SWIM is going to attempt Noman's tek for the first time. He has been making the rounds collecting all of the necessary equipment and recently came across 2 quart jelly jars that have a white rubber/latex(?) seal around the top. No different than any other jar he has seen with a locking top. My friend's worry though is that while he am rolling the jar around, this seal will be exposed to the naptha and lye solution. Will that pose a problem?

Other than that everything has been collected except for a glass turkey baster and ph test strips.

I don't think it should. Maybe if you like soak it in naphtha for a long while it might have adverse reactions, same with the base water....


I wouldn't think it would, although I'd wait for more input by more experienced people.

Naptha will dissolve the seal. Maybe not to any great extent but you will have contaminated solvent, which means you may end up smoking that seal later on. Use hdpe milk containers etc if you are going ghetto.

I've never had a problem with those type of seals, but if you want to be safe, use HDPE.

What are the pH strips for? That lye/water ratio is WAY beyond Ph14. It's not measurable, nor does it need to be measured.

Well the ph strips were going to be used to ensure the ph was over 13. But based on what you said, it appears that the tek was designed to be foolproof in that regard. I remember reading that several people had issues with the ph being low, not with your Tek Noman but with similar ones. Just wanted to be sure. My friends mind hasnt practiced chemistry since college really. SWIM is really looking forward to doing this.

Regarding HDPE milk containers, am I looking for anything in particular or are all plastic milk containers HDPE?

All of the ones that sat HDPE on the bottom are.

Funny I have the same dilemma I have all the ingredients but not containers or scale. I will go the hdpe route for first time. If 2liter soda bottles are hdpe it seems removing naptha from top would be easy by squeezing to bottleneck. Base would be mixed separate and poured through funnel.

2 liter soda bottles are not HDPE.

When you start messing with other things like xylene, you quickly learn to use other containers, or put a piece of foil between the cap and the jar. Just make sure the foil is flat and not crinkled, and put the cap on extra tight.

http://en.wikipedia.org/...igh-density_polyethylene Look for the "2" on the bottle. Don't use soda bottles that's the wrong plastic.