American Toolbox

Oatey Epoxy Putty

Posted on September 24, 2017

What is a tube of epoxy doing on the luthier’s table?  Life is not all work, a swirl of fiddles and prima balalaikas.  Hobbies are also important, like plumbing and wall-papering.

Recently the emergency call went out from Francis Salon.  Inexplicably a rinse hose at their shampoo station periodically sprays into the room!  A mystery worthy of Star Trek but sorted out soon enough.  Of more intriguing interest is a blow dryer headed for the rubbish bin.  Dropped on its tail, backbone smashed, its destiny the American cure.  Throw it out and buy another.

In the business of fixing anything, the dryer is rescued and queued for table service.  Bill’s centenarian violin shipped, an 1860s trade violin pushed aside, the fractured Francis Salon blow dryer takes its eager place.  The same temporary cure to a cast iron rain pipe last year becomes a permanent cure for Alma Pané.  A piece of Oatey two part epoxy is sliced off the roll, kneaded for a minute within nitrile-clad hands, then pushed into the hair dryer’s fractured handle.  In minutes the epoxy cures, becoming harder than the plastic grip, a chemical Forever Bond.

Payment via Greek salad fresh from Alma’s garden settles nicely in my belly.  I’m wondering how to record this on my accounting ledger as gratuity is accepted.  At least I’ll be presentable at the IRS audit, with trim hair and shaven neck.