Quickie about wooden stirrers

[vwyob]

What effect does metal have on emulsion guys please? We use wooden but I have no idea why? Cheers

[Kevbeck]

TBH I don't know, but have always used a plastic spatular

[Doug B]

  I have always heard that there may be some kind of chemical reaction with certain
metals - therefore use wood.

[tonypep]

Especially with diazos

[jsheridan]

Diazo is a mild acid and corrodes metal.

Stainless steel will discolor and stain. Looks cool so I use a 10" stainless steel mixing blade and then wipe it off as soon as I'm done with it, then hang it back up on the little hook that it hangs from.

Or you can fill your trash can with emulsion soaked wooden stir sticks..

It's up to you.

[mimosatexas]

two reasons i use wood: they are free at lowe's/home depot and no cleanup.

[Nick Bane]

so since we cant use metal to stir with, what happens when we turn around and pour it into a metal scoop coater?

[Evo]

Good Cooks brand solid silicone scrapers and spatulas. The kind that are all one molded piece so they are easy to clean. My weapon of choice for emulsion and wb inks. You can scrape the inside of the buckets clean to reduce dried emulsion and ink film.

[StuJohnston]

I generally use a (chromed?) stainless spatula and the only time I got a stain on it was when I let the emulsion dry by accident. But it's just a stain. The stir sticks they provide are pretty worthless if you want to get to the bottom of the bucket.

[vwyob]

Brilliant range of answers and a dab of humor too thanks guys. It was just a random thought the other day whilst mixing some up. Many thanks 

[tonypep]

Scoop coaters are aluminium

[jsheridan]

Good Cooks brand solid silicone scrapers and spatulas. The kind that are all one molded piece so they are easy to clean. My weapon of choice for emulsion and wb inks. You can scrape the inside of the buckets clean to reduce dried emulsion and ink film.

How does the silicone react with ink cleaners.. in case someone decides to whip up some plastisol with them.

[Evo]

How does the silicone react with ink cleaners.. in case someone decides to whip up some plastisol with them.

Never had an issues. Safety Kleen tank sucks with them though, as with all plastics, in that it doesn't really get them very clean. The silicone seems to stand up to anything I've ever cleaned it with though.

I have a few similar to this one also:



They are great because being one molded piece, there is nowhere for ink or emulsion to get hung up on. Super easy to keep completely clean.