Smoke from CA + corn cob?

[dhammis]

A friend asked me if I could make her a corn cob pen so I picked up a stabilized corn cob from Woodcraft to try my hand at it. I read a few threads on here as well as the doc from Pat Lawson in the library and figured I knew what to do. I got it cut and drilled without incident and glued in the tube and trimmed it without a problem. I mounted it up to start the thin CA stabilizing process and I noticed that after I had drenched the blank in CA it started smoking. There was also smoke coming from the drippings that had fallen onto the paper towel (viva) that I laid down to prevent glue from getting on the lathe. I spun the blank by hand until it dried and when it was done it was actually quite hot. I wasn't sure at first if it was vapor from the glue or smoke but after touching it I knew that it was indeed smoke from heat generated.

Is this normal?

 

[elody21]

It is very normal for CA to smoke and get hot. You should be wearing an vapor mask. Please do not inhale the fumes. Be careful because it is hot to touch. also be careful not to turn the lathe on when it is wet! A face full of hot CA glue is not what you want!
Alice

 

[Jon-wx5nco]

A friend asked me if I could make her a corn cob pen so I picked up a stabilized corn cob from Woodcraft to try my hand at it. I read a few threads on here as well as the doc from Pat Lawson in the library and figured I knew what to do. I got it cut and drilled without incident and glued in the tube and trimmed it without a problem. I mounted it up to start the thin CA stabilizing process and I noticed that after I had drenched the blank in CA it started smoking. There was also smoke coming from the drippings that had fallen onto the paper towel (viva) that I laid down to prevent glue from getting on the lathe. I spun the blank by hand until it dried and when it was done it was actually quite hot. I wasn't sure at first if it was vapor from the glue or smoke but after touching it I knew that it was indeed smoke from heat generated.

Is this normal?

I've had this happen a few times to me as well.

 

[tim self]

Is this normal?

Ahh the joys of CA! Absolutely normal and totally expected. Remember this so when you're learning the CA finish you don't leave the paper towel laying on your naked finger! Then you get to feel how hot it really gets. It's not that hot on skin alone but combined with the towel, it BURNS! DAMHIKT

 

[hilltopper46]

... I picked up a stabilized corn cob from Woodcraft ... I mounted it up to start the thin CA stabilizing process

Why are you 'stabilizing' an already stabilized blank? You shouldn't need to do this if the stabilization job on the corncob was of any quality at all. You might need to do a final finish with CA, but you should have a fairly substantial corncob to turn.

 

[dhammis]

hilltopper - even though it was sold as stabilized it was still pretty soft and had lots of voids and fluff to it. It's now solid all the way through.

 

[jtdesigns]

I had an employee that I was explaining the chemical reaction of CA glue and said you do not want to get it on your hands and then spray with accelerator. Evidently, he didn't believe me and put a few drops in the palm of his hand and hit it with accelerator. The look brief look on his face followed by some choice expletives proved my point........moron.........needless to say for this and a few other instances of poor judgement, he no longer works for me.

 

[PenMan1]

Jeff:
It takes a special person to KNOW that this is going to burn your hand and STILL do it anyway. Lucky for you he is gone. Somebody that dense would end up burning something to the ground. As Roy says, YOU CAN"T FIX STUPID!

 

[KDM]

Evidently, he didn't believe me and put a few drops in the palm of his hand and hit it with accelerator.

Darwin award candidate.

Another thing some folk forget: if you're finishing with Ca nd boiled linseed oil, BLO on a cloth can spontaneously combust. The oil gives of a fearsome amount of heat as it dries out and if there's no way for teh heat to dissipate, the cloth will catch fire. Most often this will be a few seconds after you've left the room. Don't ask me how it knows, it just does.

 

[Pens By Scott]

From what i've read, we should be using metal containers with lids for our finishing product waste materials, and that we should be storing these out of doors too. All for safety.

 

[aggromere]

i'm lefthanded and for the longest time my left thumbnail was always coated with CA from finishing pens. I bought a box of those little rubber thingys that go over your fingers and put one on my thumb and index finger when I'm finishing pens. I fold a paper towel length wise to about 8 thicknesses and continue to roll it back to expose a clean spot as I finish the pen. As it gets thicker and thicker it protects me from the heat.