<PAGE>

                                                                    EXHIBIT 31.1

                Certification of the Principal Executive Officer

                     Pursuant to 15 U.S.C. 78m(a) or 78o(d)

                 (Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002)

I, Morris H. Wheeler, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Cohesant
Technologies Inc. (the "Company"), certify that:

                  (1) I have reviewed this annual report on Form 10-KSB of the
                  Company;

                  (2) Based on my knowledge, this report does not contain any
                  untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a
                  material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light
                  of the circumstances under which such statements were made,
                  not misleading with respect to the period covered by this
                  report;

                  (3) Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other
                  financial information included in this report, fairly present
                  in all material respects the financial condition, results of
                  operations and cash flows of the Company as of, and for, the
                  periods presented in this report.

                  (4) The Company's other certifying officer and I are
                  responsible for establishing and maintaining disclosure
                  controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules
                  13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the Company and we have:

                        (a) Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or
                        caused such disclosure controls and procedures to be
                        designed under our supervision, to ensure that material
                        information relating to the registrant, including its
                        consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others
                        within those entities, particularly during the period in
                        which this report is being prepared;

                        (b) Evaluated the effectiveness of the Company's
                        disclosure controls and procedures and presented in this
                        report our conclusions about the effectiveness of the
                        disclosure controls and procedures, as of the end of the
                        period covered by this report based on such evaluation;
                        and

<PAGE>
                        (c) Disclosed in this report any change in the Company's
                        internal control over financial reporting that occurred
                        during the Company's most recent fiscal quarter (the
                        Company's fourth fiscal quarter in the case of an annual
                        report) that has materially affected, or is reasonably
                        likely to materially affect, the Company's internal
                        control over financial reporting; and

                  (5) The Company's other certifying officer and I have
                  disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of internal
                  control over financial reporting, to the Company's auditors
                  and the audit committee of Company's board of directors (or
                  persons performing the equivalent functions):

                        (a) All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses
                        in the design or operation of internal controls over
                        financial reporting which are reasonably likely to
                        adversely affect the Company's ability to record,
                        process, summarize and report financial information; and

                        (b) Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves
                        management or other employees who have a significant
                        role in the Company's internal controls over financial
                        reporting.

/s/ Morris H. Wheeler
---------------------
Morris H. Wheeler
Cohesant Technologies Inc.
President and Chief Executive Officer

February 1, 2005