I spent a good chunk of today turning a couple of pens with punky wood. Standard procedure when doing so is to soak the wood with cyanoacrylate (super glue) to solidify the structure. I also use accelerator so the glue sets nearly instantaneously. I've been using an old bottle of accelerator I've had for a long time, and instead of a mist when you push the button, it's more like a squirt. Well, today, that bottle ran out, so I started using a newer bottle that mists like it's supposed to. I also normally have my dust collector running or a fan which helps exhaust any fumes, but because it was so cold in my shop, I didn't have either running today. To make things worse, I've misplaced my good face mask so I was going without today. I breathed in more accelerator than was good for me, and I'm experiencing a massive headache, nausea, and general malaise. It's starting to dissipate and I expect it'll be gone by tomorrow, but WOW was I uncomfortable for a while.

Moral of the story: be careful inhaling accelerator, in large concentrations it's actually narcotic, smaller doses cause headaches, nausea, etc. I've used this stuff for years and never experienced this before.

You probably know this working with it for years but people can develop allergies to cyanoacrylate over time. The reactions can become quite severe.

Yeah, but thanks for the reminder.

I've been occupationally exposed to MEK right after I got out of the USN back in the mid-eighties. Simply touching it causes a weird garlic-like taste in my mouth, and a headache will soon follow. The garlic taste will persist for several hours. While I keep a small can of it in my shop, I never open it unless I'm out in the open, gloved up, mask on. Weirdly, acetone seems to not have any of these effects, so it's my go-to solvent when simple alcohol won't do.

Hope you are feeling better!

Just say no to glue sniffing.

Hope you're doing better today.

we used MEK as a toolmaker with no gloves all the time in the 80's. Kinda scary looking back on it now.

Wear protection everytime.

cyanoacrylate = skin glue

Yep Ive avoided the "stitch doc" many times. For big gashes Ive even used it with paper towels pieces to make a fiberglass like patch/bandage.

It starts to come unbonded after a couple days, so its best to remove it before it lets go and reapply or you run the risk of the laceration opening back up and not bonded again resulting in a nasty scar.

Same here only back in the early 60's while working for Boeing. We literally washed our hands with the stuff to get the real sticky crap off.

Who knows, maybe us old farts were more "industrial strength" than newer generations

Some gal's like seeing your nasty scars. You can make up exciting stories to go with them.

Yeah, the headache's moved to the back of my head, and is mostly just background now. The nausea's gone completely.

I worked for a while on USMC gear for Bendix Field Engineering, I got tasked to spray paint a couple of giant powered hose reels (like need scaffolding to get to the top), used for pumping fuel from a near offshore ship to the beach during a landing. We were spraying two part epoxy, so we had to clean our guns every afternoon. I was elbow deep in MEK scrubbing out the guns, until my watch melted off my wrist and I realized that what I was doing probably wasn't a good idea. I made them give me elbow length gloves, but the damage was already done I think. I avoid it like the plague now.



Yep, I've got a knuckle "stitched" up right now from being scraped across a brand new brad point bit. Probably could have used a stitch, maybe two, but super glue to the rescue. I've used it a bunch of times. It's not so good on an active bleeder, but if you stick with it (see what I did there?), you can get a good blood-tight seal eventually. I like the idea of using paper towels as patching material.

If you apply lots of direct pressure to the "wound" and area around it (as much area as possible), you can often get a seal before the area begins to profuse. Sometimes it takes an assistant, one to press and the moment you release pressure they glue.

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