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View Full Version : The price of CA



John Conklin
05-12-2015, 8:13 PM
I went to a general store in the Toledo area with a good tool and paint department. I had used the last of my gel CA glue and had it on my list to pick up a new bottle. The last bottle I had was made by Loctite and I liked it as the bottle had small tip that was easy to get into tight places. I found it, grabbed one and noted that it was $3.99. I was about to move along when I noticed that they had Titebond gel CA on a lower shelf, but for $12.99.

Thought I was a wise shopper for choosing the cheaper one... until something told me to look closer. The Loctite bottle is opaque plastic with little "triggers" on the side of the bottle to squeeze, but you can't see the contents inside. That's most likely because there's only 0.14 ounces in the it! The Titebond bottle is a full 2 ounces. Due the math and 2 ounces of the Loctite would cost you... drum roll... $57.

Ya, I bought the Titebond.

glenn bradley
05-12-2015, 8:18 PM
Oh those marketing people are soooo clever. Good catch.

Rich Enders
05-16-2015, 12:25 PM
Even the Titebond converts to something around $100/lb. We looked into manufacturing CA adhesives long ago and it had single digit cost. Enticing, but we did not proceed due to toxicity considerations.

W Craig Wilson
05-16-2015, 5:22 PM
Forty-odd years ago, my dad brought home a bit of this miracle adhesive he had 'borrowed' from work. He said that it cost $50 for one ounce.

Mike Henderson
05-17-2015, 2:18 AM
Forty-odd years ago, my dad brought home a bit of this miracle adhesive he had 'borrowed' from work. He said that it cost $50 for one ounce.
I remember the show "What's My Line" (I think that's what it was). Anyway, they had a guy on who had invented CA glue and he demonstrated how quickly it worked by taking two machined pieces of steel and glued them together. Then they hooked them up to a cable and it lifted him up, all in about one minute, with the glue holding the two pieces of steel together.

That was a long time ago, probably back in black and white TV days.

Mike

[P.S. When I first read the title, I thought it was about the cost of living in California:)]

Rich Engelhardt
05-17-2015, 8:47 AM
I remember the show "What's My Line" (I think that's what it was). Anyway, they had a guy on who had invented CA glue and he demonstrated how quickly it worked by taking two machined pieces of steel and glued them together. Then they hooked them up to a cable and it lifted him up, all in about one minute, with the glue holding the two pieces of steel together.

That was a long time ago, probably back in black and white TV days.LOL!
I remember that! And, the TV commercial that showed the same thing.

I also remember our high school chemistry teacher debunking the commercial by substituting a couple drops of 10W30 motor oil for the CA on the machined pieces of steel.
You could slide the two pieces apart all day long, but, it took a Mack truck or elephant to pull them apart!

John Conklin
05-17-2015, 8:52 AM
[P.S. When I first read the title, I thought it was about the cost of living in California:)]

I never thought of that when I typed it Mike. Would have much better if I would have added 'glue' at the end.

I remember that advertising too.

Shawn Pachlhofer
05-17-2015, 9:49 AM
I would never buy CA in a store unless it was an emergency:

http://www.amazon.com/Starbond-EM-2000-Type-Thick-Glue/dp/B00C32MKLK/ref=sr_1_1?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1431870552&sr=1-1&keywords=starbond+gel+CA