[kitaye]

I read in a book that when doing carvings with delicate bits you should protect and harden those bits with super glue.

I'm carving a stylized nuthatch. I had to reshape the beak because the tip broke off once already, so I thought this would be a good project to try the super glue idea. I applied the glue and instead of soaking into the wood it ran all over the outside of it leaving an uneven coating on the surface, and gluing my fingers and thumb to the carving.

This is a fairly liquid glue as suggested by the author of the book. The carving is basswood. I had done the final sanding on the surface. It had not been oiled or painted.

So where did I go wrong, besides glueing my fingers to the project?

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

use it very sparingly! the thin c.a. will run everywhere.......errr did you learn how from watching my wife? she can get that stuff on the house, the cat, the side walls, her shoes, my motorcycle and the trash can.......and thats before she gets the bottle open! lol

[William]

I am glad you brought up this topic Kitaye, I hope you didn't do anything wrong because that's what happens with mine too. I think basswood soaks up all the glue it will hold very quickly and will leave the surface looking wet.

Bill
^v^

[AlArchie]

Not meaning to dissparige super glue, but Minwax makes a "Wood Hardener" that is made just for that kind of problem. Unlike epoxy hardeners this is a one part product.....no mixing. Comes in a pint sized can (the only drawback) for about 10 bucks in the paint department. I apply it with a Q-tip so it is easy to control. It soaks in and thoroughly toughens up thin wood, then dries quickly.. Seems like it is a plasticiser, so the treated area will not take stain and will be quite hard; you may have to do further shaping with power or a file. Smooths out great and takes paint well.

Al

[susieq]

The only thing I can think of that might have gone wrong is that the super glue you used was one of the thicker ones..... I know....you said it was fairly liquid but there are some as thin as water and that is the one to use. If you did use a water thin formula and it still ran off the surface of the wood, then maybe the sanding "burnished" the wood, which has the effect of closing off the pores of the wood on the surface making it hard for the wood to soak up anything.

Years ago while I still gouge carved most of the time, I was working on a floral relief in class. There was a very delicate stem that was going to be totally free of support underneath. I used the super glue method of hardening the wood first to carve it. It worked like a charm....soaked right into the basswood and hardened it up in seconds. I do think it would be harder to do the same thing with "power carved" wood if you have used stones (or possibly sanding) as they tend to burnish the wood. Any kind of a finish that is supposed to sink into the wood, will probably not take as well as you would hope.

Please let us know when you figure it out as we would all like to learn from your experience with this.

ps. I just reread the first post and is it possible that when the beak was glued back after the first break, that that glue has sealed the beak up? Just a thought.

as for super glue accidents....I have glued myself to a Christmas tree ornament that I was trying to repair a couple of years ago. Took me 45 minutes and a bunch of nail polish remover to get myself unstuck!

[kitaye]

My spouse thought the whole thing entirely too amusing. I threatened bodily harm if I heard another giggle or chortle from that corner of the livingroom.

Hi_ho - I think your wife and I might just be related. The last time I worked with this glue I squeezed the bottle a little while applying it to a break and got it every where, including my face. Managed to glue the broken bit to the table too.

William - The portions of the bird not stuck to my fingers look like I've put a thick coat of polyurethane on it. Nice and hard, but not what I was expecting. I'm planning on resanding it to get that shell off before I try this again.

Archie - I'll have to see if I can find the wood hardener next time I go to Home Depot. That might work better.

Susieq - The wood was pretty smooth after I sanded it. Maybe that is what happened. I tend to use 1200 grit sandpaper as my final on carvings because I love the smooth satin look it gives them.

[Alice in Wonderland]

if this is CA glue?? I had my experience too. I was using to close small hairline cracks on red cedar and I was not told to wipe it immediately and it left the wood around the cracks dark, now I am trying to figure out how to match it to the rest of the wood ,?????
Experience experience ;-)))
Alice

[AlArchie]

Kitaye,

Any of these "wood hardening" chemicals is going to leave you with a permanently sealed wood surface. That means that it might be a bit discolored or at least tend to look like it is wet. And as Alice discovered, it will be impossible to achieve a matching stain as stain will not work over these materials.

Al

[Donna_T]

Hi all,
Guess I can honestly say, been there, done that!

A couple of suggestions. I especially like the super glue that is called Bondini gel. It's thicker than regular super glue and more managable. Sometimes hard to find, bu I've gotten it at Walmart for years. Keep it in my carving box all the time. Like Brylcream, a little dab will do you!

If you just broke off the tip of a beak, try this repair technique. Find a really fine drill bit, about the size of a fine piece of wire, and drill right into the center of the beak. (Sorry, I'm not "up" on the actual size of the wire by number. Insert/super glue a fine piece of copper wire into the hole--leaving the tip of the wire out to about the length you want the beak to be. Put out a little dollop of white baking soda on a piece of paper, dip the beak end/wire into superglue, them immediately dip it in the soda. It becomes a resin like beak tip--that has been reinforced with the wire to prevent breakage. You can use a power bit, emery board, file or whatever to shape it to match the rest of the beak and it can be painted just like the rest of your carving.

Hope this gives you some ideas. Sorry I can't be more specific with drill bit and wire numbers...I'm number challanged.

Donna

When making songbirds, I almost always reinforce the end of the beaks this way BEFORE they can break!

[mark yundt]

For some CA glues you can get an accellerator. That is something that will cause it to flash harden. I have used plain old Crazy Glue and simply used baking soda to get it to flash off instantly instead of gluing everything together instead of what you intended. This will leave a hard glaze on the surface which can be sanded to smooth it out. Nitrogen is what causes this stuff to stick ,,that's why it sticks so well to your skin. This will make a rock hard surface where if it's going to break it won't break there.

I have never had luck using this stuff to actually glue anything together ( besides my fingers) but as a hardner it works just fine.Without some way to get it to harded it'll just sit there or run all over the place and make a general mess out of everything.Try the baking soda,it works.