• It's time to cast your vote in the January 2025 Turning Challenge. (click here for details)
  • Conversations are now Direct Messages (click here for details)
  • Congratulations to Alan Weinberg for "Elm Burl Bowl" being selected as Turning of the Week for January 27, 2025 (click here for details)
  • Welcome new registering member. Your username must be your real First and Last name (for example: John Doe). "Screen names" and "handles" are not allowed and your registration will be deleted if you don't use your real name. Also, do not use all caps nor all lower case.

CA Glue

Michael Nathal

Michael Nathal

Joined
Jul 5, 2015
Messages
346
Likes
3,280
Location
Strongsville, Ohio
I have used Starbond, Insta-bond and Stick-fast brands of CA glue, in thin, medium, thick, and black flexible.
My main use is for crack filling with crushed turquoise, wood dust, etc. I sometimes use accelerator but usually not. I really don't think I can tell the difference among the brands. I now am receiving advertisements from GluBoost and they say their version of CA is the best. They are also among the most expensive. Plus, I have heard good things about Parfix.

So is there a way to distinguish these various brands?
 
No clue really. There are always fancy ones with shiny labels that cost much more and don't work any better. I have been using Bob Smith CA glue that I get from my local Toy and Hobby store where I started buying balsa wood glider parts almost 50 years ago. They switched from the Hot Stuff brand because they said the Bob Smith stuff was better. Not the biggest brand name, but it works for me, and they are great people to deal with. I never use the accelerators. If you are putting the glue on thick, it cures the outside, but not the inside so you get the honey comb on the inside rather than solid...

robo hippy
 
I have been using Fastcap 2p-10 thin in the 10 oz. bottle because it was a good buy. The first bottle worked great for everything including use as a finish, however the second and third bottle when used as a finish seem to set so fast that I can hardly get any on. I have bought Star Bond to see if that will work better as a finish. As far as excelerator what Robo said plus when using it as a finish the accelerator makes the surface rougher.
 
Yes I agree that accelerator can cause problems. One of the purported advantages of GluBoost is their accelerator that:

"Totally unique! No bubbling, no pitting, no hazing, or yellowing ever! Consistently clear and fast cure every time with far less dust and sanding! Experience the GluBoost GluDry best-in- class difference in your workplace today!"
 
robo hippy said:
No clue really. There are always fancy ones with shiny labels that cost much more and don't work any better. I have been using Bob Smith CA glue that I get from my local Toy and Hobby store where I started buying balsa wood glider parts almost 50 years ago. They switched from the Hot Stuff brand because they said the Bob Smith stuff was better. Not the biggest brand name, but it works for me, and they are great people to deal with. I never use the accelerators. If you are putting the glue on thick, it cures the outside, but not the inside so you get the honey comb on the inside rather than solid...

robo hippy
Click to expand...
This all I use also. Works fine for my pen coats.
 
I purchased a bottle of Parfix at a club meeting. I don’t know if it works any better than the others, but it has one terrific advantage. No fumes! Regular CA can cause my eyes to water. I understand the Parfix is based on medical grade adhesive technology, therefore little smell/fumes. (At least that was what I heard at our club meeting.)
 
Back when "Hot Stuff" was the primary CA glue, late 80's, early 90's, Rude Ososlnik was in California and called the "Hot Stuff" folks and said he wanted to see the factory. He was selling the stuff at the time. He said the "factory" consisted of a few people dispensing from 55 gal drums into the small bottle, and he figured it was all made by one of the giant chemical companies and labeled whatever......... :)

John
 
I have been using Starbond for many years. I buy it by the pint and then fill small 2 ounce bottles which makes the cost far less than any other brand that I have seen. I keep it in the garage refrigerator (not in the freezer, but in the regular compartment). I have some that is over five years old and it is still as good as new. If I don't keep it cold, it won't last a year in a hot garage. I primarily use the super thin CA which is thinner than any of the other brands that I have found at Rockler's, Woodcraft, and Ace Hardware.
 
Bill Boehme said:
use the super thin CA which is thinner than any of the other brands that I have found at Rockler's, Woodcraft, and Ace Hardware.
Click to expand...

