I’m sorry if this is not in the spirit of the community, but I figured my dad would know because of his experience woodworking, and I don’t want to ask him for obvious reasons. I’m happy to remove it if it doesn’t fit.

I have an aluminum herb grinder, that regularly gets jammed up with resin. I tend to use a regular (probably pine) food skewer to clean it off, because I don’t want metal shards coming off of the aluminum from a metal scraper or plastic pieces from a plastic scraper. The pine works okay, but I have to replace it regularly and it can’t get everything.

I know pine is probably one of the softest woods, but would a hard wood be significantly more durable if it were cut as thin as a skewer (4mm diameter round)? Would anything be both reasonably obtainable (I live in a place with frequently abandoned old furniture, if that would be a good source, or I can go to a lumber store) and more durable enough to be worth it?

  • Bizzle@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    12
    ·
    9 months ago

    I’m an all day every day pot head, and clean my grinder by boiling it in milk. Then I strain it and use that milk to make Pot Chocolate. That way nothing is wasted… except for me 😂

  • Spoodle@beehaw.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    10
    ·
    9 months ago

    If you are using wood food skewers, they are probably bamboo. While not a wood, bamboo is actually really hard. On the Janka hardness scale it rates well above food safe, non-exotic, hardwoods like oak and maple.

    Bamboo skewers are cheap, food safe, and available at almost any grocery store. They are one of my go to cleaning tools.

    Definitely don’t go with any wood from a piece of furniture or a random piece of wood if you are worried about ingesting tiny bits of the wood. Some species of wood can cause real issues for people due to their oils and some more exotic lumbers are actually toxic. Wood used in furniture? You have no idea what that was finished with or what kind of glue was used.

  • Lemmeenym@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    10
    ·
    9 months ago

    Reeds would be good for something like this, you can usually find dried bamboo pretty cheap at craft stores or in the garden section in spring.

  • NataliePortland@lemmy.caM
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    8
    ·
    edit-2
    9 months ago

    Yes almost any wood is harder than pine. Old furniture tends to be a lot of oak, at least in my country. Here’s what I would do: find any piece of hardwood. You can use furniture but you will probably find it easier to get a small branch off a hardwood tree. Any tree that has leaves instead of needles will be hardwood ( Some wood nerds would object). Whittle a few skewers out of the wood but NOT the pith- Not the dead center of the branch. After it’s whittled it will be dry within a day even if it’s green still. Then I would hold it over a fire/ stove a bit. Don’t burn it, but the heat will toughen the fibers. That’s probably the best bet.

    Sorry about your nice post getting vandalized by that shmuck. They’re banned now.

  • Zeppo@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    edit-2
    9 months ago

    Definitely not old furniture as that would be likely to have lacquer and other chemicals on it, possibly containing lead.

    What you need is some large weed stems.

      • Lemmeenym@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        9 months ago

        Leaded paint has been used for at least a couple thousand years. Even if it doesn’t have lead wood has to be sealed against moisture so any old furniture will have something on it and probably not more food safe options like a vegetable based oil or beeswax because those wear off more quickly and have to be reapplied fairly regularly. I would expect a form of lacquer before the mid 1900s and poly after that.

      • Zeppo@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        9 months ago

        Really old furniture would be possibly worse. Lead stopped being used in varnish same time as lead paint, 1978. Highly likely that any furniture older than that contains lead, unless you’re talking something from before around 1920.

        • idiomaddict@feddit.deOP
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          9 months ago

          I’m in Germany, so it’s not super uncommon that furniture from the 1800s shows up broken on the street for trash pickup/antiquers, but it seems like that’s not a good idea, based on the other things that might be in there.

  • fullofredgoo@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    9 months ago

    Try using alcohol to soften the resin first, I like to use everclear because it’s high proof and cheap. Don’t use rubbing alcohol, it has that gunk they put in it so homeless people won’t drink it.

  • BlackJerseyGiant@beehaw.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    9 months ago

    Oak dowels will be 2 to 3 times harder than pine, and more durable because of that. Widely available at any hardware store.

