Coming Unglued

Cyanoacrylate, our friend. Our super friend in its superglue role.

Now most of us are familiar with superglue in some form, and it is truly useful. And a little, um, awe-inspiring for its firm and fast grip.

That’s perhaps why it is often sold in tiny tubes: People tend to only use it when absolutely necessary, and the bigger tubes often dry out, i.e., solidify before one gets a second use out of them. So, the tiny tubes are basically single-use items.

That’s for the viscous stuff usually seen as Gorilla Glue or the like. There is also a thinner variant useful in modeling and other crafts; the applicator allows one to use it more easily to continuously make many small adhesions.

And so I was merrily using said variant to attach some twine to a canvas. After a bit I thought I’d rest, and I attempted to pull the clinging applicator from the container top. That required some strength.

A little too much strength, and…whoops! EMERGENCY!

My hand, forearm, and right leg and foot covered in the stuff! First order of business was to - quickly – remove my foot from the flip-flop to which it instantly bonded. Got most of it (ouch!).

Then I convinced my fingers to separate, and using my mostly unaffected left hand, I quickly searched the 'net for…what to do? Aha! Acetone is the solvent, and I’ve always got a can of that.

Well, an empty can.

Off to  Home Depot, without a long-term commitment of my right hand to the steering wheel., shortly, I’m back with the cure(?). Acetone is a cyanoacrylate solvent, and what it does is return the glue to its liquid state. It doesn’t magically dissolve it or otherwise remove it. No, what you get is the glue all ready to do its thing again; and watch out because you can easily find yourself with a paper towel superglued to your hand.

So, again…what to do? Internet alternatives were tried, including soaking in warm water and then applying salt. No good, and I realized most of the advice given was for people who had a fingertip covered. Also recommended was butter, margarine, or vegetable oil. Hmm, had a bucket and a bottle of Crisco.

After soaking my foot for about 15 minutes, and covering my leg with Crisco, I got in the shower – a potentially thrilling experience when one foot is thoroughly oiled up. Here I added in my own thought on the subject and tried scrubbing my leg with abrasive Comet cleanser. I think that removed more skin than glue.

Nothing was really working and wearing my new skin was uncomfortable. There was one more trick offered up by the search engine: soaking in warm, soapy water.

Having long since abandoned the idea of its further romantic application I decided to commit my 10 year or so old bubble bath to the endeavor. Twenty or more minutes and some glue appeared to weaken its grip, but not much.

Finally, I dried off and went to bed with my new epidermis.

Come the dawn, most had dried up and looked like I could peel it off.

I tried packing tape and duct tape, but the glue bits were unmoved. But just picking over the next two days finally got rid of the glue, and a little skin.

Happy modeling, sculpting, or whatever!

 [CN1]