Selleys Stories

What is Selleys Stories?

Selleys Stories is the Selleys blog — the latest news, trends and customer DIY stories, with tips and inspiration for your next project. Most of the entries are accounts sent in by customers describing a repair they made, often in circumstances the product label never anticipated.

As one message from a Selleys stockist at Ludmilla, in the Northern Territory, puts it:

"You know you're in Darwin when the customers ask you for a white sealant to plug up crocodile teeth. That's a first ....."

And from a customer writing about the epoxy range:

"I am.....a home handyman and hobbyist and I find I am constantly reaching for my Araldite. I mainly use the '5 Minute'...it is adaptable to so many uses; it sets quickly and then the adhesiveness is so efficient and reliable.... ...I just wanted you to know of my total satisfaction with your very special product."

The stories

Selleys Knead It comes to the rescue

Selleys Knead-It — and a can of Diet Coke — save a boat that experienced total steering system failure in the midst of the South Pacific Ocean. From the log of Magic Express, en route to Tonga from New Zealand in May 2015, this is a first-hand account of diagnosing a burst high pressure hydraulic hose at sea and repairing it with epoxy putty, a cut-down drink can and three hose clamps.

Selleys Araldite helps Wilbur the giant tortoise

Wilbur is a giant tortoise at the Melbourne Zoo, somewhere between 90 and 110 years old. When part of his shell broke off, zoo staff used Selleys Araldite to make running repairs.

Selleys Knead It saves the day in the Great Victoria Desert

An adventurer tore the tailpipe out of his rear muffler on a rocky creek bed in an extremely remote part of Western Australia. A corn tin, a few screws and Knead It got him 500km of off road travel and 1,000km on road back to Perth — and the repair was still holding when the muffler was finally replaced.

Selleys Shoe Fix with Fixer Upper

A writer with a decluttering-and-repairing habit saved a pair of expensive boots whose sole had started to separate, then used the same tube of adhesive on a wedding photo frame.

Selleys wins Most Trusted Brand six years in a row

Selleys was named Australia's Most Trusted Brand in the Glues and Construction Adhesives and Sealants & Fillers categories at the 2024 Reader's Digest Annual Trusted Brands Awards, the sixth consecutive year for those categories, and was awarded 15th Most Trusted Brand overall.

What the repair stories have in common

Read together, the three customer repairs share a pattern worth noticing, particularly if you find yourself improvising a long way from a workshop.

They diagnosed the cause before they fixed the symptom. The crew of Magic Express removed and cleaned the failed hose and found where it had been chafing on an engine mount before deciding on a repair. That is what stops a repair failing again in the same place.

They combined adhesive with mechanical reinforcement. Both the boat and the four wheel drive used a wrapped metal sheet and fasteners alongside the epoxy putty. The putty sealed and stabilised; the metal carried the load. On anything pressurised or vibrating, neither element would have been enough alone.

They treated the repair as temporary. The muffler was replaced afterwards. The hydraulic hose repair got the boat moving again. An emergency repair is a way of finishing the job safely, not a substitute for the part.

The products in these stories

• Knead It Multipurpose — hand-kneadable epoxy putty. Working time 3–5 minutes at 25°C, hardens in 5–10 minutes, drillable and sandable at 60 minutes, full cure 24 hours. Heat resistance -40°C to +120°C continuous, to +140°C intermittent. Will not adhere to polyethylene, polypropylene or Teflon, and is not recommended for joints subject to movement.
• Knead It Aqua — the version for damp, wet or underwater substrates, with a longer working time of 20–30 minutes at 25°C. Approved for contact with drinking water to 85°C under AS/NZS4020.
• Araldite Super Strong — 5 minute set, maximum bond at 16 hours, full cure around 24 hours, rated up to 150 kg/cm² on clean, abraded surfaces.
• Shoe Fix — a specialist 50mL footwear adhesive with a strong, flexible bond. Forms a strong bond within 60 minutes and reaches maximum strength at 24 hours.

Figures are from the products' technical data sheets and are indicative results rather than a basis for preparing specifications.

Safety: these are stories, but the products are real

This page is explicit that the repairs collected here are accounts of what people did, not recommended methods. The same caveat applies to the products in them: every one carries a classification, and two of the three are more serious than their packaging suggests.

Product	Classification
Selleys Shoe Fix	Danger — H225 highly flammable liquid and vapour; H319 causes serious eye irritation; H336 may cause drowsiness or dizziness. Dangerous Goods Class 3, UN 1133, Packing Group II. Poison Schedule S5
Araldite Super Strong	Hardener Danger — corrosion Category 1B, causes severe skin burns, and severe eye damage; resin Warning. Both parts carry H317
Knead It Multipurpose	Warning — skin sensitisation Category 1A; skin irritation; serious eye irritation

The Shoe Fix story is the one worth connecting. A 50mL tube used on a boot sole is an indoor, lap-height, close-range job — the couch, the kitchen table, a small flat in winter with the windows shut. H225 is a Category 2 flammable liquid: the vapour ignites, it is heavier than air, and it flows down to floor level, which is where a gas heater, a pilot light or a fan heater sits. H336 drowsiness is what that same vapour does when it accumulates in a small room. The writer in the story then reused the tube on a photo frame — a second sitting, same room. Open a window, and do not glue shoes in front of a heater.

The Araldite and Knead It repairs share the classification people least expect. Both are epoxy systems, and both carry skin sensitisation — Category 1A on the putty, the sub-category used where there is strong evidence in humans. That is not irritation that washes off: it is generally permanent once acquired, and thereafter triggered by far smaller contacts. Knead It is designed to be kneaded by hand, which is exactly how it is acquired. Gloves before you cut the stick, and mix Araldite on scrap with a stick, never a finger — the hardener is the corrosive half, which is the reverse of what most people assume.

If a story here has given you an idea, read the product page before you copy it. Each one carries its own full classification, protective equipment and first aid, and the step-by-step guides elsewhere on this site give a method these stories deliberately do not.

Poisons Information Centre — 131 126 in Australia, 0800 764 766 in New Zealand.

Common questions about Selleys Stories

What is Selleys Stories?

The Selleys blog — news, trends and customer DIY stories, with tips and inspiration for projects.

How many stories are there?

Five are published: three customer repairs, one about a repair at the Melbourne Zoo, and one about the 2024 Reader's Digest Trusted Brands Awards.

Which product features most often?

Knead It epoxy putty, in two of the three customer repair stories.

Are these repairs recommended methods?

They are customer accounts of what worked in an emergency, not published Selleys instructions. For the documented method for a job, see the home improvement guides and the relevant product's technical data sheet.

Where do I find step-by-step guides instead?

The home improvement section covers bathroom, kitchen, outdoor, woodwork, upcycling, repairs and craft projects.

Where can I see upcycling projects on video?

Selleys Suburban Gold is the upcycling series, with episodes covering furniture restoration projects.