Has your Mend It turn into gel?

[bass343]

I bought some Mend It when it first came out, and at first it was a liquid form. Now it has turn into a gel and it doesn't work as well.

You really have to squeeze the bottle to get any Mend It out.

It's hard to put a nice easy flow of Mend It when it's at a gel form.

Has anybody experience the same thing?

[fish_food]

There was a recent thread about Mend It evaporating through its capped container. I guess it's pretty volatile stuff: http://www.tackletour.net/T3Forum/viewt ... light=mend

[bass343]

I don't have the problem evaporating, it just turned into a gel form.

[Guest]

Couple things -

#1 Yes Mend-it! will evaporate a little. about 5-10% of it can evaporate depending on the environment it is stored. That is why we sell it in 1 ounce bottles. Believe it or not most of the evaporation happens within the first month or so.

#2 As for it being volatile stuff. Its a 2 on the scale (1 to 4) in the hazardous materials scale codes. 2 is about the same as things like paint thinner, oil based paints, some household cleaners etc. By no means is it nuclear or anything crazy. It's not great for you to inhale too much of - but, then again what is?

#3 The product can thicken up or turn to gel over the course of time. The reason for this is because of the evaporation mentioned above. I can't think of any glue I have ever owned that has lasted me 6 months (my estimate on when it starts to turn). Currently I have 3 tubes of superglue in my box that are all hardened up.. 2 tubes of gorilla glue which are hardened... However, if I cut the bottle in half the bottom is probably still useable. Unfortunately, it's the nature of the beast when dealing with glue.

--- In any event there are a couple of solutions to the gel problem. A. Add a 1/5 of an ounce of of paint thinner or MEK. Shake it up and give it a day and it will thin out.
B. Get another bottle of mend it and put half of the new bottle in the old bottle and it will again thin out the Mend-it!
C. Throw it away and get another bottle. The stuff pays for itself 10 X over for any serious fisherman.

To prevent the "gelifying" process of the glue you just need to shake the bottle up a little every month or so. I have several test bottles. One I shake up about once a month... the other just sits there. I have had them each for about a year and they are both doing fine. I did have to add some mend it to the bottle that I do not mix up on occassion.

I hope this helps...
Thanks for the support!

[fish_food]

#2 As for it being volatile stuff. Its a 2 on the scale (1 to 4) in the hazardous materials scale codes. 2 is about the same as things like paint thinner, oil based paints, some household cleaners etc. By no means is it nuclear or anything crazy. It's not great for you to inhale too much of - but, then again what is?

By being very "volatile" I mean that it evaporates easily (that's what volatile means), that's all. Didn't mean to imply that it's an extra hazardous substance or that's it's any more dangerous than other plastic cements...

[Guest]

No worries - I never mind clearing up misunderstandings either way.

Hope it's saving everyone lots of $$$'s! To bad I can't keep track of the money saved from Mend-it! that number would be pretty big I think!

Good fishing everyone!

[bass343]

Thanks Tom for all the good info. I will continue to buy your product and do the things you mention above. I hope to see you on the water, and get to meet you some time. I recently became part of the Berserk Baits pro staff team. Good luck!

www.berserkbaits.com

www.baitbarn.net

Dan

[Guest]

If you see me - be sure to say hello! I always enjoy meeting fellow fisherman.. and I love Berserk Baits... That reminds me - I have to get a hold of Steve this week!

Good fishing!

[bassindon69]

Good to see you back Tom . Great stuff!! I sure like it.
I like NOT having those hard spots on the body of my baits anymore.
Mine has been fine for over 4 months so far.

Don.

[kopper_bass]

bass343,
could it be that the tube end has just clogged up and thus its really hard to squeeze out? try skicking the end of a paperclip into the tip and free up the congestion.

Hope this helps,

Kopper_Bass

[Cooch]

I bought some Mend It when it first came out, and at first it was a liquid form. Now it has turn into a gel and it doesn't work as well. Has anybody experience the same thing?

My guess is, you're not tossing enough plastic baits or spending too much time on Millerton and Clearlake this winter!! HAR! HAR! HAR! I went through three bottes of mend it between September and December, repairing Big Hammer swimbaits that were getting torn to shreds fishing for stripers and largemouth here on the River this past fall. I never had that problem. Tom's given us some great tips on this thought! Thank you sir. I'm really looking forward to using it on the Senkos in the spring! Hope it works as well considering the unique ingrediants in that Yamamoto bait! Oh, and it works wonders on Zoom chunks!

[mac (Doyle McEwen)]

Cooch, I have repaired numerous Senkos with the Mend-It..It works just great and doesn't seem to have any bad effects on the Senko bite..I would, however, recommend not using the Senkos immediately after repairing them..Let them set a couple of days so the smell goes away..

mac

[Norv]

I've used Mend-it to bond Yamamoto grubs and hula skirts together and it works great. At first I was having a problem getting it to bond correctly. I coantacted Tom regarding my problem and he instructed me that I needed to hold the parts together a few secondslonger. After following his directions the Mend-it is working great.

