Is this an alternative to glass ?

Stainless steel should work as it is what SWIM hears is a good type of spoon to stir with.

The only problem SWIM can see is, with Stainless steel, SWIY can not see what they are pulling up. SWIY does not want to get junk in there and poor it into SWIY's collection dish according to SWIM.

Good point. But you the layers do seperate inside the baster so you can simply press the baster till there is only naptha dripping out, before you aquirt it into the collection jar.

Good to hear that stainless steel is good to use.

Yes and no, depending on how fast goop was pull up, it can travel all the way to the top. SWIM tends to empty the baster and try again if he sees any go up, just in case.

What is the concern with something like biomex or pyrex? Even bases beyond 13 will be perfectly fine in a pipette for a short amount of time. If you can find a stainless steel pipette - it'll be expensive but bomber. The only problem is that glass pipettes break quite easily when dropped or when they roll off a table, etc.. I really wouldn't sweat this one. However, I may be missing your real point.

{h}

My friend wants to know if steel is safe to use. The ceapest steel pipette he'S found was 20$ shipping included...or half that for a plastic one, but he's afraid that it'll etch.

SWIM says even a plastic one is fine as long as it stays in the naptha layer...

Yeah, but that's the problem...it's not always possible to only capture the naphta, says my friend.

SWIM has gotten the black/brown goop plenty in his cheapo baster with no problems, even some on the outside which was rinsed off. No problems to date.10-15 pulls with it since, still no damage. Most common thing to hold lye is plastic. It should not hurt.

SWIM wishes to ensure SWIY does not misunderstand him. SWIM is not saying let the baster sit in basic water for hour on end and expect nothing at all to happen, as something COULD happen. SWIM is saying that under normal pulling of naptha, it should not be a problem.