Now if I'm not using wood glue for a project, typically I end up using a cyanoacrylate (CA) glue.The curing time is by far it's best attribute as is does have many downfalls. Since CA glue has a physical bond rather than a chemical one it tends to be rather brittle, when an activator is used this problem worsens. I recently made a picture frame for a friend of mine and I used a CA glue to bond the miters together. When gluing miters many people have their own special technique I prefer to use titebond III to glue it, once dried cut a slot on the joint and insert a spline. I do this as when the glue soaks into the end grain of the wood the bond get weaker (End grain to end grain really cannot be done well no matter what you use) thus the spline is really what holds the pieces together. When using a CA glue though you get that physical bond which does hold better, on the moulding I was using I put the spline on the inside of the miter rather than the outside (Essentially I used a biscuit) in hopes of it holding better.
I mainly use CA glue as a finish though. I'm certainly not the only woodturner that does this, as it creates a fast shiny and durable finish on small pieces. Really the only things you have to watch out for are the toxic fumes from it curing and getting your fingers stuck onto the piece. Other than my generic recipe for butcher block finish CA glue is my favorite wood finish.
As this is apparently a club for wood glue I figured at least one discussion should be had about glue. Anybody have and opinion on using CA glue? |