What is the cure time like on that? I have a stash of Glue Masters (Gravix?) (new brand, developed in WA state) that definitely seems less than the claimed 5 CPS as it's way thinner than other brands I've tried, but now that it is summer, it cures WAY too quickly. For stabilizing tiny cracks, I flow in, then wipe to blend, but with this stuff it's already cured on the surface in the ~1.5 seconds it takes me to wipe. Lots of burnt fingertips when trying to use it as a small project finish, too.

I had a bottle of StickFast Thin that sat in our warm shop all summer last year. It definitely was on its way out, as it took a while to cure, but that was nice for me, as I always end up dropping something, losing something, or forgetting my own name as soon as I put CA on anything.
 
Parafix is one of the leading manufacturers of CA glue for many different industries so a generalization isn't useful here. See this video from renowned woodturner instructor Mark Sillay about a finish using Parafix 3408 with low bloom (no odor):

 
Davis Stevenson said:
What is the cure time like on that? I have a stash of Glue Masters (Gravix?) (new brand, developed in WA state) that definitely seems less than the claimed 5 CPS as it's way thinner than other brands I've tried, but now that it is summer, it cures WAY too quickly. For stabilizing tiny cracks, I flow in, then wipe to blend, but with this stuff it's already cured on the surface in the ~1.5 seconds it takes me to wipe. Lots of burnt fingertips when trying to use it as a small project finish, too.

I had a bottle of StickFast Thin that sat in our warm shop all summer last year. It definitely was on its way out, as it took a while to cure, but that was nice for me, as I always end up dropping something, losing something, or forgetting my own name as soon as I put CA on anything.
Click to expand...

Human skin is probably the best accelerator for CA glue known to man ... and it seems like I always manage to glue myself to something. :D If the wood has a high moisture content then it is possible that Starbond Super Thin CA will go high order, but normally I use the accelerator in a pump spray bottle (not the aerosol type) and it doesn't foam up unless you pour a lot of it into a crack. The Starbond Super Thin has a viscosity of 2-3 centipoise (cps) so it will quickly soak into porous materials. I have used it as a finish on several projects using Alan Trout's procedure.
 
I recently purchased GluBoost Fill and Finish to attempt to fill in a void in a bowl that didn't look like it was part of the design. The one thing I like about GluBoost is that they have various color tinted powder to use for fill-ins. The thing I don't like about it is that it is extremely difficult to get the right color to blend it in with the background wood. It probably takes a little practice. I understand it is used in the guitar making craft to match guitar bodies.

The accelerator does dry clear as indicated, but I don't have enough experience with other glues and accelerators to know if that would be true with them also.
 
Bill Boehme said:
Human skin is probably the best accelerator for CA glue known to man ... and it seems like I always manage to glue myself to something. :D If the wood has a high moisture content then it is possible that Starbond Super Thin CA will go high order, but normally I use the accelerator in a pump spray bottle (not the aerosol type) and it doesn't foam up unless you pour a lot of it into a crack.
Click to expand...

I'll have to give the Starbond a go, then. This Gravix stuff will scorch paper towels, and boil out of a heat check on Maple. Last time I bought CA I somehow convinced myself I only needed 8oz, and that a pint was out of the question. Smaller bottles being pricier were out of the question, too, at the time. (I get weird about buying too much of something with a shelf life, even if it's much cheaper)

It's been 3 months and the bottle is over half gone.... I can definitely talk myself into a pint of Starbond next time.
 
John Jordan said:
Back when "Hot Stuff" was the primary CA glue, late 80's, early 90's, Rude Ososlnik was in California and called the "Hot Stuff" folks and said he wanted to see the factory. He was selling the stuff at the time. He said the "factory" consisted of a few people dispensing from 55 gal drums into the small bottle, and he figured it was all made by one of the giant chemical companies and labeled whatever......... :)

John
Click to expand...

I miss that guy.
 
The one difference I have noticed with GluBoost is that its open time for at least the Fix and Fill product is longer which gives sufficient time to mix in the powdered tints for color matching. It can still be cured immediately by spraying the patch or spraying one surface, if gluing instead of filling, with their accelerator (or possibly any company's accelerator). Their acccelerator claims to dry without any clouding (but I don't have enough experience using CA glue to know if it does dry clearer than other CA glues or not.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top