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| Have You Tried This? |
My first experience with super glue was when I was working in physics nearly 50 years ago. I didn't know what this glue was capable of and accidentally got some on my thumb. When my thumb came in contact with my first finger it instantly got stuck. I was somewhat amused and tried to pull them apart, with no success. As I thought about living with my thumb glued to my finger I became concerned and asked one of the technicians in the lab for his advise. His response and attitude toward my situation indicated that I was about as stupid as a rock.
He handed me a razor blade and said, "You need to decide which side to cut. Do you want your thumb or do you want your finger?" Then he called over the other tech to watch me make the decision. All I can say is that it was a painful learning experience and I have kept my distance from super glue ever since.
With that in mind, I remember seeing the introduction of Gorilla glue many years ago. I was interested in this new product and read the label carefully. I noticed there was a 1-800 phone number on the label so I called to ask a question.
"Hello, I need to ask you about getting this glue on my skin. How do I get it off?"
The cheerful response was as follows: "It will wear off eventually."
I had some strange dreams that night.
In fact I was told that if my dog or child accidentally ingested Gorilla glue then immediate surgery was necessary, as it would form a blockage in the digestive system.
To contrast with this, I have had many shop dogs over the years and they all kept the floor clean of any spilled hide glue, which is a protein.
On one occasion I had a black lab who was always at my feet during work. When I opened a new can of tung oil for a finishing project and set it down on the floor for a moment to do something else, Bruiser drank the entire can. I expected him to get sick but his fur just got shiny...
I do not like toxic materials. I use protein glue, shellac, wax and other traditional materials for this reason. They also are reversible and work just fine.
Here is an article I cut out of the New York Times paper in May 2015. It was a result of the federal discussion over the use of formaldehyde, an important additive to commercial wood glues and wood glue products. The argument is between worker's health or profit. It seems that industry is willing to risk toxic chemical exposure in workers if it means more profit on the bottom line. Among other reasons, this was an important factor in my decision so many years ago to retire from high energy particle physics and devote my career to furniture conservation using organic materials.
Now it is time for the final video in the Fine Woodworking series. This is about hammer veneering.
Enjoy:It's Hammer Time!
3 comments:
Pat, I also like using less toxic materials and shellac is something I'm fond of. But here in California, I can no longer buy denatured alcohol to mix shellac with. Is there something you can recommend for that?
Matt
Back in grad school as an organic chemist, we were always careful if we had to use formaldehyde (technically it was a trimer that needed to be cracked with sulfuric acid and the formaldehyde gas bubbled into your reaction). We assumed it was carcinogenic.
Like you, I try to avoid nasty materials in my woodshop at home. Heck, I don't even like the green stoping bars that contain chromium. One of the Cr ions (forget which) is carcinogenic. I use the wax bars for stropping that have aluminum oxide in them. I have another friend who is a chemist and cuts gemstones. He won't cut gemstones that have berilium in them because it is a nasty material. Lots of things we should be mindful of when woodworking.
I'm a PhD organic chemist by day and woodworker on nights and weekends. Much like you, I work hard to keep toxic stuff out of my home workshop. It's part of,the reason I like shellac as a finish and prefer to dissolve it with 190 proof grain alcohol. Yes, the tax is high on it but I'm not breathing in methanol vapors from store bought denatured alcohol.
Sincerely
Joe
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