chemrox
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sodium is expensive
sodium from my supplier is like $4/g and they only sell 500g at a time. Bummer. I just want to dry some THF. Oh and make ethoxide but that's
another story...
Oh yean and I've got to amend my silly list 1 cards to include it along with CCl4. CCl4??!!! give us all one big break (once in awhile at least)
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Ramiel
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The two sticky threads in the technochemistry section both deal with ScienceMadness brand sodium, otherwise you will have to resort to finding it in
bizzare places or buying it.
Caveat Orator
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Sauron
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I am hoarding 6 Kg of Panreac Na in paraffin oil.
But it didn't cost me $24,000 US.
So I'm a happy camper.
Now my Potassium, that was expensive.
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b_d_Dom
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You are disappointed that you can only buy $2,000 worth of sodium at a time? Was that a typo?!
I have seen it sell on ebay for less than $0.20/g and even as low as $0.05/g from some places! Why do you not find a more reasonable supplier?
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Sauron
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I think his supplier is a gonif, but the point about the 500 g was that it was minimum sale not maximum. And he didn't need more than 1 lb of Na, at
least not at that price.
At least that was my understanding of what chemrox said.
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Sauron
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Anyone have good plans for a sodium press (for making Na wire, K wire, etc.)?
I think a decent one could be made from a large C-clamp and a lathe turned die. The wire should be cut off to fall directly into pet. ether so some
sort of frame or tripod is needed to allow for flask or beaker underneath the die.
Pressure applied by clamp screw; clamp modified to fit the die entry closely.
Alternatively a small reloading press mounted upside down would be perfect.
I have not seen any commercial sodium press, are there any on the market?
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12AX7
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It's not very hard, is it? A chunk of pipe with an end cap screwed on, drilled with the hole(s) of your choice, should serve as a suitable die. The
ram can be any mostly telescopic (how tight does it have to be?) chunk of bar. I've heard of bolts and nuts, obviously being nuts with a cap of some
sort attached (acorn nut, extension nut with perhaps soldered end cap, etc.).
Tim
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evil_lurker
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IIRC, thomasci.com sells them... but they were like $1200 each!!!! 
Anyways, you might try to rig one of these up with a specially made die... you'll prolly have to get someone to machine you one though.
http://www.vinomaker.com/corkscorkers.html
[Edited on 7-2-2007 by evil_lurker]
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Sauron
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Machine shops in Thailand work for peanuts, I just make a sketch and they cut whatever I cant. This does not call for high hardness nor great
precision. Na and K are soft, malleable and ductile. Both are cut with an ordinary knife.
$1200 for a commercial one seems a bit steep. To bad handloading is illegal in Thailand or I'd just use a second hand Rock Chucker or something.
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chemrox
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Na typo
My half kilo is costing me $200; not 2,000
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Sauron
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Why don't you change the title of thread to "Sodium is Not So Expensive" ?
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garage chemist
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Still expensive, but bearable if 500g will last a lifetime (as it would do for me).
I would pay 16€ for 100g (cheapest price for 100g I found, if I wanted it cheaper I would have to buy more), so nearly the same price.
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Sauron
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I bought mine 3-4 years ago along with some Li wire and 250 g of K. At this point I would have to wade through a pile of old receipts to determine
what I paid, but I cleaned out the Panreac agent's inventory. They told me they did not plan to import any more Na. Maybe that was just a stratagem,
if so it worked. The K was special order from Merck I think and took a while to arrive. I have not yet used any of the above.
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Fleaker
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I think I mentioned how I have made sodium wire in another thread. They do sell sodium presses, but they're rather hard to find. I used a clean, dry,
tomato paste can with a hole punched in the bottom and kept the lid for it. Set the can (hole facing downward) on two supports, place your sodium in
the can (this can all be done in a large plasticware container under warm mineral oil), put the lid on top, and push down with a large dowel rod. It's
crude, but it works. Your wire will get pushed out, but only in short, maybe 4 centimeter lengths. I only had one hole in my can, but one could drill
an array of holes in it and make a lot of wire at one time.
Anyone with argon should consider making Pb-Na alloy. An equimolar mixture of the two (produced by adding a mole of sodium to a mole of lead and
cooling) is very brittle and is easily crushed under your solvent into a fine powder. This alloy is also less reactive than sodium by itself lasting
several hours in the open air. It is a faster dessicating agent since it is a powder.
Neither flask nor beaker.
"Kid, you don't even know just what you don't know. "
--The Dark Lord Sauron
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Sauron
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Thanks @fleaker. Very nice.
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chemrox
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Na is less expesive than I thought
Since I have been reprimanded for calling my price expensive, and as someone suggested, I now rename this thread, "Sodium is not so expensive."
Thanks to all for the feedback and additional information.
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