how *necessary* is shredding for extracting from bark?

[faustus]

hi all, first time posting but been lurking for a while.

i just had a question regarding the need to shred bark prior to extracting. this matter may be relevant to those who are extracting from bark and may not have access to a shredder/mulcher, while blenders or grinders might be untenable for larger quantity extractions.

i appreciate that pretty much everyone recommends that the bark should be shredded to improve extraction yields, but has anyone every actually tested this? if doing an A/B extraction, perhaps by allowing the bark to sit in acid for a longer period of time, or doing this multiple times, it would obviate the need to shred?

i'm not after intuition or "this is just the way things are done" type considerations, but has anyone ever tested extractions with and without shredding to actually compare differences in yield?

many thanks in advance!

 

[endlessness]

Once I boiled some large pieces of mimosa root for several hours 3x, and after this was done, I filtered, and then I got a piece of mimosa and broke it up into thinner layers, and I noticed the inside layers werent even wet yet! So for sure the alkaloids towards the center had not been extracted yet. After breaking some of it up manually, this was reboiled and it was still active (but we had made no measurements so I cant say how much of alkaloids were still there).

I have done the whole process from whole root to near-powder/shredded by myself with a knife, some strong scissors, tweezers and a blender. Even without a blender you can still have it decently small. Just dont use big pieces. So what you do is, have a big paper sheet on the floor, put some music/light a joint, and start working With your dried mimosa pieces, bend them so that they break into layers, and strip it so its in thinner layers with your hand (its tough work) and/or with the help of some tweezers. Stripping into thinner pieces is essential! Then you can cut the thinner layers into small squares with scissors. Then blend them in several turns with small-medium amounts if you have a blender, or just extract as-is. If you extract as-is without blending, you can either leave it soaking in vinegar for a couple of days before the last boil, or try to do an STB on the bark after the A/B. In any case just dont throw anything away before final yield