Embarrassing lesson, but careful with CA glue!

[Nathan Conner]

So, this was one of my never-ending lessons learned. Thought I'd share it with you guys, in case anyone else has the reaction I did to this nasty stuff.

I spilled a little CA glue bottle sometime in the last few months. Apparently, it was knocked over sometime in the last year, and hardened to the OSB workbench top in a little puddle. Discovered it after I sold the little lathe. It got down into the OSB fibers, couldn't get it up for the life of me. Yesterday, I tried a chisel and mallet - actually chipped the chisel tip.

So, I got out ol' Blue - the big Makita high-speed grinder I never use.

Can you see where this is going?

I can hear you laughing, you know.

I fired it up (runs at about 5k RPM) and laid the 30-grit wheel down on the glue.

Within about .765 seconds, my eyes started to bleed, and subsequently they caught fire from the smoke, fumes and dust rising from the CA formation. (Ok, they weren't bleeding, they just felt like it - gawd, it was like hot pokers to my eyes) I dropped the grinder (still spinning, mind you) and RAN blindly out of the shop. By the time I'd gotten outside, I'd tripped over three full sheets of plywood, knocked over about 40 pieces of vertically-stacked hardwood, knocked over (and turned on) the drill press, hit my head on the mostly-open low-hanging garage door, tore my leg open on the toolbox, then tipped it over on top of the jointer, and had a bandsaw blade (that was hanging 7 feet up on a wall...how the hell did THAT happen?!) wrapped around my thigh. My tongue and face were numb, my jaw was locked shut - I couldn't unclench my teeth, and was alternately groaning and gasping for breath through them.

Have you ever had your face/tongue go numb and clench up while your eyes burn? It's really an incredible feeling.

My heart was racing, and I started gagging. So, I'm sitting in the field on my knees, gagging, snot and tears streaming down my face, the grinder still bouncing around on the concrete inside, drill press grinding against something, I'm trying to suck wind through my immediately-plugged-up nose, thinking..."Wow. Just...wow."

I got some great tunnel-vision for about 20 seconds, and then my head started to clear up. My jaw unclenched after about 3 minutes in the fresh air.

I thought, as I was laying there, looking up at the sky, wiping my face down with handful after handful of grass and trying to untangle my legs from the bandsaw blade, "I didn't think I could move that fast."

Anyhow, I think that may be the last time I grind at a dried-up puddle of CA glue.

Cheers.

[Lee Schierer]

Wow....... hopefully there was just a bit of exaggeration in that. If not then I would suggest you see your doctor regarding your reaction. Next time it could be worse...

[John Schreiber]

Wow! Anybody else have a similar response to CA dust?

[Don Abele]

Nathan, I was just finishing up my lunch at my desk and almost spit most of it out laughing. Sorry man, not laughing at your pain - just your description of it. This could have turned out much worse.

Be well,

Doc

[Keith Starosta]

Uhh.....forgive my ignorance here, but......why did you have that reaction? :confused: What was the physical and chemical transformation of the CA glue that caused that to happen?

- Keith

[Matt Meiser]

I agree, I hope you are making up most of what happened because it is pretty funny. I've never sanded or ground any significant quantity of the stuff, but the smell of it prior to curing has bugged me. Hasn't caused me to get a bandsaw blade tangled around my leg though.

[Nancy Laird]

Nathan, you owe me a new keyboard--I just spit soda all over it. I too hope that there was some exaggeration in your description. Your writing skills are awesome--did you ever audition for M*A*S*H??

Glad things are back to "relatively" normal.

Nancy (134 days)

[Chuck Lenz]

Nathan, are you sure this didn't happen on a Monday ? My gawd, talk about a bad day ! And then it dominos on you too !

[Nathan Conner]

The only thing I embellished was the bleeding. There really wasn't much blood. Just bits of skin left on the saw blade, plywood and the toolbox. I actually played down my pure, blind, pucker-factor-10, almost-wetting-myself panic.

I don't know why I had such a ridiculous reaction to it. It could well have been a reaction to the *clang* of my head on the door and blind panic of things crashing down all over around me, not being able to see, and realizing I had just made a horrible, horrible decision.

It was a beautiful comedy of errors, I'm sure, and had I a camera, I could be selling the video and paying for a new shop at this very moment.

[Michael Schwartz]

ROTFLOL :D

I know the smell of epxoy beeing sanded is pretty foul, I cant imagine what CA glue is like. :rolleyes:

Glad it turned out ok for you.

