My friend, do yourself a favor and invest in a proper grinder. You can find pocket grinders with a kief catch for like $15. That catch will be your friend during the hard times. Let it build until you need it, and never clean that shit unless it is into your apparatus of choice.
ETA: Clean the grinder teeth, not the catch. Just knock it into the catch with a toothbrush before you do. Sometimes you can scrape some extra goodness up, but it sucks using a gummed grinder. Should be able to grind in one smooth motion, not too much resistance.
Ive never bathed by grinder in isopropyl in 6+ years and it still grinds like new every time I clean it with my pocket knife. But I did get a steel grinder to make sure I can scrape all I want without getting aluminum in my weed
Cooking doesn’t usually go much higher than 200 - 250C (400 - 500F). Cigarettes (and I assume joints similarly) reach 900C (1650F) when puffing. I’m not sure at which point aluminum produces fumes, but I dont think the cooking argument holds up.
Ice had the experience that toothpicks break too easily to clean my grinder, especially what’s in the little gap between the lid and the outside of the grinding chamber if that makes sense. But glad it works for you!
I also removed my kief tray once I started earning enough to never really run out lol
Welder here. Aluminum oxide inhalation is correlated with an increased risk for alzheimers, not cancer. Hexavalent chromium is a carcinogen, and that comes from heating up stainless steels. So you are actively replacing a relatively non toxic oxide with the potential for an actually toxic carcinogenic gaseous metal, assuming your pocket knife is some sort of stainless steel (statistically very likely).
You are underestimating how good a cheap coffee grinder is. 10 seconds to do what a manual grinder takes minutes to do, costs the same despite being powered, and it can do half an Oz at a time, more if I feel like being careful. One day it’ll be too gummed up for the motor, and then I’ll go spend another 15 AUD for another one, unless it’s gone up in the years I expect it to last.
My friend, do yourself a favor and invest in a proper grinder. You can find pocket grinders with a kief catch for like $15. That catch will be your friend during the hard times. Let it build until you need it, and never clean that shit unless it is into your apparatus of choice.
ETA: Clean the grinder teeth, not the catch. Just knock it into the catch with a toothbrush before you do. Sometimes you can scrape some extra goodness up, but it sucks using a gummed grinder. Should be able to grind in one smooth motion, not too much resistance.
I do an Isopropyl bath then a quick brush with a tooth brush. Makes it grind like new.
Ive never bathed by grinder in isopropyl in 6+ years and it still grinds like new every time I clean it with my pocket knife. But I did get a steel grinder to make sure I can scrape all I want without getting aluminum in my weed
You’re probably still getting some steel in the weed. It is very unlikely the knife and the grinder share the exact hardness.
But I’d rather have steel than aluminum in my weed. Aluminum oxide fumes are carcinogenic when inhaled, so I’d rather avoid it.
I realize worrying about cancer when talking about smoking is ironic, but still.
Doesn’t aluminum need to be heated to several thousand degrees to put off carcinogenic fumes? Otherwise cooking on aluminum foil would be deadly…
Cooking doesn’t usually go much higher than 200 - 250C (400 - 500F). Cigarettes (and I assume joints similarly) reach 900C (1650F) when puffing. I’m not sure at which point aluminum produces fumes, but I dont think the cooking argument holds up.
Personally i just use a toothpick, but i usually clean for smooth operation as I rarely run out these days.
Ice had the experience that toothpicks break too easily to clean my grinder, especially what’s in the little gap between the lid and the outside of the grinding chamber if that makes sense. But glad it works for you!
I also removed my kief tray once I started earning enough to never really run out lol
Welder here. Aluminum oxide inhalation is correlated with an increased risk for alzheimers, not cancer. Hexavalent chromium is a carcinogen, and that comes from heating up stainless steels. So you are actively replacing a relatively non toxic oxide with the potential for an actually toxic carcinogenic gaseous metal, assuming your pocket knife is some sort of stainless steel (statistically very likely).
You are underestimating how good a cheap coffee grinder is. 10 seconds to do what a manual grinder takes minutes to do, costs the same despite being powered, and it can do half an Oz at a time, more if I feel like being careful. One day it’ll be too gummed up for the motor, and then I’ll go spend another 15 AUD for another one, unless it’s gone up in the years I expect it to last.