Tip: Oiling Teak Crevices

[Foswick]

Learned something new this weekend and thought I'd pass it on.

We had a minor medical emergency that led to me having a few used items laying around (not contaminated). I had a 12cc irrigation syringe that only had sterile saline in it, and also a blunt fill needle that was opened but not used.

The next day, I decided to put a little teak oil on the boat. I have a few piece of teak that are fairly old and have deep grooves that are kind of past the reach of sandpaper. And, a few other nooks and crannies that are hard to get to without making a mess. So, I got an idea.

I screwed the fill needle to the syringe, drew up some oil from the bottle, then I was able to apply teak oil with surgical precision, fully infiltrating cracks, groove, recesses, etc. Worked so well, I put the stuff in my locker with the teak oil.

Both of these are readily purchased online. The fill needle is kind of a specialized item that might be harder to find, you could use anything else to allows you to get into tight spaces.

I get this is not a problem most people think is really a problem. I didn't either, until I tried it this way. So slick!

[capt jgw]

WEST System sells syringes with a curved plastic tip meant for injecting epoxy into voids. Amazon has the same ones labeled as dental syringes, $7.49 for an 8 pack.

[Tillikum]

Irrigation syringe sounds handy, maybe for irrigating wounds too, though I think an iodine solution might be preferable to saline. Turkey baster, aka meat injector with needles could be useful too: miniature fluid extractor as well as injector.

[Foswick]

Off topic, but iodine is not preferred for irrigation or debridement. In fact, when I worked in the ER, we never used it once (not for that purpose). In a marine environment, having povidone-iodine (a type of iodine solution) is a useful antiseptic, but not typically used for wound irrigation for a list of reasons. The key to wound irrigation is volume - lots of clean liquid. Tap water is even suitable for most of it if sterile saline or sterile water are unavailable. Some studies show tap water to be as effective as saline.

The infection rates of irrigation with povidone-iodine (PVP-I) and sterile saline are virtually identical. But, PVP-I has some cytotoxicity issues and a few other problems, not the least of which is the fact that one is unlikely to carry enough of it to do a proper job of irrigation.

But, I should probably qualify this a bit. Most people do not know how to properly irrigate and debride a wound. It is actually a fairly aggressive process, particularly with deep wounds. Unfortunately, when offshore, where it is least convenient to do a thorough job, you can least afford to shortcut it. Using PVP-I, you might get lucky and knock out a pathogen that you missed because of inadequate irrigation.

[Tillikum]

Off-topic but excellent information nonetheless!

I've read of urine streams being used for wound irrigation in emergencies and while maggots are less common aboard ship in these modern times, they are said to do a good job of cleaning out dead or infected tissue.

I have more confidence in this than anything else, having seen it work.

[jamhass]

If you can easily get sharp (medical-type) syringes, these can be easily dulled, quickest with a light touch on a bench grinder.