The morning I glued my hand to a drawer front with CA glue

I was at my bench in the shop last Wednesday, trying to get a rush job done for a client in Oak Park. I was using some thin CA glue to tack a small bead onto a drawer front, and of course I managed to squeeze the bottle too hard. The stuff shot out sideways and connected my thumb to the drawer front in about two seconds flat. I was standing there with my hand stuck to this piece of birch, trying not to laugh or panic. I ended up having to soak the whole thing in acetone for about 10 minutes before it let go. The drawer front had a weird cloudy spot where the acetone sat too long, so I had to sand and re-oil that whole section. Has anyone else had a CA glue disaster that took forever to undo?

2 comments

2 Comments

wendyk6318d ago

Hold on, did you try using CA glue debonder BEFORE the acetone? I've had a few bad glue incidents myself and the debonder works WAY faster, like in 30 seconds, and it doesn't leave that cloudy damage on the wood finish. Your method of soaking in acetone for ten minutes sounds brutal for the wood, especially on a finished piece. That clouding is basically the acetone stripping the oil or finish, right? What kind of oil did you have to reapply after that whole ordeal? I'm just wondering if there's a faster way that doesn't mess up the wood so bad next time.

elizabeththomas18d ago

@wendyk63 I actually tried debonder first, but on this particular thin CA the stuff seemed to set so fast that the debonder barely touched it before I was already stuck solid. The acetone was a last resort and you're right about the cloudiness being the finish stripping off, it was just tung oil so at least sanding and reapplying wasn't the end of the world. I think for really thin superglue and tight grain woods like birch, the debonder can struggle to penetrate before the bond is fully cured.