Recently I had a revelation concerning a source for jet prickers. Someone had made a pricker in another post, but the source of the fine wire??? I had suggested the same tool required for cleaning oxy-acetylene torchs contain numerous sizes with smooth tips before the files engage. The revelation occured when I was considering a new string for my guitar. Although my classical guitar uses Nylon strings, steel string guitars have various diameters depending on the gauge of the string. Of course bronze wound is not acceptable, but within are steel wire, and usually the high E, B and G strings are solid wire. Certainly these should be enough variety for all the cleaning prickers for the entire stove population, but if a size is not found perhaps someone with a piano company would have an abundant supply of used or broken strings??? Has anyone tried this yet??
Yup, been done works well - the trick is to know which size you need, Guitar string sizes are usually quoted in thousandths on an inch, prickers and jets I have only seen in metric... There are 40 tousandths of an inch in 1 millimeter- so a jet which requires a 0.25mm pricker would need a 10 thou (0.010") wire. Strings are available in increments of 0.001" from 0.008" (a really skinny top E) to 0.020 (The Rare plain D).
Stainless wire brush is usually 13 thou But stainless solid trace wire for fishing of 20-30 lb may be of another sorce. Test it with your mike or veriners first, though and GENTLY test it for size in jet oriface first otherwise you will no doubt be reaming it out larger and making things worse. Obiously everyone knew that! Why am I rambling on?
The best method I have found to make prickers is to buy a small wire brush, preferably stainless steel bristle. I avoid the cheaper imported ones as they tend to have a steel bristle that is too thick. My source brush has a wooden handle and stainless steel bristles about 15 thousands of an inch in diameter. I use a hacksaw to cut the wooden brush handle off just past the first row of bristles. Make a 90 degree cut to the length of the brush. This will give you a small piece of wood with all the bristles intact. They are held in place by a small nail. Get a sharp knife and whittle away the wood, which should result in a large number of intact bristles, of a " U " shape. Maybe " V " shape. Go drink a can of your favorite beverage. Doe'nt matter what, as long as it comes in an Aluminum can. Cut the top and bottom off of the aluminum can. Make a cut the length of the can giving you a piece of Aluminum about three by six inches. Cut as many strips of the Aluminum into pieces about three by 1/2 inches. Fold them over to whatever shape you like as this is the handle. Glue a single bristle into each handle using a quick setting instant glue. The brand is not important. Then, even though the glue is supposed to set up quickly, I usually clamp them shut using a spring type clothes pin over night. This should give you as many prickers as you could probably use in a year. If you read this far, you have my sincere thanks. Ken H.
Hi Team The last couple of prickers I made were a cunning combination of 5 min epoxy, a strip of ali donated from the bottom of a beer can and very short length of .009" stainless E string. I bent a kink mid way in the wire to give the ali/epoxy fold something to hang onto, bent the end of the ali strip back, added a small blob of epoxy, inserted the wire then pinched the fold with pliers. Easy.
