A Personal Alchemy Lab

I’ve been reading Alchemy books for the last couple of years.  This past summer I decided to do instead of just reading.  I set about building a chemistry/alchemy lab in a spare room of my garage.  I built a fume hood out of stainless steel and a kitchen vent hood.  I purchased a lot of cool lab equipment including an electronic balance, electric heating mantle with corresponding 5,000 ml boiling flask.  Lots and lots of beakers (you can never have too many!).  I also purchased a few different types of condensers mostly for reflux reactions.  All in all, I’ve got a pretty cool lab!

I put kitchen cabinets and a sink in as well.  The room is about 8 ft. x 11 ft., a little small but I managed to make it all fit.  I also got some great bargains on a commercial water distiller (~$80 – retail is about $1500) and a digitally controlled dual water bath (~140 – retail about $1,000).  I constantly use the dual water bath (some of my alchemical recipes take over 7 months of digestion at two different alternating temperatures).  It is so cool and makes the process easy!  Gotta love technology.

All in all I spent about $1,000 on cabinets and plumbing and about another $2,000 in lab equipment and glassware.  It is a very well stocked lab that I am very proud of.  Where did I get all this equipment, eBay!  I found some of the most incredible deals on used lab equipment and being as picky as I am, I tore the gear apart after it arrived (it was already in great shape), cleaned it up and repaired a few broken parts.  I had a state of the art lab for a small fraction of the retail cost.  In fact, had I bought this gear at retail, well – let’s just say my lab would be quite empty now.  If you look in the right categories and be patient you can find just about anything you want for your own home lab on eBay.

This lab construction project has taken the better part of the summer but in the last 3 months it has been invaluable to me.  I am now brewing my alchemical recipes and experimenting with various ideas.  It’s great!

You may be wondering why I am looking into this strange subject called “Alchemy“.  Because science is beginning to realize that the ancients masters knew something we are only just rediscovering.  Modern physics and chemistry are heavily involved in Alchemy.  Isaac Newton practiced Alchemy most of his life.  Did you know that Albert Einstein would read Alchemy texts before retiring to bed?  So you see, Alchemy is coming back into the mainstream.  Check it out!

Thanks for listening.

Jim Rafferty

Contact me at jim@pagosafrog.com if you have any questions about building your own home lab.

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