I may have discovered a new way to use urethane (eg Gorilla) glue. This came about as I was tinkering with Central Valley tie strips,. You have to glue rail to the tie strips and CVMW recommends using Barge brand cement thinned with MEK. I decided to experiment with urethane glue instead but found that it was just too funky right out of the bottle. It is thick, gooey and wants to foam and expand as it cures. So I decided to thin it with a solvent. I used paint thinner first but found that the mixture wants to cure in the bottle. So then I tried MEK, mixed 1/3 MEK 2/3 glue. This results in a consistency that is paintable using a very small brush and the shelf life appears to be indefinite. For gluing the rail it works great. The rail has to be clamped down (I used full beer cans) for an hour, but after 24 hours it is GLUED. And there is no foaming or expansion. The bond should be waterproof.
I would think that this stuff could be used to glue anything to anything, except foam which it would dissolve. The only real drawback is that it has to be clamped.
Before mixing anything with Gorilla Glue, I’d very, very carefully read the contents to insure that I wasn’t creating a highly explosive reaction.
I learned through painful personal expereince that Gorilla Glue can cause serious skin burns if you don’t wear latex gloves, so it probably has extremely flammable chemicals in it. I don’t have any here to check at the moment.
I’d say offhand that you’re lucky to still be able to see and to type after what you have been mixing with it.
The directions on the bottle recommend acetone or mineral spirits for cleanup so I see no concern in using MEK as a solvent instead. MEK is similar to acetone but less volatiile. At any rate the mixture did not spontaneously combust or explode. The other consideration is that I am mixing very small quantities.
GG does not irritate my skin but the bottle warns that it may affect some people.
For those of you concerned about the ‘full’ beer cans that I used for weights, I’ll advise you that these are beers that my wife bought. I only drink her brand as a last resort. I save the Kokanee (in bottles) for myself and don’t use those for weights!