How do I get a wood chip out of my glass?

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Erwin

Erwin

Well-Known Member
Modnote: The following 14 posts were moved from the Cheap Bub Thread.

Alright. I've been wanting to bring this up somewhere on FC for a while now but haven't really known where. The bit of conversation earlier on this thread about the gb-186 and keeping it clean, however, is enough to make me feel that my question is relevant here.

I've been rockin my gb-186 for a while now and kept it in my woodworking studio quite a bit. I can't imagine how, but somehow a small sliver of wood got inside the pipe and got sucked into the perc. Now I can't get it out. :bang:

It's been over two months now with this little piece of wood stuck inside the perc, bouncing around every time I hit the thing. With the stereo matrix the inside of the perc really is a cage, and I can't figure out how to get it out. The only way I can think of is to use something to dissolve the wood, but I don't know what and hesitate to use anything corrosive or toxic on the inside of something I inhale through almost daily... :worms:

Anybody have any thoughts on how to get that woodchip outta there? :shrug: I'm out of ideas myself.
 
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Frederick McGuire

Frederick McGuire

Aggressively Loungey
My first thought would be to put a bit of water in there, and keep shaking until it made it free.
I'm guessing you would've tried that already though...

Maybe have a reaaaallly close look at your matrix percs, and look for the largest opening you can see.
Then see if ya can get the chip to tumble through it?
Stu said:
I wonder what would happen if you put it in the oven at max temp for a while? :hmm:

:peace:
Click to expand...
Wood fire stereo matrix - great for flavour! :lol:
 
olivianewtonjohn

olivianewtonjohn

Well-Known Member
Any chemical that could breakdown wood is probably going to be dangerous to use. I wonder how it got in, have any pictures? Your best bet is probably to ask a glass blower if you could heat it up somehow to break down the wood.
 
M

mestizo

Well-Known Member
An air hose at high pressure, with a long nozzle aimed at the wood chip?
That's what I would do.

Edit:
Never mind, the FC 186 is not a straight tube, there's no way to get the air nozzle close to it. Maybe if you block one end and apply air at the other end, the let it open while the pressure is high?
 
063_XOBX

063_XOBX

Ganjapreneur
Erwin said:
Alright. I've been wanting to bring this up somewhere on FC for a while now but haven't really known where. The bit of conversation earlier on this thread about the gb-186 and keeping it clean, however, is enough to make me feel that my question is relevant here.

I've been rockin my gb-186 for a while now and kept it in my woodworking studio quite a bit. I can't imagine how, but somehow a small sliver of wood got inside the pipe and got sucked into the perc. Now I can't get it out. :bang:

It's been over two months now with this little piece of wood stuck inside the perc, bouncing around every time I hit the thing. With the stereo matrix the inside of the perc really is a cage, and I can't figure out how to get it out. The only way I can think of is to use something to dissolve the wood, but I don't know what and hesitate to use anything corrosive or toxic on the inside of something I inhale through almost daily... :worms:

Anybody have any thoughts on how to get that woodchip outta there? :shrug: I'm out of ideas myself.
Click to expand...
Have access to an air compressor? You could stuff the compressor hose in the mouthpiece and blow it out maybe?

EDIT:Looks like I'm not the only one thinking outside the bun.
 
BoogerMan

BoogerMan

Well-Known Member
Erwin said:
Alright. I've been wanting to bring this up somewhere on FC for a while now but haven't really known where. The bit of conversation earlier on this thread about the gb-186 and keeping it clean, however, is enough to make me feel that my question is relevant here.

I've been rockin my gb-186 for a while now and kept it in my woodworking studio quite a bit. I can't imagine how, but somehow a small sliver of wood got inside the pipe and got sucked into the perc. Now I can't get it out. :bang:

It's been over two months now with this little piece of wood stuck inside the perc, bouncing around every time I hit the thing. With the stereo matrix the inside of the perc really is a cage, and I can't figure out how to get it out. The only way I can think of is to use something to dissolve the wood, but I don't know what and hesitate to use anything corrosive or toxic on the inside of something I inhale through almost daily... :worms:

Anybody have any thoughts on how to get that woodchip outta there? :shrug: I'm out of ideas myself.
Click to expand...
Can you post a pic of where it is at or is it too small to see in a pic?

I'm wondering if it would come out if you hooked up a hose to it and flushed it with water? I don't think a sink faucet will be strong enough to push it out. If it got in there somehow there has to be a way for it to come out. Try flushing through the mouthpiece for a while then if it doesn't come out try flushing through the joint. Or vice versa.

I wonder if concentrated CLR would dissolve it over the course of a few days? A lot of people sumberge their pieces in it to dissolve logos. Definitely give it a nice cleaning after with an all natural citrus cleaner to get off those nasty chemicals if you try this route!
 
