What can be applied to skin (fingers) to not make cyanoacrylate glue (super glue) stick on it? Can something like oil help?
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Could you edit you question and make it more detailed, because now it is too short and may be closed.– vladizCommented Dec 28, 2015 at 13:13
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I would think that gloves are the obvious choice, but I wouldn't call them a lifehack. If the gloves are made of plastic, I would test them first (while not wearing them) to make sure the glue doesn't melt them.– JamesCommented Dec 28, 2015 at 13:23
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Latex gloves somewhat helps. But they break after working with the glue a bit. And the glue sticks to them quite a bit. Something's to do is put a little oil on your skin or moisturizer and work it in good. That way later when you wash your hands in hot water it comes off pretty easy.– PobrecitaCommented Dec 28, 2015 at 18:04
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1 Answer
Look for a product (likely in auto parts stores) generically called "barrier cream" -- it's a cream that's labeled to be used in place of gloves. It keeps oils and grease off your skin, but washes off easily and cleanly when you're done with your job. What they don't tell you on the package is that it will also keep cyanoacrylate glue from contacting and bonding to the skin (though it might cure on the surface of the barrier cream), and will allow wiping or washing the film of cured glue off along with the barrier.
Do beware, however, that the barrier cream, if not fully dried on your skin, might transfer to your work piece(s) and prevent the CA glue from bonding where you want it to! To avoid this, either handle the parts with clean tools (pliers, tweezers, etc.), or handle them with great care to avoid contacting the surface area with your protected fingers.
That said, I used to use thin CA to harden balsa sheet (skin on a model airplane frame), and spread it with my unprotected fingertips. I never had a problem with bonding to the work or finger to finger (because I kept my fingertips moving until the glue had finished curing), and the cured glue peeled off my fingers fairly readily without requiring debonder or acetone -- however, my skin is fairly oily, and I realized years later that skin oils on my fingertips (from touching my face, since fingertips typically don't exude oil) were likely protecting my fingers from effective bonding. So, if you don't have or can't get barrier cream, you may be able to avoid skin bonding by coating your fingertips with oil (cooking oil should work as well as skin oil, and may be easier to get if your skin is drier than mine). Same cautions apply about transferring the oil to the surface that's to be bonded, of course.
