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Why? How can I be so Negligent?

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LongTimeWaiting

LongTimeWaiting

Rising Star
I've been out of DMT for a few months and today I discovered 50 grams of root bark. Why did I have to? I went through all the precautions and set up the extraction. I've done this a million times, there's no way I could mess it up.


I dump in the root bark, the water, and the lye into a jar. I normally stir the mixture with a stainless steel spatula. Well, today, my head was left in bed. I decided to pick up the glass jar, which is quite large, and swish it around. The second I picked the thing up, the bottom gave out and smashed off the floor. The solution splashed everywhere, on the walls, on my body, and basically, on the worst places possible.

I ran to the shower and started rubbing the bottle of vinegar all over me. I didn't even think about what it could do to the property, I just wanted to make sure I was safe first.

I wasn't harmed but as soon as I realized this shit will eat through anything, I started to shake. I can't risk ruining the building I live in so I dumped vinegar everywhere and ruined at least six towels cleaning up the solution of bark, glass, and lye. I know we don't curse around here, but FUCK.

I'm calmer now, I cleaned everything up but damn why did I have to be such an idiot? The jar is relatively new too, only used twice.

Be careful everyone, this isn't worth it. Your safety comes first. I'm glad it wasn't a worst case scenario and the only thing I lost was time, DMT, and some towels. I could have ruined my skin, my eyes, and my life. Please be careful, I know we say it all the time, but I'm lucky I got a next time. I will never be negligent again. I'm valuing my life more than ever right now, but it shouldn't take cases like this to make me. Please stay safe.
 
Yes I have done something similar, I had a 1l jar of solution inside a plastic bucket, I poured boiling water into the bucket so I could warm the solution and the bottom came off the jar.. ha. Schoolboy error, but it was in a bucket so no harm done... however I did have fish the glass out of my MHRB solution.
 
Damn bro sorry to hear this happened to you :cry: Wish I could take you out for a drink so you could forget all this.
 
Not DMT, but I had a jar explode on me while pouring cool solvent into a mecal extraction... At the time I was quite confused as it also was a new jar.

Invest in some borosilicate or Pyrex labware.... It's what I started doing.

Also, during a different extraction, a container didn't break, but I did add my base solution to the acidic solution WAY too fast, resulting in a science fair volcano... Except with you know... Lye... I was fine, but my garage still smells funny, and it was a fun cleanup with several bottles of vinegar since I didn't know how basic everything actually got... Figured better safe than sorry.
 
Yea that sucks man :cry: ... I messed my kitchen counter up trying to measure out the lye. It kinda bounces around and got on my damp counter... I didn’t even notice till my wife was chewing me out because there were a bunch of little burn spots on the counter... trust me people. Always lay something down to work on(I use an apron)
 
Achilles said:
Yea that sucks man :cry: ... I messed my kitchen counter up trying to measure out the lye. It kinda bounces around and got on my damp counter... I didn’t even notice till my wife was chewing me out because there were a bunch of little burn spots on the counter... trust me people. Always lay something down to work on(I use an apron)
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Ahh, nothing like getting chewed out by the Mrs. :s
 
LongTimeWaiting said:
Hm, the jar inside the bucket sounds smart. Is it possible to just use plastic? Glass has me sketched out now.
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Don't do NP pulls inside a plastic container as the NP solvent may react with the plastic.
 
Jagube said:
LongTimeWaiting said:
Hm, the jar inside the bucket sounds smart. Is it possible to just use plastic? Glass has me sketched out now.
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Don't do NP pulls inside a plastic container as the NP solvent may react with the plastic.
Click to expand...


I'm telling you, borosilicate or Pyrex, temp shock resistant.
 
FranLover said:
Damn bro sorry to hear this happened to you :cry: Wish I could take you out for a drink so you could forget all this.
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Thanks, this sounds like a good idea. Think I'm gonna hit my buddies up, get drunk, and play the new smash bros.

DreadedShaman said:
Invest in some borosilicate or Pyrex labware.... It's what I started doing.
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Will do.

Jagube said:
Don't do NP pulls inside a plastic container as the NP solvent may react with the plastic.
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I hear you loud and clear.

Achilles said:
Yea that sucks man :cry: ... I messed my kitchen counter up trying to measure out the lye. It kinda bounces around and got on my damp counter... I didn’t even notice till my wife was chewing me out because there were a bunch of little burn spots on the counter... trust me people. Always lay something down to work on(I use an apron)
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This lye fellow could be a real bastard sometimes. It's good we learn but sucks when it's because of our mistakes.
 
LongTimeWaiting said:
Hm, the jar inside the bucket sounds smart. Is it possible to just use plastic? Glass has me sketched out now.
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Don’t use plastic.

