Gorilla Glue vs Super Glue and Variants Strength Test - Surpising Results!

In this video we will look at previously glued together popsicle sticks. All were glued together in exact same way and allowed to dry and set for over 7 days, so there is no arguement that Gorilla Glue, which can take longer to fully harden, didn't have enough time.

For this test we did 6 different combinations to see which is strongest and which is weakest.

1. Gorilla Glue clear grip - $8 at Walmart.
2. Super Glue from the Dollar Store ($1 + tax for 2 small tubes)
3. Super Glue and cotton from a cotton ball
4. Super Glue and high strength concrete powder
5. Super Glue and wood ash
6. Siper Glue and coffee

I wanted to use several different varients as I from the construction industry that some can strengthen the bond and holding strength.

For this test, we used a 3 pound fitness dumbell, a 10 pound plate and a 15 pound kettle ball. We had a 25 pound kettle bell, but there was no need for it.

There were several interesting findings here.

I always thought that Gorilla Glue would have a stronger bond as it took much longer to dry (several hours versus a few minutes for the super glue) and that this would contribute to a higher bonding and holding strength. I was wrong. Gorilla Glue was the weakest as it was the only one that couldn't even hold a 3 pound weight. It just snapped right at where the glue / bond was.

Next interesting thing, you don't see this in the video, but the wood ash and super glue combination dried almost instantly. Was be far the fastest drying followed by the concrete and super glue combination.

As you will see in the video, the cotton and super glue combination was by far the strongest and I am confident that if I had used stronger wood pieces, it would have held much more than 10, 15 or even 25 pounds . Adding the cotton seriously increased the bonding strenth so much that the wood broke and not the glued areas. This was the only combination to make it past the 15 pound kettle bell with the glued, bonded areas fully intact. No other combination did this.

So, Gorilla Glue (which claims a bonding strength of 800 pounds per inch in their advertising was not very effective and couldn't even hold up a light 3 pound dumbell. Super glue, regardless of brand, has a universdal holding, bonding strength of around 4,000 to 5,000 pounds per inch. That clearly showed in the results.

Some materials when added to super glue can increase the holding strength - especially like cotton and coffee. The concrete was an idea I got from sionme construction friends of mine. Was it much stronger then just plain super glue? You will have to watch the video and see if it is worth the mess of adding it.

Yes, the concrete, wood ash and coffee were messy to work with. The cotton was best handled with gloves as it wanted to stick to everything else but the wood pops=icle sticks and was harder to work with.

In the end, I was as surprised as I am sure you will all be with the results of adding cotton to super glue and also, coffee. I just through in coffee figuring it wouldn't work, but it was clearly the second strongest bond.

Now, it is important to note that this was all done with wooden popsicle sticks. We will have to repeat this with metal and then plastic to see if the results are the same. I am going to venture that the cotton and super glue combination had such a strong bond that I don't think it will matter and that is going to come out on top. It would be interesting to see, if the results are same and if the Gorilla Glue stays at the bottom or if it can beat out some of these super glue cobinations or just super glue by itself?

Right now, from the results, it is easy to see that super glue is much stronger and adding cotton to super glue really makes it far stronger. The bonding or holding power with cotton is just off the charts.

Let me know your thoughts about the results of this video or the next ones that you would like to see. Do you want to see this test on plastic? metal? flexible materials like fabric and rubber?

Thanks again for watching and God bless!