I'd be surprised if I'm the first one to figure this one out, but I haven't seen it mentioned anywhere before, so I hope this is a partial payback for all the good advice I've picked up on this list!

When using CA (cyanoacrilic) glue, especially the extra thin stuff which has a nasty tendency to surge out of the tiniest applicator tip, especially when drawn out by capillary action, there will be a "spill" of it all over the area surrounding the desired spot. Ugh. But if you have a worn-out paint brush handy, or even a good one, just touch it to the spill area close to the glued item, and it will suck up the excess glue. A quick rinse of the brush in acetone will dissolve out the CA, and the acetone will evaporate pronto, leaving the brush pretty much as good as before, if not just fine.

Even with a normally tidy CA application, ladders and such can easily have their rungs or fine detail filled with CA. Touching the brush to those areas will sop up any visible excess and preserve max detail.

And thanx to the hero who first thought up the great one of abrading off the tip of a sewing needle to generate a "Y"-shaped tip which is perfect for applying precise small amounts of CA. A set of such needles in small, medium, and large sizes, held in a pin vise tool, works great. Even then, using the brush-sop trick has really moved my CA skill into a whole new realm.

Cheers.

good tip thanks for sharing it.

...and thank you for your reply. Are you a...giurrrl? Cute pic. What are you working on? Stephen

love the tips! Thanks!