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What are good materials to neatly glue mug pieces together?

Moreover, the final object should be:
- waterproof,
- food-safe and
- heat proof
(as stated by @SF, this last requirement makes things more difficult).

By neatly I mean that one should see the crack as less as possible. By heat proof, I mean that I wish that my final object should be able to contain at least a tea or a coffee and I'd like to be able to put it in the dish-washer.

I remember my father repairing broken flower pots with Araldite but I'm fearing that this is absolutely not food safe.

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    I can only say cyanoacrylic glues (like 'crazy glue'/'super glue') will not be good if the mug is to be used with hot drinks. They are food-safe, they would bind the pieces neatly and everything would work fine until you pour a hot drink... at which point the glue will lose cohesion and the joint will fall apart.
    – SF.
    May 30, 2016 at 10:28
  • @SF.I learned that one personally. You cannot even put them in hot water for washing!
    – Ken Graham
    May 30, 2016 at 12:40
  • What material is the mug made of? I think that might be relevant.
    – b_jonas
    May 30, 2016 at 16:39
  • @ZsbánAmbrus As the pieces are taken mainly from industrially produced mugs, I unfortunately can't answer your question. We can probably rule out plastics and woods.
    – Surb
    May 30, 2016 at 16:44

1 Answer 1

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Most 2 part epoxies are food safe once fully cured. You can see these used in kitchen applications like counter tops and bread boards. There are some that advertise as being food safe grade.

Reading the product labels both on the product itself and online will help. Some will even reference FDA compliance when it comes to food safety. If you find something that does not quote it, err on the side of caution and consider a different product.

Many epoxies, once cured, can handle high temperatures. So it should be fine to use to glue your mug pieces. Ratings of different products will vary so be sure to make an informed purchase e.g:

Note: the latter is not rated for something like boiling water.

They can take from 24 hours to a couple of days (usually for larger applications). I recently used epoxy to fix my hand made ceramic renaissance mug handle which broke in 4 places.

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    From experience repairing a dishwasher, ordinary epoxy (araldite) can handle dishwahing. It can't handle dishwasher cleaning products (presumably the pH is an issue, it goes brittle). Of course the food-safe epoxies may not stand up so well.
    – Chris H
    Jun 1, 2016 at 12:31
  • @ChrisH That is an important aspect to consider. I have epoxy glues at home to fix all sorts of things. Not sure of all the potential reactions after the fact that could happen.
    – Matt
    Jun 1, 2016 at 12:47
  • if it was food safe to start with and didn't show obvious signs of weakening in the dishwasher I'd drink from it. And it holds up well against many solvents as well.
    – Chris H
    Jun 1, 2016 at 17:29

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