It came by accident. I was wondering if a plastic drinking straw would work as an emergency tinder. When I lit one, it had an unexpected result. There was a small flame but the straw began to shorten while melting and started to drip. That’s when it occurred to me that the molten plastic might be used to glue items together. I had two wooden slats close by so I lit the remainder of the straw and let it drip on the end of one of the pieces of wood. As the flame got close to my fingers I dropped the remaining straw onto the puddle where it finished burning. When the flame went out, I applied the end of the second piece of wood on top of the puddle and pressed it down. Then I put a heavy object on top of them and waited about 5 minutes. I removed the weight and was able to pick the glued sticks up by one end and wave it around like a wand. Then I grasped the sticks at each end and gave it some torque to test it which proved to be quite strong. With increased pressure one of the sticks broke before the adhesive did.

Although it’s a little difficult to control the melting process I would imagine that it could also be used as a seal for small seams or holes. You can try this out for yourself to get a feel for it’s capabilities. Needless to say, use caution when handling molten material to avoid personal injury and only use flames in a safe noncombustible work area.

I took an empty tuna can that was wide and shallow and poured 1/4″ of gasoline into it. Then I took a long stick of styrofoam that I pressed down into it and watched as it melted slowly in the can. There were small bubbles that came out the sides during the process. Eventually a gooey/gummy white lump was produced and this is the adhesive material to work with.

My first application was to haft an arrowhead to a stick of bamboo. I treated the adhesive like plumbers epoxy putty, but unlike the clay-like nature that I expected, it was spongy and wouldn’t adhere well to a slick surface. As I struggled with the slippery gummy texture it began to get slightly tacky and worked a little easier and would adhere to itself. My second effort worked a little better as I discovered that I could pull it out in strands so I wrapped it around another arrowhead that I mounted on a yucca stock.

The next day repairs were spongy and I feared a “fail” in the effort, but after 48 hours of dry-time it became hard and quite solid. With this understanding I mixed a second batch using acetone (a.k.a. fingernail polish remover) as my solvent and it worked much faster. Remembering the slippery nature of the material, I decided to glue some pieces of wood with slightly textured surfaces so I sandwiched the adhesive between them and pressed them together. I placed a weight on it while it dried overnight. The next morning it was solidly glued together! Consistent with other adhesives, it appears that thicker applications take longer to cure.

I can imagine that a camper who takes a styrofoam cooler along with white gas for a Coleman stove would be able to make glue for emergency repairs at their campsite. Should you have the need to make this adhesive, be sure to exercise safety precautions when handling containers of flammable solvents. Use in a well ventilated area and place all containers on a stable surface. Keep away from possible sources of ignition as vapors can easily ignite.