Discontinued The Okin by D.M. Pipes

E

EmDeemo

ACCOUNT INACTIVE
...anyone who owns both needs to try this :) The vapcap is a great temp indicator when heating the okin's load chamber from outside, turning it into primarily a conduction device. Air flow is nice, free and easy and the okin chamber is way bigger than the vapcaps. Havent combusted yet. Think ive found the sweet spot to heat the okins load chamber. Battered :)

EDIT: See Dan's post below, I DO NOT recommend this :)
 
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stickstones

stickstones

Vapor concierge
So you're abandoning the coals and heating the outside of the chamber directly with flame? And the vapcap tells you when to stop heating?
 
Dan Morrison

Dan Morrison

Well-Known Member
Manufacturer
As a word of warning @emmdeemo , The annealing temperature of phosphor bronze is 900 F (480 C) .

If you allow the bronze springs to reach this temperature, they will be springs no more, and will just bend and never regain their shape.

Since they are small in size, it would be possible to overheat sections of the bronze with a torch or butane lighter, before the mass of the steel tip has reached conduction vaping temp.

I would really recommend not heating the prongs directly at all, but I suppose if you manage to stay under temp, it should be fine... just be careful!

P.s. I may have missinderstood your technique, so please clarify if I've got it wrong.
 
E

EmDeemo

ACCOUNT INACTIVE
Dan Morrison said:
As a word of warning @emmdeemo , The annealing temperature of phosphor bronze is 900 F (480 C) .

If you allow the bronze springs to reach this temperature, they will be springs no more, and will just bend and never regain their shape.

Since they are small in size, it would be possible to overheat sections of the bronze with a torch or butane lighter, before the mass of the steel tip has reached conduction vaping temp.

I would really recommend not heating the prongs directly at all, but I suppose if you manage to stay under temp, it should be fine... just be careful!

P.s. I may have missinderstood your technique, so please clarify if I've got it wrong.
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Yup!

Thats me warned! Nice one, updated my posts to reflect the info! Thanks Dan!
 
sixstringsmash

sixstringsmash

Well-Known Member
So after many rigorous drillings the drill bit that came supplied with my Okin has met it's end. May it go peacefully into the night. As for replacements, does anyone know of any good replacement drills I can find online at a decent price? Preferably something that's also small enough to still be able to comfortably fit inside the Okin box. If anyone has any recommendations I'm all ears!
 
Madcap79

Madcap79

Jack of all trades, master of none.
sixstringsmash said:
So after many rigorous drillings the drill bit that came supplied with my Okin has met it's end. May it go peacefully into the night. As for replacements, does anyone know of any good replacement drills I can find online at a decent price? Preferably something that's also small enough to still be able to comfortably fit inside the Okin box. If anyone has any recommendations I'm all ears!
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Do you have the wooden handle version of the drill?
 
Dan Morrison

Dan Morrison

Well-Known Member
Manufacturer
sixstringsmash said:
So after many rigorous drillings the drill bit that came supplied with my Okin has met it's end. May it go peacefully into the night. As for replacements, does anyone know of any good replacement drills I can find online at a decent price? Preferably something that's also small enough to still be able to comfortably fit inside the Okin box. If anyone has any recommendations I'm all ears!
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The drill size itself is a #62. You can find these at industrial supply places in your area. RC hobby stores may also stock them, but places like home depot wont. McmasterCarr carries them at about $2 each, and shipping is amazing from them, usually overnight, they have a great purolator network.

The original wood handled drills have since been replaced by new brass/steel handles that have adjustable jaws for easy replacement of the drill. These are high quality jewelers drill handles made by Grobet U.S.A.

Here is a side by side, old vs. new drills...

l1MpN7Al.jpg


You'll have to get the drill handles direct from me because I modify them slightly to accept the #62 drill size.

Send me a PM and I will send you a new handle and drill bit for $10 plus shipping (not much for a small package). I pay $10 for the drill handles from grobet and I get them direct from distributor, so thats the cheapest price.

Let me know!

As a side note, these drills will fit into the boxes just like the old wooden drills.
 
sixstringsmash

sixstringsmash

Well-Known Member
Dan Morrison said:
The drill size itself is a #62. You can find these at industrial supply places in your area. RC hobby stores may also stock them, but places like home depot wont. McmasterCarr carries them at about $2 each, and shipping is amazing from them, usually overnight, they have a great purolator network.

