Official Luthiers Forum!

Had a glue disaster this afternoon. Since I don't seem to be able to remind myself to keep those CA bottles isolated and under control, I figure It can't hurt to remind others.

I learned a couple of major things:

(1) A spreading pool of thin Starbond CA, flowing from the whip tip on an overturned 2 oz bottle, will EAT THE BOTTOM OFF the full bottle of Lee Valley fish glue it is sitting next to

(2) The fish glue in the bottomless but full bottle will stay in the bottle until the moment you LIFT IT STRAIGHT UP

What a mess! Blah!

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

sorry couldn't help myself but it's a funny one, with all due compassion of course!

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Build log

In spite of the mess, I was lucky that the only casualties (besides the two glue bottles) was the saddle and bridge pins which were off of a guitar that is getting it's french polishing touched up, and which are now permanent archeological relics attached to the top of my go-bar deck.

I think I'll leave them there as blatant reminders.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

Oh, a couple days ago, from too much zeal, I bumped a caliper off the bench with a long plane movement. The caliper landed on my precious first guitar which rested on the sofa next to the bench. Of course a steel caliper has a lot of success against french polished spruce

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Build log

Jim, you done a good job. It's impossible for me to spill CA without gluing my fingers together, or to something.

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I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/

Try spilling some on a customers wood floor, then trying to sand it out, only to discover its that paper-fake wood floor stuff, that looks really real..... and has to be redone from the wall out....

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Here is what a Parlor Guitar is for!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEa8PkjO6_I

Wow - the glues are joining forces and actively conspiring against you. I recommend storing them in separate rooms.

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The member formerly known as erikbojerik....

I had a spill of a half a bottle of Transtint not long ago. Not a good thing to do, unless you want a Honeyamber work bench

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Gee, a honey amber workbench actually sounds kinda nice.

Spilled CA is a great motivator for coming up with preventive tricks, isn't it? I keep all my CA bottles in a can which sits in a small crock that is heavy, and wider than it is tall. When I want to use the CA, I take the can out, select the CA bottle and put that bottle into the crock. THE OPEN BOTTLE ALWAYS GOES BACK TO THE CROCK. Only takes an extra few seconds and has saved me from considerable grief.

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Yeah, I know I'm supposed to do that. ...

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

I had a student once try and apply a small amount of fish glue around the soundhole area. The top came off and half the bottle of glue dumped into the soundhole and inside the guitar.

I could see his reaction now.

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Bill Hodge


One does not simply, own enough guitars!

I spilled a CA bottle over onto my glasses. I figured that I would go ahead and rout the cavity for the vine inlay I was working on without my now ruined glasses. When I finished and inspected with some new glasses I just about fell over I have never spent so much time in my life repairing anything. I keep my CA bottles tucked away on their shelf when not in use now, needless to say

Just don't forget to store your CA bottles in something like a cheap, small glass baking dish. Some of us have had the bottles just split down the side and dump the contents. I had it happen once which entombed several pieces and parts in the local area. But not near as bad as dumping a load of fish glue into the soundport - that's priceless.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Jim,

I knew it too, but it took a few mishaps to improve my memory.

One of my dumber moves was when I accidentally popped the top off my hide glue bottle - don't use that bottle anymore - and dumped several ounces of hide glue around the edge of my radius dish while gluing braces in the go var deck. Thought I had wiped up enough of it, but didn't think about the power of capillary action.

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

I feel so much better now , all you guys are waaaaay clumsier than me!

Don't remind me about the guitar where my very last, final, action adjustment was dropping a screwdriver on the center of the lower bout.

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https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008907949110

That was for that "vintage" look - you could have charged extra.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

My best bench top spill was Behlen lacquer, I opened a new quart and hate the dribbling when I pour into the spray gun cup so I thought I would pour 1/2 into the old can so I could pour easier. Great plan if you don't knock over one of the cans while closing the other. I grabbed the can and only lost about 1/2 of what was in it, I now have a bench top that has a not too bad of a finish. The only good thing was that there was not anything important on the bench. After a few unprintable words and some wiping all was well except the smell which seemed to linger several days.

Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

So far my worst was when I was building my strat clone. I had a small piece of wood that i wanted to use as a sanding block. But I wanted to make sure it was dead flat.

Forgetting all common sense and everything I know, took it right over to the jointer... of course, it was not much bigger than the opening between the infeed and outfeed tables, so you might be able to guess what happened next.

Of course, once it got into the cut and was no longer supported, the cutterhead sucked it in and popped it back out at lightning speed, breaking my thumb - splitting the bone right up the middle.. tell me THAT doesn't make your butt wink!

Anyway, it was a defining moment in my journey towards craftsmanship... if I find myself thinking "i'll just do this right quick" or "I've got time to squeeze in one last...." that usually is my signal to pack it in for the nite. Something everyone knows, but not everyone KNOWS until something like this.

The thumb recovered, but still hurts when i put any pressure on it.

adam

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"Everyone wants to BE something, but nobody wants to BECOME something" - William Cumpiano

I'll add my recent mishap to the list. I was bending some binding about a week ago and leaned over the bending machine to pick up something from behind. I wasn't paying attention, forgot that the heat was on, and burned my forearm quite badly. Boy, did it sting! It's taking its time healing and peeling:



Be careful out there - lutherie is a dangerous passtime, apparently!

Cheers,
Dave F.

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

i did almost the same thing with titebond. the top wasn't really secure and the glue wasn't coming out so i just squeezed harder... bad idea. the whole bottle spilled out onto my top which i was bracing and dripped down to the floor. i stood there in amazement dazed for a second not beleiving i just did that then sprung into action haha. luckily got it all cleaned off the guitar and it didn't even stick my engleman top to the workboard it was clamped down too so i got lucky.

Very funny story. Had no idea CA could do that.

Mike

Make sure you are wearing safety glasses when using CA!!! I had a pipette that had a small hole on the side of it and when I squeezed it the CA squirted in my eye. I quickly got my eyes to tear up while hoping the stuff wouldn't cure. Amazing that it didn't cause any damage. Fortunately when I blinked there were enough tears in my eyes that the CA didn't stick very well. Kind of scary when your eye is temporarily shut with CA! Lesson learned.

About 20 years ago I did a stupid thing and jammed a 1/4" chisel through my palm. When you break the rules of woodworking safety they are bound to bite you sooner of later. I never have a body part in line with any cutting tool. Duh!

I know that almost every time I have cut myself, or hurt myself, I remember thinking that I shouldn't be doing what I was doing. So if you think you shouldn't, don't!

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

You win the most bone chilling story award! You are one lucky dude that your hand didn't dive in there never to return, i have had some close calls with a jointer and your story made my blood run cold for a while.

Since this thread has sort of turned into a general dumb stuff fest, in my shop we used to steam necks off with steam generated from a pressure cooker on a hot plate, the last time it was used the the release valve became plugged and the pressure built up until the cooker exploded, shattering the 3" solid oak workbench it was resting on and putting a pretty good sized hole in the ceiling directly above it, luckily no one was standing close enough to be disintigrated!

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Jordan Aceto
Ithaca, NY