Is there an opposite of This To That

June 23, 2024 9:00 AM

Through circumstance I have managed to get about a teaspoon of E6000 glue in my bathroom sink.

Thankfully it's on the side of the bowl and not down the drain. Bathroom sink is presumably ceramic, a fairly normal sink. I'd like to remove the glue without causing damage to the sink.

It's been there for a while so it's well and fully cured at this point, and I have been studiously ignoring it for months. But the time has come to deal with it. Attempts at manual removal (jabbing at it with a popsicle stick) have yielded no results. Would acetone work on the glue without damaging the sink surface? Fire? Water? Bile?

Thank you.

posted by phunniemee to Home & Garden (5 answers total)

Best answer: Acetone and ‘naphtha spirits' are supposed to work, but acetone is far less toxic in my experience.

A cotton ball with acetone somehow held in place will soften it, and then you could try your popsicle sticks again — or the edge of a silver or silver plated spoon. Stainless steel is too likely to chip the porcelain, especially if it’s porcelain over cast iron.

Then you could rub off the residue with more acetone.
posted by jamjam at 9:26 AM on June 23

Single edge razor to help release the glue blob. Cotton ball with acetone to cover it for a few minutes. The acetone will evaporate quickly. Keep window open. Gently push razor blade around the edges of the blob, do more acetone soak,more razor, more acetone...you'll get there...
posted by Czjewel at 9:42 AM on June 23 [2 favorites]

I would probably use a rectangular single edge razor blade. They can be flexed into a curve shape, to keep the corners of the blade from making contact, which will have the greatest chance of scratching. As I recall, E6000 cures to a fairly rubbery solid that should come off by this method. An old credit card might also make a good scraper.
posted by 2N2222 at 9:54 AM on June 23

Response by poster: Acetone did the trick. I was up in my head about using it on the sink because the google results are all over the place, but it was fine. Acetone to soften, then back to my old friend the non threatening blunt popsicle stick to do the mechanical work. Took about 10 minutes total and the sink is as good as new. Thank you!

Word to the wise: there's probably a better place to repair your Halloween decoration.

Keep window open.
*looks at nail polish hoard* lol
posted by phunniemee at 10:03 AM on June 23 [9 favorites]

As an incidental aside for future consideration, when needing to scrape on potentially scratchable surfaces, they make "plastic razorblades" that can be pretty handy, are dirt cheap, and surprisingly sharp. The ones I'm speaking of are literally standard razor-sized (and look exactly like a razorblade), but made of plastic. So they'd fit in any razor-scraper-dealie you may have.
posted by aramaic at 1:48 PM on June 23 [3 favorites]