Ironwood/superglue interesting reaction

Robber58

Robber58

Joined
Oct 9, 2008
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Yesterday, I was doing the final shaping and finishig of a great piece of ironwood burl. I found a small but obvious hole that needed filling. Normally, I just sand the area, leave the dust in and add some superglue. This time, I had a small pile of dust from the handle and it was a moderately big hole to fill so I just added some thick glue to the pile, mixed a bit and started filling the void. About 10 to 20 seconds after I mixed the glue and wood dust, the mix started to smoke and foam, much like when kicker is used but more violent. It stoped almost as soon as it started and I was left with a hard, porous mound. I have never seen this reaction before. Has anybody else had something like this happen?
Randy
 
yep it happens all the time. if some of it happens to get on you and then this happens it will cause a second degree burn.
 
Yeah sounds like spontaneous combustion, I might be wrong, but I paint for a living and have seen 2 houses burn because contractor forgot to properly dispose of rags soaked in solvent. One burned to the ground,sawdust is a catalyst for spontaneous combustion
 
Curing crazy glue is an exothermic reaction - gives off lots of heat. Give that heat something to play with and it can get interesting in a hurry. ;)

I'm not enough of a chemist to predict it, but I've seen it on fabric, solvent wetted wood, and in reaction with epoxy already in place. Happens a lot.

Rob!
 
That stuff do get hot! Bad fumes that burn the eyes and nose. It will do that if you get a lot on a paper towel also! When you use it to fill the pores in the back of a piece af antler it can get roasting hot also.
 
There is no cyanide fumes in the "smoke" from the reaction with cyanoacrylic resin. The smoke is not from spontaneous combustion, either.

The "smoke" is mostly steam or other volatile elements fuming off. Water is a main ingredient of the reaction, and that is why it reacts fastest on things like skin.....which have a high moisture content. Other organic compounds ,such as some oils, will react with the cyanoacrylic to polymerize it. As said, the reaction is exothermic, and can be quite violent when the right proportions are mixed. Skin burns are common when gloves fingers get soaked in super glue and the glue reacts with the cloth.

BTW, The term "cyano" refers to the triple bond of carbon and nitrogen.....not to the presence of cyanide gas. If super glue was heated to above 400F, and held there the methyl cyanide molecule in the glue could be fractured and release cyanide gas. If you were heating a pint or more this would be a problem, but not the amount used to glue up a handle. Hydrogen cyanide is the "cyanide gas" that you worry about.
 
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Good video....but not exactly spontaneous combustion....as it had to be forced by a chemical reaction.

Yes, the common term cyanoacrylic is more properly cyanoacrylate
 
Well, along with all the other potential hazards of knifemaking, it seems that I need to pay attention to when and how I use superglue. Thanks for the insights and information. I will definitely pay closer attention to the use of the glue. I am a mechancal engineer that studied but did not care for chemistry. This would seem to be a time when I should have retained more information.
Randy
 
Furniture oil has been known to do the same thing. So don't leave your spent rags scrunched up in a bin. Spread them out until they're dry.
 
The workers here call the CA glue "Hot Glue" because of the reaction you mentioned. For larger voids like you mentioned we mix sanding dust with epoxy for the fills. Bear in mind this is for furniture and boxes. Still we are able to get a good fill that blends in with the rest of the wood when you finish it.
 
a lot of the time with our furniture if it has a defect in it we have to make that component again. we do have a master french polisher though so we can often just bog it up with 2 part putty and he'll colour it up to match.
 
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