Erwin

Erwin

Well-Known Member
Hmmm... I feel like flushing it with a lot of water for an extended period of time and maybe giving it a shake from time to time while doing so could possibly work. Maybe. It's a large enough chip though that it must have just barely slid through one of the slots to get in there, though. I don't know how I'd maneuver it into a position where it could slide back out. As I said I really can't imagine how it possibly got in there...:hmm:

I'm really thinking trying to dissolve it in something is likely my only option other than taking it to a glassblower, whereas it seems like for whatever a blower will charge me I'd almost be better off getting a new one.

As far as chemicals go, is CLR safe inside a pipe? I knew people take off external labels with it, but do people clean the inside of their pieces with it to? I was under the impression it was pretty toxic stuff....:rip:
 
M

mestizo

Well-Known Member
I have another idea, Sodium Hidroxide.
It is safe because it is used in the food industry, as far as leaving marks in your glass that I don't know, if anything it is going to leave the glass looking like new.

Edit: by now that chip is probably larger in size because of the water absorbed and more difficult to remove.
 
DieHard

DieHard

Accessory supplier
Accessory Maker
Caustic Soda in your bong... Not a good idea. Maybe a mild acid such as vinegar will, in time dissolve it. PBW is made for all types of organic baked on stuff. Maybe an extended, strong PBW soak.

Edit: I think this answers the combustion with a matrix perc question. Maybe use an Ashcatcher if you just HAVE to combust.
 
M

mestizo

Well-Known Member
Food uses of sodium hydroxide include washing or chemical peeling of fruitsand vegetables, chocolate and cocoaprocessing, caramel coloringproduction, poultry scalding, soft drinkprocessing, and thickening ice cream.[24] Olives are often soaked in sodium hydroxide for softening; Pretzelsand German lye rolls are glazed with a sodium hydroxide solution before baking to make them crisp. Owing to the difficulty in obtaining food grade sodium hydroxide in small quantities for home use, sodium carbonate is often used in place of sodium hydroxide.[25]

Specific foods processed with sodium hydroxide include:

  • The Scandinavian delicacy known as lutefisk (from lutfisk, "lye fish").
  • Hominy is dried maize (corn) kernels reconstituted by soaking in lye-water. These expand considerably in size and may be further processed by frying to make corn nuts or by drying and grinding to make grits. Nixtamal is similar, but uses calcium hydroxideinstead of sodium hydroxide.
  • Sodium hydroxide is also the chemical that causes gelling of egg whites in the production of Century eggs.
  • German pretzels are poached in a boiling sodium carbonate solution or cold sodium hydroxide solution before baking, which contributes to their unique crust.
  • Lye-water is an essential ingredient in the crust of the traditional baked Chinese moon cakes.
  • Most yellow coloured Chinese noodles are made with lye-water but are commonly mistaken for containing egg.
  • Some methods of preparing olives involve subjecting them to a lye-based brine.[26]
  • The Filipino dessert (kakanin) called kutsinta uses a bit of lye water to help give the rice flour batter a jelly like consistency. A similar process is also used in the kakanin known as pitsi-pitsior pichi-pichi except that the mixture uses grated cassava instead of rice flour.
 
Erwin

Erwin

Well-Known Member
Vinegar and PBW are probably both worth trying... Preliminary research turned up that sodium hydroxide interacts with glass, and is actually frequently used to frost glass. So it'd probably ruin the clarity of the glass around the perc.... @mestizo I'm sure you're right about it absorbing water and expanding. Especially since it's been in there for more than two months.

Thanks for all the suggestions though everyone! :tup: I'll try most of these, probably, and post if/when I get the chip out. Wish me luck.

@DieHard I don't think anyone's been talking about combustion for at least a page or so... :hmm:


EDIT: Mods, thank you for making this its own thread. I didn't expect so many answers, and didn't intend to end up jacking our much loved cheap bubbler thread!
 
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Erwin

Erwin

Well-Known Member
Perhaps @grokit is right, and I aughtta just take the Zen approach :spliff:

I guess the next logical question, then, is could there be any possible health effects to keeping it there? Any risk of it growing mold or collecting any residue or anything? Could the cranberry start some sort of fungal growth?
:worms:
 
t-dub

t-dub

Vapor Sloth
Dissolving cellulose with chemicals is very difficult. You might try some drain opener but I wouldn't hold out too much hope for dissolving wood. As far as safety goes, if you pollute it dilute it. Water, water and more water. Wood swells with moisture, drying it out might allow it to be blown free with high pressure air. Heating the wood enough to turn it to ash would do the job but not sure how that would work with the glass.

I think the Zen approach might be best. I wish you luck . . . :peace:
 
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