Wilkinson Rubber Bungs!

[liampenn]

I recently brought an airlock with a rubber bung by mistake. I usually use cork bungs with no trouble.
So I thought oh well and stuck the rubber bung in my demijohn.
The bung fitted snug at first, but I gave it a tap to make sure; but instead of it stopping when it was airtight it slipped right through and inside the DJ!?
Now I have an unusable demijohn which has got a rubber bung stuck inside. :evil:

Any Ideas on how to get this ruddy thing out? I have been playing with it for hours?
Has anyone else had the same problem with wilko's rubber bungs? :hmm:
Liam

 

[Jeltz]

Big hammer, smash the demijohn then you can recover the bung......Oh wait......that's not the bit you want to save

I would guess that a piece of strong wire such as a coat hanger and a pieces of string with a loop might give you the possibility of hooking the bugger out but you might need to be a gynaecologist to succeed.

 

[Swift Pint]

I agree, some sort of arrangement of bent coathanger wire... Might take a while!

 

[HLA91]

Strong bleach to make the bung brittle enough to break apart and then tip out?

 

[plasticfantastic]

Use a thin piece of cloth, dangle it inside and hold one corner, invert the bottle and the bung will get caught in the cloth, then pull it out!

 

[oldbloke]

There's a youtube video of soembody doign something like plastic's suggestion for a cork in a winebottle, but maybe using a plastic carrier bag which they partly inflate to make sure of catching the cork.
Either way it should work

 

[Ken L]

If all else fails, insert a loop of the flat plastic strapping used for securing boxes, position it so its flat against the sides of the entrance, lube the inside of the DJ with washing up liquid, invert the DJ and jiggle until the bung is in position and pull out with the strap.
If it still won't come out, dissolve the bugger with petrol.

 

[yellafella]

Here is the Youtube video, I have tried it with a cork and bottle out of interest and it does work, not sure how it would work for a DJ

http://youtu.be/uL1ovAYtKuQ

 

[ScottM]

I'm amazed that it fell through with a tap, mine goes below flush if I push it enough but there's no way it would ever drop inside the DJ without me pushing it fairly hard.

However, if it was that easy to go in... then it'll be just as easy to get out. Turn the DJ upside down and shake the bung around until it is in the neck with the narrow side towards the open and the wider side towards the inside of the DJ. Once you have it like that use a coathanger bent as described below to pull the bung through the centre.



Coathanger: Get a 10" piece of straight coathanger and bend it in half. Using pliers bend around 5mm of the tip outwards on both sides. From here you should be able to squeeze the top of the bend so that the legs will come closer together and when you let go they should spring out a little. If you squeeze this you should then be able to pass the legs through a bung. When you let go they should spring out thus being able to pull at the bung from the back end.

I guess the tool would look a little like a cowboys legs lol.