[Nathan Conner]

As an aside to this reaction - I note that after a day working with a handful of woods, I wake up in the morning with eyes swollen, sometimes all the way shut.

Cocobolo, bubinga, jatoba...they all make me crazy, and I wake up looking 30 years older. Have to take anti-histamines to be able to function. Something about the oils, I had thought. Maybe I'm allergy-prone for some of this stuff? I don't know. I do have a really nice respirator that I use when I work on the lathe and when I do some of this work. It was hanging, fully charged and neatly coiled on the wall about 3 feet from where I was grinding.

Am I the only one that does stuff like this? As I've asked others, is my only purpose in the shop to serve as an example to others of things *NOT* to do?

[Todd Jensen]

Hilarious Nathan, glad you're okay. That stuff is super nasty - maybe for a nightcap you could get in a closet and spray some of the accelerant. :D

[Matt Meiser]

Yikes! Sounds like you need to talk to a doctor. Like mentioned above, the allergic reactions can get worse each time.

[Keith Beck]

Nathan,

If you didn't get your fill of "fun with CA," try spilling some on your hands and then spraying it with accelerator. You'll probably end up knocking over a bunch of other equipment in your haste to find some water to put out the lava you'll think you stuck your hand in. DAMHIKT. :D

Keith

[Cody Colston]

I've had my eyes water from curing CA fumes but your reaction was something else. If I were you, I'd start wearing a respirator more often. Evidently, you are hyper-sensitive to some things.

[Ed Lang]

My reaction to CA fumes are a bit different.... I get the burn in the eyes but about three hours later I have a hard time breathing. The hard time breathing lasts for several hours. Yes, it does get worse with each exposure. I didn't know what was causing it at first and found out over a period of several days. I now use epoxy or Gorilla glue for gluing pen blanks together.

I hope all of the shop equipment is OK. You are typing so you must be OK.

[Bonnie Campbell]

I can really sympathize with you. I didn't do the CA thing. I was cleaning a bullet mould with spray brake cleaner and, you guessed it, hit the curve in the mould with the stream and straight into my eyes! Talk about screaming! I'm really surprised the police didn't show up. Fortunately we had just the day before picked up some sterile eye cleaner to have on hand. Now I've learned that eye protection, no matter how small the job, is the FIRST thing to do :o

[Eugene A. Manzo III]

What is CA Glue ???

[Don Eddard]

What is CA Glue ???
Cyanoacrylate, a.k.a. Super Glue.

[Kyle Kraft]

Nathan,
I'm glad to hear you survived the CA grinding fiasco. On the lighter side, your description of the event was exquisite!!!! You would have surely won the grand prize in the funniest video contest!!! I was laughing so hard I almost fell out of my chair!!:D :D

[Mike Cutler]

As an aside to this reaction - I note that after a day working with a handful of woods, I wake up in the morning with eyes swollen, sometimes all the way shut.

Cocobolo, bubinga, jatoba...they all make me crazy, and I wake up looking 30 years older. Have to take anti-histamines to be able to function. Something about the oils, I had thought. Maybe I'm allergy-prone for some of this stuff? I don't know. I do have a really nice respirator that I use when I work on the lathe and when I do some of this work. It was hanging, fully charged and neatly coiled on the wall about 3 feet from where I was grinding.

Am I the only one that does stuff like this? As I've asked others, is my only purpose in the shop to serve as an example to others of things *NOT* to do?

Nope.
The woods that you have listed are known, common skin and eye irritants That can cause poison ivy like symptoms,aespecially the cocobola. Most of the members of the rosewood family can be a significant irritant.
As to your reaction to CA glue. I would stop using it. That response is way above normal.
I can't work with mahogany. It makes the front of my face numb like a novicaine shot. The other woods you listed are fine though. People are different.

[Rick Hubbard]

Just FYI, here is the link to an MSDS for one brand of CA

http://www.rockler.com/tech/RTD20000312AA.pdf

I'd definely see a doc regarding your reaction. Sounds like (from the MSDS) that you may need some "soecial attention."

[Tyler Howell]

Cool!!!
You could sell that formula to some of the dopers out there:D
Glad you're feeling better.

[Matt Meiser]

Sounds like (from the MSDS) that you may need some "soecial attention."

Thats why he posted here--we are a very social group.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Assuming of course that your typical pain / discomfort response is not to go running about like a beheaded chicken - assuming that - - - It sounds like you and CA should never pair up again at all - - ever.
You gotta be way seriously allergic to something in the stuff.