Cleaning Ti

[JRR22611]

How do you clean your Ti? Which method is best?

After purchasing metal products from companies like highly educated, Santa Cruz, Sublimator and more, I like to gather whatever info I can get regarding cleaning the metal because I know very little about metals and how they react to cleaning processes like water, iso, heat, filtered compressed air etc.

After hearing much conflicting information from these companies and random stoner forums (not FC), I'd like to establish tried and true methods of most effectively cleaning your metals.

The most common advice I hear is I should simply heat it up till its glowing but in my experience this expedites the oxidization of the nail which is undesirable for me.

Is there a better way to get rid of the hard black substance that inevitably accumulates?

So what's your method, how do you clean your metal?

I'm sure someone here knows the best way to clean titanium and I'll appreciate all input, thanks

 

[Monsoon]

Heating and scraping with a titanium dabber seems to be the best way to go overall. I've heard good things about titanium bristled brushes for cleaning too but haven't tried them yet. Scraping should get the bulk of it then just torch as needed for the rest. You could probably keep it cleaner with ISO washes but with Ti you would lose the seasoning in the process. I'm using SiC now which doesn't need seasoning so I do a weekly ISO soak on top of my normal torching and scraping in between. Wiping the dish with a Q-Tip after a low temp dab helps to keep it clean too.

For everything besides the dish, ISO soaks and using a pipe cleaner or q-tip gets everything else clean for the most part. When I used the Sublimator I would soak the base in PBW since I found ISO alone wasn't enough to degunk it.

 

[JRR22611]

Heating and scraping with a titanium dabber seems to be the best way to go overall. I've heard good things about titanium bristled brushes for cleaning too but haven't tried them yet. Scraping should get the bulk of it then just torch as needed for the rest. You could probably keep it cleaner with ISO washes but with Ti you would lose the seasoning in the process. I'm using SiC now which doesn't need seasoning so I do a weekly ISO soak on top of my normal torching and scraping in between. Wiping the dish with a Q-Tip after a low temp dab helps to keep it clean too.

For everything besides the dish, ISO soaks and using a pipe cleaner or q-tip gets everything else clean for the most part. When I used the Sublimator I would soak the base in PBW since I found ISO alone wasn't enough to degunk it.

Thanks a lot for your response, it's just what I needed.

I have troubles because some companies give their metal ultrasonic washing to rid any factory residue/chemical, while others will package and sell metal with industrial lubricants still in the holes of the nail.

Where did you acquire your SiC nail, I'm very interested. I know D Nail is making these products but I prefer to buy in Canada.

Thanks again

 

[Monsoon]

I have troubles because some companies give their metal ultrasonic washing to rid any factory residue/chemical, while others will package and sell metal with industrial lubricants still in the holes of the nail.

Where did you acquire your SiC nail, I'm very interested. I know D Nail is making these products but I prefer to buy in Canada.

I hate it when they don't clean the nails before shipping, especially for a product used for inhalation. I usually do an ISO soak, sometimes in the ultrasonic cleaner, for any new machined products.

Selection for concentrate tools in Canada still sucks, if you want the SiC Halo you'll need to order it directly from D-Nail. The Express shipping option for an extra $10 is pretty quick, I've gotten my stuff from them in 3-4 business days usually so it's pretty quick. Didn't get dinged for taxes either on delivery which was a nice bonus.

 

[PPN]

Since I clean both my Ti and quartz nail every 2-3 dabs or everytime I move from a concentrate to another, they are very clean, taste a lot better, without any cough and without pooling using 555°F (my actual favourite temp with my Ti nail, I go down with quartz).

I clean my hot nails using a toothpick with a coton ball and they are always like new!

 

[JRR22611]

Since I clean both my Ti and quartz nail every 2-3 dabs or everytime I move from a concentrate to another, they are very clean, taste a lot better, without any cough and without pooling using 555°F (my actual favourite temp with my Ti nail, I go down with quartz).

I clean my hot nails using a toothpick with a coton ball and they are always like new!

Where do you get your quartz nails or buckets?

 

[pigfoot]

A good source for quartz buckets is hyman.