Used Magnetic Stir Bars

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jtbarclay

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I was at a local surplus shop here in the twin cities, Ax-Man if there are any other Minnesotan's here. I picked up some magnetic stir bars for a quarter each. Is there any way I can make these food safe again, I'd have to assume that these have been in contact with acid, and mercury, and lead, and uranium, and chlorine, and everything else that would kill me.
 
Most stir bars are coated in teflon to resist harsh chemicals. We reuse stirbars hundreds of times at work just by soaking in soap solution and sonnicating. If they harbored any foreign materials or chemicals, our HPLC assays would reflect it. As long as they are not scratched or stained, just give them a thorough washing and maybe a boiling and they will be fine.
 
Sure...Clean it, lick it, and, if we don't hear back from you, well... :D

Just kidding...If it's PTFE coated (and the coating is still in good condition), I don't see why you can't clean it thoroughly to remove any trace chemicals. PTFE is biologically inert.
 
Also as far as sanitizing I boil it with the rest of the starter. You could wash it with soap and boil it before using it. That might help.
 
As long as your used stir bars are not light green night lights in your yeast starter I would bet your ok to use them. All joking aside, were they used for and radioactive materials? I could not believe a lab would sell them if they were used on any radioactive materials. If clean without glowing a boil and clean wash job your good to go. I would say it's a good find. It never happens to me.
 
Interesting. Which Axeman were you at?

Actually I was at 3 of them today... I woke up and felt like taking a personal day. The stir rods came from the St. Louis Park location by all the glassware.

My intent was to do a Tour-de-Ax-man, but apparently there's a new location in Crystal that's apparently the best stocked out of them all. I can't believe they haven't updated their website yet :(

I was joking about the radioactive part, just trying to say that anything could be on them. One of my high school chemistry teachers told us something about rinsing 7 times, because it would reduce the concentration of anything to less than 10^-32 or something like that. Anyone know if that's valid?
 
I work near the new Crystal location, and drop in at lunch time occasionaly. I have not seen any stir bars.
With Midwest so close by, I got my stir bars there. The cheap Ba****d in me likes the idea of a .025 stirbar, though.
 
I would say it's a good find. It never happens to me.

Naw, the best find of today was the pilsner glass etched with my first name for 45 cents. Oh, and it also has some random date on it, but who cares, 45 cents!
 
I work near the new Crystal location, and drop in at lunch time occasionaly. I have not seen any stir bars.
With Midwest so close by, I got my stir bars there. The cheap Ba****d in me likes the idea of a .025 stirbar, though.

Isn't midwest closer to the St. Louis Park ax-man? I have no idea, all I know is that I take nearly the same exit off of 100 to get to both. I went to midwest last friday when I was bored. Quite a trek from Stillwater, but it's huge!
 
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