<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
January 29, 2004