Contact cement comes in tubes, cans, and even spray cans. In the right application, this can be one of the most powerful glues for gluing dissimilar materials together as well. For porous materials, I often use two coats of the glue on each side. Indeed, this family of glue makes tough, strong, yet flexible bonds suitable for everything from shoes to foam to attaching posters on board. When properly applied, this stuff can work miracles. I use them all the time in my one-day builds for when whatever I’m building involves a fair amount of glue-up. Blow-dryers are good for accelerating the drying process with contact cement. Contact cements are mostly used by applying the glue to both surfaces being joined, letting the glue set for a short while, but not too long, and THEN joining the surfaces together. These rubber-based glues also flash off their solvent base to dry, but are applied in a different way. ![]() Some people swear by them, I’m not one of them. Sometimes they’re plastic solvent-based, like Duco Cement, sometimes they’re silicone-based, but they’re almost always in my opinion a temporary solution. I’ve been let down so many times by “all-purpose glues” that they deserve only the briefest mention here. These are a constant source of disappointment to me. These glues are waterbased, which means they have no noxious chemicals that stink up your house, and are easy to clean up. A new, thinner formulation of PVA glues (a main brand is called Mod Podge) has become invaluable for people who make things-props, costumes, models-out of foam. White glues, like Elmer’s, are also phenomenal when using them on the porous materials for which they’re best suited-stuff like lightweight paper and corrugated cardboard. It produces a solid bond, with high strength and flexibility. ![]() Wood glue is one of the few things that does what it says it does just as well as you imagine it might. PVA glues are awesome and incredibly useful. These can be water-based, like PVA glues (Elmer’s, basic white glues, wood glues) or solvent-based, like many “all-purpose” glues. This is the biggest category-glues that, when exposed to air, dry out to create a bond. That’s fine! It simply betrays, in the best way, the limitless land of possibilities when it comes to the developed ingenuity of humans to modify their world. ![]() You may justifiably disagree with some of the glues for which I have great affection. Go ahead and take their advice seriously and try it out for yourself. You may meet someone who tells you there’s a better solution to every use case I outline. And there are exceptions to every single rule I outline below. I am not a chemist, nor a physicist, nor a material scientist. They are the conclusions of an experimental generalist. Just please take into account that my knowledge of these glues and their functional properties is just that-functional. Over the years I’ve learned about and incorporated many glues into my arsenal of adhesive solutions, and I’m excited to share them with you. The glues in my shopĮveryone has glues that they prefer, and I’m no exception. The following is an excerpt from Adam Savage’s new book, “ Every Tool’s a Hammer.” Read or listen to it below. The pros and cons of every type of glue, as explained by Adam Savage.
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