The original wood handled drills have since been replaced by new brass/steel handles that have adjustable jaws for easy replacement of the drill. These are high quality jewelers drill handles made by Grobet U.S.A.

Here is a side by side, old vs. new drills...

l1MpN7Al.jpg


You'll have to get the drill handles direct from me because I modify them slightly to accept the #62 drill size.

Send me a PM and I will send you a new handle and drill bit for $10 plus shipping (not much for a small package). I pay $10 for the drill handles from grobet and I get them direct from distributor, so thats the cheapest price.

Let me know!

As a side note, these drills will fit into the boxes just like the old wooden drills.
Click to expand...

Dan I will most definitely buy this new fancy drill off of you! Sending you a pm now.

Edit: Did not originally read your post @Madcap79 sorry yes it was the original wooden drill.
 
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grokit

grokit

well-worn member
I just vaped my third bowl in #42 :spliff:

I'm using the og hardwood drill bit, and love how it feels in my hand. The okin is an incredibly functional work of art. I wouldn't call it a daily driver because coals, but using it is a meditative experience. I get one good draw after a pre-heat, and can use a coal for two bowls if I douse in between. I would say that the coals and things like screen maintence are the main challenges, the actual vaping part is very intuitive.

I did first bowl when my okin arrived and it was perfect.
My second bowl around xmas was also perfect.
And tonight's bowl was even better.

While I've always loved looking at it, the more I use my okin the more I like it.

:clap:
 
VAPEHUNTER

VAPEHUNTER

Well-Known Member
S

ShanJezi

Well-Known Member
Dan Morrison

Dan Morrison

Well-Known Member
Manufacturer
@ShanJezi

I will say that my process now can't be easily duplicated at home, you can get good results, but it may take some trial and error, and it will never be the absolute best. And since I am buying my wood at wholesale prices, it may work out to be more expensive to make the charcoals yourself va. buying them from me. I have fairly dirt cheap prices on my charcoal and don't make much money from selling them.

That said, I would be happy to guide you through the process if you like, just let me know!

@NoochieVape , You and the others in your batch will get an email tomorrow with the invoice, etc. Shipping them out on Tuesday. I'm Sorry for the delay.
 
S

ShanJezi

Well-Known Member
I experimented today with making my own charcoals. It was kind of a pain in the ass. I have even more respect for Dan now, knowing all the trial and error involved with making these things and I'm impressed with the quality of charcoal he is able to produce.

I purchased 2 "Hardwood" dowels (the tags didn't specify what specific type of wood they were, though Dan informed me they are likely either maple or birch) each 5/8" in diameter. I cut a variety of lengths - 1", 3/4", 5/8" - using a small handheld circular saw. I had about 100 pieces of wood to turn into charcoal.

I had a couple old tins that I poked holes in like in Dan's tutorial. It was pretty cool watching the flames shoot out of these.

I did small batches of 5-10 pieces of wood since I was afraid a fucking them up. I found it very difficult to get consistent results. My charcoal was all much more brittle than the stuff I got from Dan. Over half of my pieces were breaking in half along the grain. I tried moving the tin into the hottest part of the fire at different times during the process, leaving it in the coals for varying times. I had one batch where all the charcoals were left intact, but I'm not totally sure what went right that time. I was working with no thermometer, so I only had the glowing tin, and my sweaty face as indicators of temperature.

I'm left with maybe 30 pieces of charcoal that didn't break in half. I've successfully drilled holes into one, after having another crumble. It burned significantly faster and hotter than the charcoal Dan supplied, and was much softer - the hand drill went right through it.

Overall, this was a fun little experiment and it was very satisfying vaping a bowl using my very own charcoal, though I don't think it was worth the amount of wasted material. I will certainly continue to buy high quality charcoal from Dan.
 
sixstringsmash

sixstringsmash

Well-Known Member
ShanJezi said:
I experimented today with making my own charcoals. It was kind of a pain in the ass. I have even more respect for Dan now, knowing all the trial and error involved with making these things and I'm impressed with the quality of charcoal he is able to produce.

I purchased 2 "Hardwood" dowels (the tags didn't specify what specific type of wood they were, though Dan informed me they are likely either maple or birch) each 5/8" in diameter. I cut a variety of lengths - 1", 3/4", 5/8" - using a small handheld circular saw. I had about 100 pieces of wood to turn into charcoal.

I had a couple old tins that I poked holes in like in Dan's tutorial. It was pretty cool watching the flames shoot out of these.

