCo) ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-super-glue/569885/24 "2011-02-03T01:22:41Z")
If you need something seriously bonded, get Gorilla Glue. It expands quite a bit, but holds like…well, like crazy. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-super-glue/569885/25 "2011-02-03T02:13:26Z")
When bonding materials, it all depends on what you are bonding. This website is a resource for deciding which adhesive to use when you are bonding one thing to another: > **[This to That (Glue Advice)](http://www.thistothat.com/)** > > How to glue this to that You enter what you are bonding: **\** to _ **\** _\_ and it tells you what type of adhesive to use. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-super-glue/569885/26 "2011-02-04T16:20:42Z")
> [@Philster](#): > > When bonding materials, it all depends on what you are bonding. This website is a resource for deciding which adhesive to use when you are bonding one thing to another: > > [http://www.thistothat.com/](http://www.thistothat.com/) > > You enter what you are bonding: **\** to _ **\** _\_ and it tells you what type of adhesive to use. Awesome link! Thanks, I’ll be consulting it in the future! ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-super-glue/569885/27 "2011-02-04T23:56:30Z")
> [@MobiusStripes](#): > > By the by, CA reacts exothermically (it gets hot. Really hot) in contact with some things like cotton. A surgically sterile version of CA is used in the medical procedure called [Vertebroplasty](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vertebroplasty). I have had this done to me. The surgeon- mysteriously- neglected to inform me that the cement was so …uh…intensely exothermic. The point of the procedure was to stabilize a broken vertebra and relieve pain. Instead, due to the burning happening inside of my spine along the break point and into the scar tissue and muscles around the broken bone, I had pain equal in all aspects to that the day I fell and broke my back. That pain lasted close to 9 months before completely subsiding back to the level I live with now. :smack: Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![fifty-six](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@fifty-six](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fifty-six)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-super-glue/569885/28 "2011-02-05T00:11:23Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > If you need something seriously bonded, get Gorilla Glue. It expands quite a bit, but holds like…well, like crazy. I love that stuff. Absolutely amazing. ---
**Author:** ![Gbro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Gbro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gbro)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2011, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-super-glue/569885/29 "2011-02-05T01:57:20Z")
> [@67java89](#): > > I remember when Krazy glue first came out…it was great. Now, it doesn’t seem like so called super glues work at all. I have tried various brands, and have trouble gluing a plastic cup. Were there too many lawsuits from kids gluing their eyes shut? I do also think there is a changed. Before “New Skin” liquid bandage I used to apply CA to minor cuts, cracked finger tips and hangnails. The glue then would harden and be very rough to the extent I would sand it or use a nail file. Then I found “New Skin” and that worked much better. Now today the latest purchase of new skin would not last 1/2 a day on a cracked finger tip and the super glue (cheap dollar store stuff would work wonderfully and dry just as smooth as can be. My Wife hatred the burn of newskin and also believes its not as good and uses CA now. > [@Philster](#): > > Ahhh…The power of advertising mixed up with the power of nostalgia and the inaccuracy of the human memory,. I do not pay any attention to advertising. My DVR fast forwards almost every program I watch through adds. > [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > My beef with super glue is it seems like I can use it only once, then I have to throw the tube away. No matter how carefully I try to seal it, the whole damned thing has turned rock solid by the next time I get it out. Fortunately, the stuff is cheap here, 25 baht (80 US cents) for a small tube. I always keep the opened tube in the blister pack and keep it standing vertical in cabinet. If it gets tipped it will be useless in a couple days, or so it seems. We use a lot of it this time of the year for cracked finger tips and such. > [@MobiusStripes](#): > > CA can be a great finish. I’ve used it on numerous pens and a few bowls. There is a cedar bowl in my office that turned out particularly good (esp as not much else sticks to aromatic cedar for long) > > If you don’t already wear one, consider getting a face mask. I wear a 3M brand half-mask (7000 series maybe?) with organic vapor filters when I turn. It fits fine under my face shield. It’s easy to breath through and I can’t smell a thing through it! Plus it protects the lungs from all that fine dust. It seems to completely block the CA vapor (though it’ll still burn the hell out of your eyes.) When I made my["Fire Piston"](http://www.google.com/images?hl=en&sugexp=gsihc&xhr=t&q=fire+piston&cp=8&wrapid=tljp1296870629169014&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=6qxMTdPvEZC4sAPNzYC3Cg&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=8&sqi=2&ved=0CGYQsAQwBw&biw=1659&bih=865) it would not build pressure as air leaked through the grain, I poured a copious amount of CA into the cylinder and pumped the piston a few times and then set both to dry. The next day i sanded the surface to allow a nice slip fit and installed the oring and its worked perfectly for 2 years now. the CA as a varnish is very durable and strong. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-deal-with-super-glue/569885.md?page=1)