so i was so excited to turn my wine fridge into a humidor that i bought $80 in spanish cedar, measured, cut and .... used super glue .... OOPS...after reading closer i should've used elmers or hot glue gun but the deed is done.

i let it sit for 48 hours now as i did this sunday- with the door open and the smell is all but gone. I put in some baking soda and closed the door today to try and get rid of the final smell. there were a few spots the glue hit the side of the cedar showing and i am going to sand that down.

so... honest opinions and judgment here...i know i should have gone a different route, so please don't criticize, but what is your honest assesment of what to do. i've got a box of bolivar's ready to go in but haven't put them in yet.

thanks for any input you can give...

Andy,

Superglue is intended primarily for bonding non-porous materials because it is an "anaerobic" adhesive, that is it dries best in the absence of air.

You may have an outgassing problem because it could seep into the pores of the wood and not dry right away, but it will dry shortly.

The other thing is that I doubt that it will create a very strong or permanent bond in a porous material like wood.

bpierson- thanks for response. so are you saying that after letting it sit for a while i should be ok? or will the super glue continue to seep into the wood?

i definitely should have thought more about the process. i bought the spanish cedar at rockler's and had picked out gorilla glue and the guy recommended i use a non-similar materials glue when i shared what i was doing.

needless to say- i got so anxious about putting it together i didn't think about the end issue of the glue.

Cyanoacrylate puts off some pretty serious fumes (as you found out) when it's curing or in open air. It's extremely water-resistant when it's cured, and I think it would be ok.

Again though, the shear strength of super glue is pretty weak, so you may want to reinforce those joints with some small stainless steel screws or something.

I should add as a postscript that the fumes are not dangerous, just smelly.

i'm going to leave it a few more days and see if the smell is gone. i just worry about my precious puros picking up the slightest scent of the nasty stuff.

i will take a look at strength--heck if i can pull the pieces off, sand them down, and then use another glue it might make me sleep better at night...but i wont do anything that drastic yet.

thanks again for your input.

A chemical reaction with water in the surfaces or humidity in the air is what cures super glues aka cyanoacrylates.

Hey Andy,

I think you are worring needlessly. Once the reaction that hardens the glue is done, the smell will dissappear entirely. Just might take a while because the wood is so porus. If they come loose, so what. Get a hot glue gun and put them back! If it is anything like mine, it will take a couple of weeks just for the R/H to stabilize the new cedar, so don't throw out that old humi just yet.