How long is C/A glue remain good if kept in refrigeration? Hate to admit it, but discovered a partial bottle hiding in the back of the fridge. Probably been there over a year.😱
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Old C/A Strength
- Thread starter Bill T Tucker
- Start date
If it is still liquid it should still be good. Try it on some small scrap pieces.
My experience is the same as Rusty’s. I some in my tiny shop fridge that’s well over 5 years old and still use it. I think it helps to use a small fridge and not open it much to keep moisture out.
If you want CA to last a long time without refrigeration, you can seal the bottles in a canning jar or something with some desiccant beads. I use the indicator desiccant that is blue with dry but starts to turn pink as it absorbs moisture. The Mercury Adhesives people told me the water is an accelerant and water molecules will go through most plastic, especially the thin, cheap plastic typically used for inexpensive bottles of CA. (BTW, I love the Mercury Adhesives bottles and especially there cap method!)
Indicator desiccant can be dried out and reused indefinitely. I dry in small aluminum trays in a toaster oven. (I use it in an in-line dryer for my compressed air lines too.)
BTW, I use CA a for hardening punky areas, to fill tiny voids using the sandpaper method John Lucas taught me, to glue small things in wood holes if no significant forces are expected, and for finishes when I made pens. For almost everything else I prefer good quality epoxy - wood, metals, plastics.
JKJ
From the thread title I thought this might be about how long cured CA glues still hold. I read somewhere about 10 years.
Likewise I wonder about epoxies, slab tables or sometimes known as river tables with two slabs connected by a river of resin down the center. I asked a maker how long a table of this type will last, he estimated about 20 years. How about the epoxy used in turnings? Being in a boating area I see older fiberglass boats falling apart.
Likewise I wonder about epoxies, slab tables or sometimes known as river tables with two slabs connected by a river of resin down the center. I asked a maker how long a table of this type will last, he estimated about 20 years. How about the epoxy used in turnings? Being in a boating area I see older fiberglass boats falling apart.
The size might be the key, since large wooden things could move with seasonal changes. My only data is some of my turned things epoxied 20 years ago are still fine.
The wood orientation may also be a factor. Besides turnings, I’ve used epoxy on cutting boards but they were not large and somewhat segmented and perhaps the smaller pieces move less, and the wood is usually dense and hard (sugar maple, bubinga, guatambu, etc). We still use a small maple cutting board about 40 years old now. Never soaked in water or put in the dishwasher, of course, but hand washed hundreds of time.
I only use high quality epoxy and usually the long-cure stuff, 1-hr not 5-minute, if that makes any difference.
JKJ
In my experience cured CA goes brittle within a few years. As a result, museum conservation departments bar the use of CA glues in working on museum collections where bonds need to be durable longterm.
Long time woodturner and user of CA and I never really thought of it that much other than the older it got, the longer it took to have a good set. That all changed about 4 yrs back when I got my 1st cuemakers lathe. The wife and I shoot a lot of pool, have a professional table at home, shoot on two leagues and have a friend that we shoot with a lot, plays on the pro tour, and comes over frequently to play. Anyway, as I like to do things myself, and no professional cue repair people less than an hour and a half away, I purchased my 1st cue repair lathe to mostly do shaft work and cue tip replacement.
Learned a lot from cuebuilders on what glues to use for ferrule replacement and glue for tips. The prevailing glue for cuetips is superglue, but not any superglue where the utmost strength is concerned. Those with reputations on the line will not use glues open over 3 months. Me personally I will use it up to 6 months, but after that will not use it for anything tip related.
As I also do tips for friends and others in our area, and would gladly replace a tip if one were to come off, I do not want them to fail as strength diminishes the longer the tube/bottle is open. When you put all types of tips on including phenolic break tips, you have to be able to rely on the glue used. There is a noticeable difference in how fast a glue will set depending on the age of it. There are basically two CA glues that are able to withstand the repeated impacts of a break cue tip, or any tip. That is Loctite ultra gel, and Gorilla glue gel.
So back to woodturning, personally I have use old superglue, but it does take longer to set and from my understanding strength is diminished somewhat the older it gets. Also as woodturners, we will use accelerators to harden it up faster and it's my understanding that affects it's strength or long term durability also. In woodturning you just don't have the need for strength as much as I do in cue work because of the shock load involved so I really don't worry about it so much. I never use accelerator in cue work.
For woodturning, being in the fridge apx a year I think is somewhat meaningless. What would matter to me would be how long before that was it opened and or purchased, also how long do you expect to keep using it.
As to what John mentioned about epoxy, I agree, even 15 min epoxy is a no no in cue work where strength and longevity is concerned. Generally the longer the cure the stronger it is.
Learned a lot from cuebuilders on what glues to use for ferrule replacement and glue for tips. The prevailing glue for cuetips is superglue, but not any superglue where the utmost strength is concerned. Those with reputations on the line will not use glues open over 3 months. Me personally I will use it up to 6 months, but after that will not use it for anything tip related.
As I also do tips for friends and others in our area, and would gladly replace a tip if one were to come off, I do not want them to fail as strength diminishes the longer the tube/bottle is open. When you put all types of tips on including phenolic break tips, you have to be able to rely on the glue used. There is a noticeable difference in how fast a glue will set depending on the age of it. There are basically two CA glues that are able to withstand the repeated impacts of a break cue tip, or any tip. That is Loctite ultra gel, and Gorilla glue gel.
So back to woodturning, personally I have use old superglue, but it does take longer to set and from my understanding strength is diminished somewhat the older it gets. Also as woodturners, we will use accelerators to harden it up faster and it's my understanding that affects it's strength or long term durability also. In woodturning you just don't have the need for strength as much as I do in cue work because of the shock load involved so I really don't worry about it so much. I never use accelerator in cue work.
For woodturning, being in the fridge apx a year I think is somewhat meaningless. What would matter to me would be how long before that was it opened and or purchased, also how long do you expect to keep using it.
As to what John mentioned about epoxy, I agree, even 15 min epoxy is a no no in cue work where strength and longevity is concerned. Generally the longer the cure the stronger it is.
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Fiberglass Boats were made with polyester resin before epoxies became popular. those are not as durable as modern epoxies. But epoxy also requires a UV barrier or filter as it will degrade with light exposure. In most boating applications, a gel coat is sprayed in the mold before glass and epoxy is laid down.
Wow! I have CA in the freezer that I use to decant into a smaller container when needed. They have been in the freezer for at least 15 years (best guess). Still works and has out lasted the first freezer it was put in now residing in its second one🙂
I think the Starbond guarantee is two years.
You can always test it :
Drop on your finger, rub on your thumb. 🙂 Happy New Year!
Drop on your finger, rub on your thumb. 🙂 Happy New Year!
What, not test it on the eyeball?!
The guy at Mercury Adhesives told me years ago their CA was guaranteed for life -- if the glue set up in the bottle they would send another one. I don't know if that's still their policy. It is my favorite CA.
I mentioned the desiccant method of prolonging CA life by keeping the moisture out. I found this picture. (I eventually went to a larger-mouthed container.)
I came up with idea this decades ago and told a friend - but I forgot to implement it myself until I ran into him some years later and he told me how well it worked for him!
While on the subject of CA glue, I found some people don't know about the capillary tips. I use these a lot to precisely direct even the tiniest drops of CA to exactly where I want them. These fit on the glue bottle nozzle. If they clog I clear them out with a very fine wire:
JKJ