Buy It And Try It: Mighty Putty
I've received a lot of requests to try Mighty Putty. It claims it'll
fix, seal, or repair just about anything, so let's see if it works.
It's all in the family at Allen Faris Trucking in Sacramento, where
the Faris' have been hauling loads for 75 years. There's Chris and the
bashful mom running around the office.
When you get out of a job, sometimes things break, but Chris says you
have to fix them and fast.
"Call in a service truck, or play McGyver and get some bubble gun and
duct tape and do whatever you can do."
The Mighty Putty claims you can mold it to any shape. It'll seal
leaks, and even supposedly pull a fully loaded 80,000 lb tractor
trailer.
Chris thinks it's a pretty big claim. We'll start small in our test.
First we fill up a 5-gallon bucket with water, and then drill a hole.
Chris opens up the Mighty Putty and starts kneading it. It's supposed
to activate the epoxy in about 2 minutes. Right away, he picks up an
odor.
What does it smell like? "Something I can't tell you it smells like.
Rhymes with dart."
We get past the sulphuric scent, and Chris applies the putty. It seems
to work, but we have to wait for it to dry.
We break the handle off of a mug, and create a new handle out of Mighty Putty.
Now, to the 80,000 lb tractor-trailer. After studying the infomercial,
Chris created plates to bond with the putty. He applies the Mighty
Putty.
The directions state we should wait 24 hours for a full cure, and
we're going to the items dry overnight.
We return the next day. Chris peels off the excessive putty on the bucket.
"Look at that, it's plugged."
And the coffee mug? "Seems like a good bond, nice and hard."
Now to the truck test. Our plates have cured, and he attaches them to
some chains. His truck is filled with rock, making it nearly 80,000
lbs.
Chris climbs in, and we give him the go-ahead.
The plates don't pull the truck even an inch, completely busting apart.
Despite this failure, Chris says he'd recommend the Mighty Putty.
"If they need to fix a coffee mug or a hole in the bucket," he says.
"If they're do-it-yourself truck towers, it's probably not a good
idea."
The epoxy hardens in about half an hour, but for weight bearing
applications, it says to wait a day. I got six tubes for $19.95 plus
shipping and handling, and bought it at MightyPutty.com
