No moisture, no cure

Keep the tip/treads clean so the cap fits tight and store the tube upside down. Been working from the same tube for over a year now.

Wow ...

... if this works (and I'm going to be testing it pretty soon); you should have held off for $25 to have it published in MRH!  Thanks for the tip ... I've always treated CA glues as "one-off" disposable; as once opened, the next time I wanted to use some I had to buy another tube ...  :/

Guaranteed

Don't worry Dave, there is no "if" about it. Proven over many years.

Here is the designated CA storage spot in my workshop adhesive cabinet. The tube in the picture is well over a year old and still working like new.

Taking the picture I noticed the propane tank. Wives, gotta' love'em. She always cleans up my messes God bless her but it appears there was a fault in her logic this time. To her credit it is a tall slender tube like object!

As an aside, we celebrated our 34^th wedding anniversary this week. Best 34 years of my life. 

Preserving Ca Glue

Thanks Alan.

I have noted that several manufacturers are now selling the crazy glues in packages of "One Use" size with 4 or 5 tubes in one container. I was beginning to think there was no way to save the unused portion.

Great Tip!

Great Tip, thank you Alan!

Buy the thin kind

I find that the CA thickens over time, so instead of buying the thick stuff, I buy the thinnest variety. After a few months it thickens up and I relegate it to the "thick" category and buy a new thin one. I find that I use both thick and thin types, so this keeps the cycle going.

Brent Ciccone

Calgary

CA glue

My LHS told me to store it in the fridge. Seems to keep quite well. I haven't had mine for too long, but I am taking his advice. Have a mini-fridge in the train building. Been a few months and no problems.

Water water everywhere

I'm no CA expert but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night. 

Most CA manufacturers recommend refrigerating unopened containers. But once the container is opened then refrigeration can work against you. Moisture will condense inside the tube when you open a cold CA container in a warm room. The condensed moisture starts the polymerization.

Coincidentally, this is the same principle leveraged by accelerators (usually just acetone). The extremely rapid evaporation rate of the solvent cools the CA surface causing moisture to condense on it thus accelerating the reaction.

Best to let your refrigerated CA warm to room temperature before opening especially in a humid environment.

I use a lot of super glue,

I use a lot of super glue, one use is installing styrene spacers between track, super glue and a kicker work great, then file down to track profile.  I use Dollarama CA glue that comes in four small tubes instead of one larger tube. I love this stuff for two reasons, in Canada its $1.25 which appeals to my Scottish heritage and secondly because of the 4 tube delivery system, I don't throw any hardened CA away.  Even when I've used some, I guess because of the small tube size and no air, it stays viable for a long time. I tried to find an image of this product but couldn't.

Just as an aside, I also use a great deal of two part epoxy from Dollarama as well. If I don't have at least two packages of this stuff on hand, I feel nervous and it only costs $1.25, compare that price to anything in the large home improvement centers, you'll be looking at $6 - $9.  I use this glue on my layout and around the home as well.

I don't like tubes of ca

I use a lot of ca in my wood turning, and have been using tubes, but find that they are to difficult to get to seal after opening.  I've also had a bunch of tubes develop leaks through the tube before I have finished with the glue.  I prefer to get it in plastic bottles.  A little more expensive, but I have not had any problems keeping it.  I use enough that I don't have any at home over a year old, but some that I keep with the wood turning supplies at a children's camp in the mountains kept over the winter in sub freezing conditions and was still good to go at the start of the summer this year.

Nothing

I just screw the cap back on!  Really I do not have any problems with the glue solidifying one opened and I have had tubes that I open and close for months at a time. I use Duro or Loctite brands in both the thin and thick versions.  

I do replace the cap right after using and usually when I will be using it for a while I just squirt some out on a small sheet of wax paper, seal the cap, and then apply the glue with a pin.

I usually place all my opened

I usually place all my opened glue tubes & bottles in the fridge & I tried the idea with silicon & discovered that it worked too!

LKO Anniversary

Congrats on 34 years to you and the Mrs. Alan.  Hard to imagine way back when in the early years starting out and you would see a notice in the paper of a couple celebrating 25, 35 or 50 years and you would think "my gawd that's a long time together..." and now here you and she are.  That's super.

Jeff Youst in Indiana

I Freeze Mine

I store my containers of CA glue in a tightly capped glass jar, then store it in the freezer.  When I'm ready to use some glue, I take the container out of the jar and let it thaw for a bit, then use it.  I return the container back to the jar as soon as reasonably possible.

I have a plastic bottle of Zap-a-Gap that was purchased sometime in the 1980s and it is still working.  I've been using it to glue plastic strips in the track gaps I've cut in my newly installed rail.

That reminds me

Mine is coming up, I'll need to ask the wife what day in September it was. I know it was in the first two weeks, but I could be wrong there as well. This will be our 32nd anniversary. Congrats on your 34th Alan pass them along to your bride as well. Funny it does not seem that long ago.

We will be traveling during the time so maybe I'll be able to keep track of it.