I did small batches of 5-10 pieces of wood since I was afraid a fucking them up. I found it very difficult to get consistent results. My charcoal was all much more brittle than the stuff I got from Dan. Over half of my pieces were breaking in half along the grain. I tried moving the tin into the hottest part of the fire at different times during the process, leaving it in the coals for varying times. I had one batch where all the charcoals were left intact, but I'm not totally sure what went right that time. I was working with no thermometer, so I only had the glowing tin, and my sweaty face as indicators of temperature.

I'm left with maybe 30 pieces of charcoal that didn't break in half. I've successfully drilled holes into one, after having another crumble. It burned significantly faster and hotter than the charcoal Dan supplied, and was much softer - the hand drill went right through it.

Overall, this was a fun little experiment and it was very satisfying vaping a bowl using my very own charcoal, though I don't think it was worth the amount of wasted material. I will certainly continue to buy high quality charcoal from Dan.
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This is all very interesting to hear! I appreciate that you took your time to do all of this. If you don't mind would you be able to tell us approximately how much it cost for you to get all the supplies to make the charcoal vs. buying them direct from Dan? There is no way I'm going to actually try to make my own charcoal(I'd probably burn my face off) but it would be interesting to know the time vs. money saved comparison with making them directly.
 
Dan Morrison

Dan Morrison

Well-Known Member
Manufacturer
Wow, awesome! I am totally psyched that you went through the charcoal making process @ShanJezi

Sounds exactly like my early days, experimenting with different woods and carbonization methods.

A few thoughts, if your wood pieces are breaking, that means that they were heated too quickly. You want to heat the wood slowly so that the steam/gases have a chance to slowly escape. It's easier to evenly heat your wood if you use larger batches, maybe 30 or 50 pieces at a time.

Even heating will create more round pieces, not so oval or crooked.

If your charcoal is soft and 'fluffy' I would say that those dowels were birch. Depending on the quality of the birch, they can be soft, and may burn to an almost pure white ash..

A good test of quality is to light a charcoal till it flows red, then smell the charcoal as it glows... it should have no scent. If it has a weird scent, hard to describe, but you'll know it as that 'undercooked charcoal scent', then you need to bring the carbonization temperature up.

The hotter you cook the charcoal, the harder and denser the charcoal generally is.
 
S

ShanJezi

Well-Known Member
@sixstringsmash The dowels I bought were about $3 each, I think 48" in length. I already had the saw and firewood. So this cost me $6 overall, and I ended with about 30 charcoals.

@Dan Morrison Good to know I need to heat them slower. From your early tutorial, I assumed the only reason not to heat them too quickly was so the top wouldn't pop off the tin. I'll have to try this again.

Definitely 'fluffy' charcoal. Is there an easy way to tell if the wood I'm buying is maple or birch?
 
Dan Morrison

Dan Morrison

Well-Known Member
Manufacturer
It can be tough to tell the two apart, birch and maple. Especially in dowel form, or when you only have a single reference.

I would look at the barcode sticker for a supplier name, then contact the supplier and reference the numbers on the sticker, a SKU number perhaps, and they should be able to tell you what it is.

Another interesting note, softwood dowels, like cedar, will make a very fluffy and soft charcoal that burns very quickly! The charcoal actually comes out larger than the original wood pieces used. Kinda neat.
 
NoochieVape

NoochieVape

www.imminentdawning.com
Manufacturer
Lookatmeglow said:
How many coals have you gone through? I have yet to see an okin I don't love.
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Only have had a chance to use it two times so far. First time I got quite medicated but the load was still very green and had a hard time keeping the charcoal lit. Second time I got the charcoal to stay lit the whole time but we combusted in the middle of the session. I still considered it an improvement over the first session and didn't mind the combustion too much because I love the smoking feel you get from the Okin.

First session was with three holes drilled, second with 4. So far I think I like 4 holes drilled but maybe that's why we combusted? Maybe we just pulled too hard as well. The other thing is, I tried lighting with a regular bid lighter and inhaling but I didn't like that method much, it tasted funny and I felt it was heating the load prematurely. I think I prefer using a torch lighter even though it takes a little while. My preferences will probably change as I have much more testing to do this weekend.

I ripped a piece of matchbox where you strike and stuck it in the charcoal box and then stuffed in some wooden matches as a backup to igniting if out and a lighter is forgotten. But after seeing how long it takes with a torch lighter I doubt a single match would work. Maybe some hemp fiber since it won't go out though.
 
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