Get yourself something like this and you will seriously reduce the chance of glass breaking, still a chance. So always be in the position so if it does break it won’t cause problems, I always do my pulls over a deep sink.

This is also why I keep my dogs locked up while doing an extraction.


 
The consensus on plastic is not to use it. I will take everyone's advice and invest in something better, like what you and the others have suggested.
 
Also having a spray bottle full of vinegar is more effective than dumping the vinegar on yourself. I have spilled base on myself and could see how one could easily go through a whole gallon of vinegar quickly if poured in a panic.
 
JP said:
This is also why I keep my dogs locked up while doing an extraction.
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Don't have animals so this hasn't come up for me, and frankly I probably wouldn't think to until it's too late if I did. Thanks for this, it is exactly the first time I've ever heard anyone mention it.

I'd wager that most of you do take your pet's safety into consideration around extractions, but maybe it should be stated more often.:?:
 
Glad to hear you're okay. Thanks for reminding us of how things can go wrong.:shock:

Sometimes it's hard to remember all the safety precautions in life, but it's really important when dealing with dangerous things. Chemicals, fires, electricity, etc.

Peace,
 
null24 said:
JP said:
This is also why I keep my dogs locked up while doing an extraction.
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Don't have animals so this hasn't come up for me, and frankly I probably wouldn't think to until it's too late if I did. Thanks for this, it is exactly the first time I've ever heard anyone mention it.

I'd wager that most of you do take your pet's safety into consideration around extractions, but maybe it should be stated more often.:?:
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I've always made sure to lock up my cats when I have had to be inside, now I have space to lock myself up instead.

I'm also careful to not smoalk around my animals...
My cats have been some strange parts of my trips before tho.
 
A little lye goes a long way. The less you use the safer the whole procedure (see info below). Avoid over using it.

High concentrations, excessive time, and high temperature can slowly etch glass, something to keep in mind.

I think from this point of view A/B may be a little safer than STB. In the former you can use a pH meter and slowly adjust to pH~12 during the basing step and stop adding lye. In the latter you depend on making a corrosive gunk mass that needs high lye concentration to extract/work and could weaken the container over time and/or reuses.

Questions for the OP, How much lye did you add to the glass jar? Had you used that jar before for STB teks? If yes, how many times? How long do you let the solution sit? If you still have the jar, does it look thinner where it bottomed out vs the top of the jar that is not exposed to NaOH?

Finally, I'm not sure glass is the ideal choice for lye STB. Something like HDPE may make more sense for a long extraction times at high lye concentration. When doing the solvent pull make sure what you use is compatible with HDPE.

Solid NaOH is corrosive. Depending on the concentration, solutions of NaOH are non-irritating, irritating or
corrosive and they cause direct local effects on the skin, eyes and gastrointestinal tracts. Based on human data
concentrations of 0.5-4.0 % were irritating to the skin, while a concentration of 8.0 % was corrosive for the skin of
animals. Eye irritation data are available for animals. The non-irritant level was 0.2-1.0 %, while the corrosive
concentration was 1.2 % or higher. A study with human volunteers did not indicate a skin sensitisation potential of
sodium hydroxide. This is supported by the extensive human experience.
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I've had jars bottom out on me like that a couple times. Fortunately it was in a hot water bath both times so it all just dumped into the water. I stopped doing hot water baths after that second time. Then I stopped using lye altogether and went to the drytek.

A story of one my many fails:
I had a jar of spice infused solvent evaporating in front of a fan. Full extraction, probably 1.5-2 grams worth. I wanted to speed it up so I set the jar kinda on it's edge and made sure it was well supported so it wouldn't roll around or spill. Well, I accidentally bumped the table and watched as the jar tipped rolled and dumped my whole extraction into my cork yoga block which was conveniently sitting right below the table. I was bemoaning my fate in chat about it and House was like, just think of it this way, every time you do yoga now you'll reach for your block and know hyperspace is right there with yoyu. Now every time I'm doing yoga and reach for my block I crack a little smile an remember what is sitting right behind the veil. :d
 
Loveall said:
Questions for the OP, How much lye did you add to the glass jar? Had you used that jar before for STB teks? If yes, how many times? How long do you let the solution sit? If you still have the jar, does it look thinner where it bottomed out vs the top of the jar that is not exposed to NaOH?
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I used very little lye. I like to add it slowly and stir but this time around I didn't have a stirring utensil near me, so I picked it up to swish it around. Couldn't have been more than 10-20 grams. I have used the jar before, twice. I didn't let the solution sit at all. I dumped in the lye and immediately swished it around so it could dissolve. And, I do not have the jar anymore.
 
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