[ash]

To prevent the "gelifying" process of the glue you just need to shake the bottle up a little every month or so. I have several test bottles. One I shake up about once a month... the other just sits there. I have had them each for about a year and they are both doing fine. I did have to add some mend it to the bottle that I do not mix up on occassion.

I hope this helps...
Thanks for the support!

I can just see the poor shop owners doing this now, every month when it is time to inventory we must shake up the bottles of Mend It....SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE da mend it work it all the time....

[macinckirk]

It works Great on the Ika's too, I did have a problem with the 1st few when the weather got cold so what I do is fix them in the house and make sure to let them dry overnight in a place that is 65 or warmer

Oh and I like the smell it makes me feel like I'm back at work

[Cooch]

Yeah, that is the definate ticket with this stuff, save all yer plastics that day, then repair em at home that nite and they are always ready ta go the next day!

[mac (Doyle McEwen)]

Right on Cooch, it is a whole lot easier to do of the water than on..

mac

[Guest]

IF the shop owners could keep them in stock for more than a month that would be impressive. Most of them are selling out in less than a week!

Either way.... It doesn't need to be shaken up that much. Just people picking it up and looking at in the store is enough to keep it pretty good.

Tom

[Greg_Cornish]

Tom, what is the chemical that evaporates? Is it a common thinner or base? Could it be replaced to reconstitute it? Of course if its a trade secret I wouldn't expect you to say.

Jim started his own thread on mend-it that has a good suggestion.

[fish_food]

Tom, what is the chemical that evaporates? Is it a common thinner or base? Could it be replaced to reconstitute it? Of course if its a trade secret I wouldn't expect you to say.

As Tom replied at the beginning of this thread:
"Add a 1/5 of an ounce of of paint thinner or MEK. Shake it up and give it a day and it will thin out."

[Greg_Cornish]

Oh thanks, I didn't see that. I appreciate you bringing that to my attention.

[MIKE TREMONT]

Thanks for bringing this up. This is the real info that I for one appreciate getting from this site.

Some of may not have a need for such a product, since we are not getting our swim baits destroyed. the smaller baits I just discard or melt down for some of my own creations.

Tom, I'm not knocking Mend It. EVERYONE I have talked to says this stuff is the bomb, but like I said a few months back when the product hit the market, there has to be a flip side. I for one would be disappointed had I bought some and I had problems with it. Unless of course there are some care or warning labels on the stuff.

Personally I have a bottle of super glue that is a 3M product that we use in our shop that is over 2 years old. The bonding properties are just as good as when I got it. Now it defiantly leaves a hard spot where I glue soft baits, but I can live with that.

I was just wondering about you the other day Tom. Glad to see you back, and with your dancing shoes on .

Good luck out there guys!

[Peety]

Not to be a downer, but if you use MEK to reconstitute your mend it, Please follow the safety guidelines and wear gloves and a respirator. It is super bad stuff! We don't need anymore fishermen on chemo

Tight lines and drink water

[Guest]

FYI Peety: You are right it isn't great stuff. But it's not as bad as you make it sound either. Here is a link to the EPA's information on it.

http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/hlthef/methylet.html

Here is a snyopsis
[b]Acute Effects: [/b]
Acute exposure of humans to high concentrations of methyl ethyl ketone produces irritation to the eyes, nose, and throat. (1,4)
Other effects reported from acute inhalation exposure in humans include central nervous system depression, headache, and nausea. (1,4)
Dermatitis has been reported in humans following dermal exposure to methyl ethyl ketone. (1)
Tests involving acute exposure of rabbits has shown methyl ethyl ketone to have high acute toxicity from dermal exposure, while acute oral exposure of rats and mice has shown the chemical to have moderate toxicity from ingestion. (5)
Acute inhalation tests in rats indicate low toxicity from methyl ethyl ketone exposure via inhalation. (5)

[i]NOTE: This is for concentrated M.E.K. - Mend-It! is less than 20% MEK[/i]

Acetone also works well.

I am off this topic - Don't use it if you don't want to... but, I can read far worse reports for things like Tarter Control Crest, VO5 Hair Shampoo, let alone household cleaners, etc.. etc.. This site gets old after a while... the stuff saves you lots of money. What is in it... only 2 people know and MEK is the worst of it - and its not as bad as people like to make it sound when used properly. The instructions explicitly say MEK is in the product.

If you have any questions please feel free to email me at TomLeogrande@gmail.com - I won't be checking this any more.

[b]NOTE: and for Mend-It! PLEASE use in a well ventilated area like on your boat or in your garage with the doors open. Also - Use your head with any product you use - not just Mend-It! Superglue. cleaners, etc... etc.. [/b]