A Little HB History :) - Page 2

#11: Post by **yakster** » February 14th, 2017, 1:29 pm

Nothing wrong with the dissecting needle. I think I paid a buck for mine at a local science shop.

February 14th, 2017, 2:41 pm

Right. And they're not as sharp as the name sounds. When mine arrived, I sanded the tip down a bit, so that it's a blunt probe. The wooden handle is great for flattening the coffee bed.

February 14th, 2017, 2:58 pm

bluesman wrote:There are several great dental tools suitable for "distribution optimization". Ask her to bring you a periodontal probe or a small cement spatula. If she can find one in the obsolete instruments drawer, there are several kinds of burnishers from the days of gold and silver-amalgam restorations that are small and smooth at the tip (e.g. a ball burnisher). They're all SS and any would be great for WDT.

A simple explorer would also be great, except that they're quite sharp at the tip. I was amazed to find so many people putting sharp needles into their baskets anyway. Without a depth stop or indicator on the shank, it seems too easy to scrape the tip against the inside bottom of the basket and create scratches or other tiny defects (which I personally don't think is a good idea).

Thanks! I'll send her a text

bluesman wrote:Well I'll be d@mned - they have them, starting at $5.79!

Is there anything Amazon doesn't have?

February 14th, 2017, 3:01 pm

bluesman wrote:I was amazed to find so many people putting sharp needles into their baskets anyway. Without a depth stop or indicator on the shank, it seems too easy to scrape the tip against the inside bottom of the basket and create scratches or other tiny defects (which I personally don't think is a good idea).

A wooden-handled dissecting needle remains my distribution tool of choice. I have never scratched a basket, so I consider this a non-issue. If you prefer a dental pick or other device, that's fine. Use whatever feels best in your hand.

#15: Post by **bluesman** » February 14th, 2017, 4:22 pm

Eastsideloco wrote:Right. And they're not as sharp as the name sounds. When mine arrived, I sanded the tip down a bit, so that it's a blunt probe. The wooden handle is great for flattening the coffee bed.

I'm intrigued that no one's had any problem with scratching the basket using a needle. So I just went through my surgical instrument collection and pulled out a few for WDT duty. This could be a new life for tools I thought I'd never use again - tonight I'll try a tiny skin hook. And to think, my wife said I should throw them out when I retired from practice. Silly woman!

February 14th, 2017, 5:06 pm

You should try using a Dremel tool to make a minor modification to a basket. It's super time consuming. And that's with a motorized device and a sanding wheel. Seems unlikely to me that you could damage any of the utilitarian baskets I've used with a hand probe. (But again, my dissecting needle was never particularly sharp, and I intentionally blunted the point further when I sanded the stick down to improve handling.)

February 14th, 2017, 6:51 pm

You look made me go look at my basket

I don't see any scratches. I don't put a lot of downward pressure on the needle so it barely touches the basket. Maybe that helps.'

Either way, it works, and it has history attached to it. The yogurt container, on the other hand, may have to be retired.

February 14th, 2017, 6:52 pm

sweaner wrote:I use the same brand of yogurt container!

My wife wanted me to ask...

Is it the same flavor, too? (Raspberry)

#19: Post by **RockyIII** » February 14th, 2017, 8:35 pm

For WDT, I use a high-tech device known as a wooden toothpick.

Rocky

February 14th, 2017, 9:35 pm

Before I received my Monolith and the included WDT tool, I was using a bamboo skewer that worked quite well and didn't scratch the basket. A decent quantity were purchased at a very reasonable price.