Toenails and Super Glue

 

I don’t have sufficient funds to go and let professionals perform various services which means I’ve learned to become industrious and creative.   Take for example this morning when I jabbed my big toe into the base of a piece of furniture tearing up a portion of the toenail.  If I had plenty of money and the inclination to do so, I’d go see a podiatrist and let that individual remove or repair the damaged portion of toenail.

But there’s quite a bit of Scotch and German ancestry working against wasting hard earned money; I’ll fix it myself.  …And in the past, I’ve been successful repairing this kind of minor damage.  We keep a small sheet of clear flexible plastic, the kind that wrap small items onto a piece of cardboard when you purchase those items.  I’d cut a piece of plastic into the shape of a which ever nail had been damaged, sand the edges down and then place a few drops of Super Glue on the nail.  A few minutes of pressing and waiting; good as new and twice as strong.

A little more sanding around the edges and you can put a pair of socks on without snagging the torn-up nail.  That was the plan this morning…and it should have worked, having done it many times in the past. 

I opened a fresh tube of Super Glue, cut out a piece of plastic, shaped the plastic to contour with the nail and was satisfied that all was ready.  While sitting on the edge of the bed I made sure to have a couple of Kleenex tissues handy just in case along with a three by five index card to place the opened tube of Super Glue to prevent any from getting on the night-stand table.

The Super Glue covered the broken nail; but it also managed to spill over and coat the side of my big toe while I was applying the pre-cut plastic toenail covering.  That’s when I noticed the glue had also failed to unite with the top of the toenail or the plastic; however, it had come in contact with my fingertips.

While wiping away the glue that had managed to stick to the fingertips, the Kleenex stuck to my fingers and then, in turn, stuck to the fingers on my other hand.  (stop laughing, it’s not over yet)

The old solution for removing Super Glue was to apply Nail Polish Remover; but the new and improved Nail Polish Remover does absolutely nothing to Super Glue.  Apparently, they’ve changed the formula to get along with the Save the Earth crowd.  Fortunately, we do have some Goo Gone that comes in a can similar in appearance to the old Lighter Fluid products.

I was able to free the big toe from the one next to it, remove the particles of Kleenex from the top of my toenail and from my hand.  I then got some paper towels from the kitchen and squirted a healthy portion of Goo Gone onto the neatly folded paper towel.  That stuff has a powerful odor; but does a great job dissolving Super Glue from between stuck toes and fingers.  I also used it to remove the Super Glue from all the other locations.

The chunk of toe nail that got snagged had become welded back down so as to be reattached to the toe.  I then sanded the rough edges down and came to a realization, no plastic covering was needed this time.  I then sanded off Super Glue that had dried on the sides of my toes and fingers as was permitted without sanding down to blood vessels.