Allow Me To Retort
- Thread starter cynyr
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I don't know anyone that builds pipe retorts but sometimes I can make witty or asinine retorts. I think this qualifies as the latter! :rofl:
I have two, and the people I bought them from did nothing more than bought a boroscilicate glass test tube and a bit of rubber tubing. And, actually on both they used the exact same test tube. You could do that and circumnavigate the whole middleman and just buy your own test tube and a bit of tubing. Both, you can find at Amazon.
Just today I was doing some looking for parts to build one myself. I have 1" borosilicate test tubes but no rubber stopper or heat resistant tubing. I also have some 3/16 ID borosilicate glass tube. Maybe a trade somehow?
These links I saved.
Silicone-Flexible-Tubing-High-Temperature-Hose-500F
Rubber-Stoppers
3-16-I-D-Silicone-Tubing-Temperature-Rated-to-500F
These links I saved.
Silicone-Flexible-Tubing-High-Temperature-Hose-500F
Rubber-Stoppers
3-16-I-D-Silicone-Tubing-Temperature-Rated-to-500F
I bought a retort and decided I would give it a whirl since it was cheaper than sending the pipe out.
Then I looked at how much a half-decent skin graft cost and decided to send the pipe out.
Then I looked at how much a half-decent skin graft cost and decided to send the pipe out.
Allan, you've met Peck. Do you seriously want to leave the man to his own with an open flame and accelerant?
Sorry Cynyr, I only have the one. I highly recommend a leather apron, gloves, safety glasses and a clear work bench for your retorts though.
-- Pat
Here's a shot of Pat in his shop getting ready to inject the alcohol into the test tube.
Of course, Pat is too afraid to do the actual retort himself, so he makes his dog, Maia, do it for him, although he does provide her with a leather apron and protective goggles as required by Article XII of The Geneva Convention of Pipe Retorting and Animal Husbandry:
Of course, Pat is too afraid to do the actual retort himself, so he makes his dog, Maia, do it for him, although he does provide her with a leather apron and protective goggles as required by Article XII of The Geneva Convention of Pipe Retorting and Animal Husbandry:
LOL, well... I did have one instance where the alcohol shot the cotton ball right out of the bowl, igniting a cloud of hell fire, and... just when I thought it was over the fumes in the pipe, popped like a Roman candle, sending my heart up through my throat and out my mouth. That wasn't nearly as nasty as what I ended up setting in, lol. Scared it right out of me.
But, overall, besides being scary as hell, I don't think any real damage was done that a mop and a change of clothes couldn't fix. :
:
But, overall, besides being scary as hell, I don't think any real damage was done that a mop and a change of clothes couldn't fix. :
:
I have one, and consider myself fairly adept with these sort of things but I just can't seem to get them to work like the videos show. I either don't get the alcohol boiling enough, or it boils out thru the pipe, potentially damaging the finish. So, they sit in my pipe draw. I suspect I need a better flame source (using a fat candle).
In the good old days, you could just buy a Philips' Patent Steam Pipe Cleaner from the BBB catalog. Crazy! That BBB sold these off the shelf shows either how strong the pipe industry was c. 1912 or one of the reasons why BBB went bankrupt 10 or 15 years later.
That's amazing Pitch. Technology on estate pipe cleaning hasn't evolved much in the past 100 years!
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