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Pre-owned grinder: Refurbishment?

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SixSecondCountdown

Greenlighter
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Oct 13, 2015
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Just took my friend to buy a new piece and he picked up a new grinder as well. I bought his old one for five bucks, and I want to clean it out and make it like new. It's a standard three-chamber grinder with a mesh bottom in the middle chamber, and it's pretty...grimy. Is boiling the best option? Alcohol bath? What would y'all recommend?
 
i'd hit it with an iso wash first and maybe try to recoup some smokeables from that and then boil to break up the really stubborn stuff
 
I always just soak mine in Iso alcohol for a few days, then give it a thorough rinse and cleaning with a q-tip
 
you could try a quick wash iso extraction to recover any smokables and then let it soak for a few days in iso so the remainder breaks down. If it hasn't been cleaned in a long time I would personally just skip the quick wash and let it soak for a few days, maybe add some rock salt to the bag, shake vigorously and then wash with water and let it dry out.
 
effingcustie said:
I always just soak mine in Iso alcohol for a few days, then give it a thorough rinse and cleaning with a q-tip
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No, no, no, no, no, no, nooooooooooooo, not a few days, custie! NEVER a few days!


That shit will tarnish the fuck out of your grinder (it has to a couple of mine in the past, at least).




In all honesty, 30sec-2min while gently shaking the iso around/through the grinder parts should be more than sufficient for each component you need to clean. I've never had to do any longer than that to get my grinders looking pristine again (I tend to salvage as much kief as I possibly can before I go for the wash, though), and every time I've let the shit sit in iso for an extended period of time my grinder comes back looking funky as shit. Clean, yeah, but it just looks like it's been stripped of its luster/shine and like it's 3 days of humid weather away from rusting to shit.




I've also noticed that after a handful of iso washes, grinders of mine have started to shed itsy bitsy little tiny metal shavings into my kief collector. Just a word of caution. If you're going for, like, you're 17th iso wash, you might just want to get a replacement grinder before it starts literally falling apart.
 
thanks for the word of advice jib, never tried it before myself. Thinking about it, there would probably be no reason to soak it for a few days anyways as none of the plant material has been burnt onto the surface, just cake up over time.

I have used a chop stick to unstick big chunks of plant material and then put them in a pipe and smoked it. Was the most concentrated form of hash that I have smoked. Stuff burnt forever and got my ripped as fuck
 
I clean all my cannabis gear using an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner and 99% warm Isopropyl Alcohol.

The ultrasonic cleaner is a cheap piece of crap from Amazon, but it works, so heh. Toss a pipe in there, turn it on, let it sit half an hour, stuff comes out super clean. Collect the leftover alcohol, as it can be reused time and time again. I don't bother with reclaiming any smokables from that, i'm not that concerned with it to be honest.
 
Jibult said:
No, no, no, no, no, no, nooooooooooooo, not a few days, custie! NEVER a few days!


That shit will tarnish the fuck out of your grinder (it has to a couple of mine in the past, at least).




In all honesty, 30sec-2min while gently shaking the iso around/through the grinder parts should be more than sufficient for each component you need to clean. I've never had to do any longer than that to get my grinders looking pristine again (I tend to salvage as much kief as I possibly can before I go for the wash, though), and every time I've let the shit sit in iso for an extended period of time my grinder comes back looking funky as shit. Clean, yeah, but it just looks like it's been stripped of its luster/shine and like it's 3 days of humid weather away from rusting to shit.




I've also noticed that after a handful of iso washes, grinders of mine have started to shed itsy bitsy little tiny metal shavings into my kief collector. Just a word of caution. If you're going for, like, you're 17th iso wash, you might just want to get a replacement grinder before it starts literally falling apart.
Click to expand...
there is no way I can think of how isopropyl alcohol will degrade metal (aluminium when talking about grinders). besides that, aluminium is always covered by a thin layer of aluminium oxide which basically makes it inert to the atmosphere.

I would guess that the iso you are using might be impure, and that it looks "funky" because not all evaporates off. pure isopropyl alcohol (with a minimal water content of course) won't leave any trace after evaporation.

either way, I agree in that it's not necessary to soak it that long, because a few minutes suffice.
 
I would do an quick ISO wash (QWISO) on the grinder for 1-2 times for 45sec-1minute each.

However, considering the possibility of nasty non-cannabis related things in your final ISO solution, I would just decarb and make coconut oil w/ lecithin in a crock-pot with it instead of trying to smoke/dab it. It just seems safer to me.
 
Bagseed said:
there is no way I can think of how isopropyl alcohol will degrade metal (aluminium when talking about grinders). besides that, aluminium is always covered by a thin layer of aluminium oxide which basically makes it inert to the atmosphere.

I would guess that the iso you are using might be impure, and that it looks "funky" because not all evaporates off. pure isopropyl alcohol (with a minimal water content of course) won't leave any trace after evaporation.

either way, I agree in that it's not necessary to soak it that long, because a few minutes suffice.
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95% impure? sure then.


I can't think of a way, either, I just know what happens when I soak an aluminum grinder in a container full of iso overnight. Just because I can't explain it doesn't mean I can't observe it. That shit goes from shiny as fuck to-- uh.. no shine with tons of irregularly shaped, dull greyish/brownish spots. Looks weird as fuck. Still works the same, just fucks the aesthetics all up and makes my paranoid ass think it's 2g away from flaking.
 
I agree I don't think it's possible for alcohol to degrade aluminum but that is my educated guess. I do think it could be possible for the alcohol to degrade the coating and exposing it to the elements, allowing it to start to degrade.
 
yeah it was my guess to, but after quick research, I was proven wrong: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium_isopropoxide

I couldn't find out though, if there would be reaction without heat, just prolongued exposure. so I'm still not sure if this is what jibult describes.

of course I shouldn't have been so ignorant, because I know perfectly well that sodium ethanolate is a thing..
 
OP here. I used a toothbrush, liquid dish soap, warm water, and some 50% isopropyl alcohol. Repeatedly washed pieces with soap and water, with intermittent soaking in alcohol. Lastly, I mixed dish soap with the alcohol and soaked the pieces, then scrubbed with the toothbrush. The alcohol evaporated quickly and left the suds behind to pick up gunk. Rinsed, and it was good as new.
 
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