  • VargVikernes@eviltoast.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    9 months ago

    JANNY ON LEMMY FUCK FEED FUCK FLOYD JANNY SNEED CLEAN IT UP FUCK FUCK JANNY JANNIES ON LEMMY CHUCK’S CLEAN IT UP AND SNEED’S FOR FREE CITY SLICKER CITY SLICKER JANNIES JANNIES FEED SEED DILATE DILATE JANNIES FEED HOT POCKETS ON LEMMY JANNY CHUCK’S CHUCK HOT POCKETS ON LEMMY AND JANNIES SNEED CITY SLICKER SEED CLEAN IT UP ON LEMMY SEETHE SEETHE CLEAN IT UP SUCK SNEED CLEAN IT UP CHUCK’S

  • VargVikernes@eviltoast.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    9 months ago

    FEED AND CHUCK’S CLEAN IT UP JANNIES HOT POCKETS FOR FREE HOT POCKETS HOT POCKETS I CAN’T CITY SLICKER HOT POCKETS CLEAN IT UP I CAN’T SEETHE CHUCK’S SEED JANNY ON LEMMY FLOYD CITY SLICKER FOR FREE CHUCK’S JANNIES AND I CAN’T SEED FEED CHUCK FUCK CHUCK’S DILATE CITY SLICKER CLEAN IT UP CHUCK’S CHUCK’S SEED I CAN’T CITY SLICKER CLEAN IT UP FEED SNEED SEED FUCK FUCK FLOYD CLEAN IT UP SEED SEED FEED

  • VargVikernes@eviltoast.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    9 months ago

    HOT POCKETS JANNY JANNY DILATE SEETHE FLOYD CLEAN IT UP FUCK DILATE CHUCK CHUCK FEED FEED DILATE CHUCK DILATE ON LEMMY JANNIES CHUCK FLOYD SEETHE JANNIES ON LEMMY CHUCK FUCK I CAN’T FEED JANNIES SEED FUCK SEETHE ON LEMMY SNEED’S FEED DILATE JANNIES FLOYD DILATE HOT POCKETS I CAN’T COPE COPE HOT POCKETS SEED SNEED’S AND AND FUCK DILATE CHUCK’S

  • VargVikernes@eviltoast.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    9 months ago

    SUCK SEETHE SNEED FEED SNEED’S DILATE CITY SLICKER HOT POCKETS JANNY SUCK SEETHE CITY SLICKER FLOYD SNEED’S COPE FEED HOT POCKETS FEED SUCK FOR FREE FUCK FOR FREE SEED I CAN’T JANNIES CHUCK FUCK DILATE SNEED SNEED SEETHE CLEAN IT UP SEED SNEED’S SNEED’S CLEAN IT UP AND CITY SLICKER SEETHE ON LEMMY SNEED JANNY AND DILATE FLOYD SNEED’S I CAN’T FOR FREE CHUCK JANNY

  • VargVikernes@eviltoast.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    9 months ago

    CLEAN IT UP SUCK DILATE COPE CHUCK CITY SLICKER SUCK COPE FUCK CITY SLICKER COPE I CAN’T FEED FLOYD FUCK COPE CHUCK ON LEMMY CHUCK SEED COPE SNEED JANNIES SUCK I CAN’T AND HOT POCKETS SNEED’S FUCK I CAN’T SNEED’S CHUCK’S CITY SLICKER FLOYD SEETHE CHUCK’S SNEED FOR FREE JANNIES COPE FEED CHUCK’S CHUCK’S SNEED’S I CAN’T I CAN’T COPE AND SNEED’S FOR FREE

  • VargVikernes@eviltoast.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    9 months ago

    JANNIES ON LEMMY CHUCK’S CITY SLICKER SUCK CHUCK’S SNEED’S COPE SEETHE SEED AND CITY SLICKER ON LEMMY CHUCK FEED CHUCK’S FUCK FLOYD FUCK FLOYD I CAN’T JANNY SEETHE CHUCK’S ON LEMMY SNEED HOT POCKETS SNEED FUCK FEED DILATE JANNIES CITY SLICKER CITY SLICKER HOT POCKETS JANNY HOT POCKETS CLEAN IT UP JANNY SNEED’S HOT POCKETS SNEED FLOYD CLEAN IT UP FUCK HOT POCKETS CHUCK CHUCK FOR FREE SNEED’S

  • VargVikernes@eviltoast.org
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    ·
    9 months ago

    FOR FREE CLEAN IT UP DILATE DILATE COPE ON LEMMY SEETHE DILATE SUCK SNEED SEED COPE JANNIES HOT POCKETS JANNY CHUCK SNEED HOT POCKETS ON LEMMY JANNIES CHUCK DILATE I CAN’T DILATE SNEED AND I CAN’T SEED DILATE ON LEMMY CITY SLICKER CLEAN IT UP ON LEMMY DILATE JANNIES AND AND CHUCK SUCK JANNIES FOR FREE FEED AND FOR FREE SUCK SEED I CAN’T SNEED FEED DILATE