How to Build a Still

     Once the Militant has his chemicals, he sets up his still.
In it he makes things like tear gas, prussic acid and occasionally
distills alcohol.
     First, a flask is fited with a one-hole rubber stopper.  A short
length of thin glass tubing is inserted into the hole. A five-foot
length of thin rubber tubing is fitted over the glass tube and
coiled into the ice bucket and out through a hole near the bottom.
The end of this tube is fitted with another glass tube which is in
a two-hole stopper stuck into a bottle.  The other hole contains
another glass tube to which is attached another length of tubing
long enough to reach outside to get rid of any noxious or
poisonous fumes.
     The equipment for the still is cheap and simple to get.
Most of it can be bought from your local drug store.  They carry
tubing, stoppers, glassware, and many chemicls which they sell
freely to doctors, students, etc.  If you get on good terms with
your druggist and he doesn't know you're a freak you can buy
most of your stuff from him.
     A ring or tripod for the flask is more handy than the can in
the illustration.  But a tin can with strips cut out of it for
ventilation and for the removal of the lamp is usually adaquate.
     The checklist for equipment is:

          1. alcohol lamp.
          2. ring stand
          3. 500ml or larger flask
          4. assortment of 1-hole, 2-hole, and holeless rubber
stoppers of various sizes.
          5. about six yards of 3/16" (inside diameter) rubber
tubing
          6. about a foot of six mm (outside diameter) laboratory
glass tubing
          7. child's plastic bucket
          8. receiving bottle.

     The hole in the bucket for the tube is made somewhat smaller
than the tube so it will fit snugly and prevent leakage.
     Full-strength wood alcohol for the lamp can be bought at the
drug store. Rubbing alcohol, although 30% water will burn in the
lamp, but not so well.  You can distill the pure alcohol off the
water from rubbing alcohol.
     Ths is best done over a gas or electric stove.  First a large
pan with a couple of inches of water in it is put on the burner
to be used and the others are turned off.
     The still is set up as in the illustration except the receiving
bottle is larger and doesn't need a stopper or tube going outside.
The flask is filled with rubbing alcohol to just under the neck and
set in the pan of boiling water.
     In this setup a coathanger wire with a loop in it's middle is
put over the neck of the flask and fixed to the sides of the pan.
This is necessecary because as the alcohol distills off, the flask
gets lighter and would rise in the water and fall over without
support.
     Another consideration is to make sure the tube does not flop
over and collapse.  This can be prevented by hanging a string from
the ceiling by which the tubing is held above the flask.
     The tubing should be further supported so it does not touch
the hot edge of he pan.  If it is allowed to lie over the edge it
will melt.
     When the action starts the alcohol will fairly flow into the
collecting bottle.  When it stops all that is left in the flask
will be water.  If left alone, water would start dripping much
slower than the alcohol, but this is not wanted.
     This is the only case where you should distill over a stove.
A stove is harder to control than an alcohol lamp.  It is also
harder to clean up than a table in case of an accident.