Editing Cork borer

{{Short description|Laboratory tool}}
[[Image:corkborer2.jpg|thumb|Set of cork borers. Left to right sizes 6,7,8,9 nested, size 5, American penny for scale, sizes 4,3,2,1 nested, pusher. Background is 1/4" square graph paper.]]

A '''cork borer''', often used in a [[chemistry]] or biology [[laboratory]],  is a metal tool for cutting a hole in a cork or rubber stopper to insert glass tubing.<ref>{{cite web|last=Poliakoff|first=Martyn|url=http://www.periodicvideos.com/videos/feature_mark_of_the_chemist.htm|title=Mark of the Chemist |work=[[The Periodic Table of Videos]] | publisher=[[University of Nottingham]]|authorlink=Martyn Poliakoff|year=2010}}</ref>  Cork borers usually come in a set of nested sizes along with a solid pin for pushing the removed cork (or rubber) out of the borer.  The individual borer is a hollow tube, tapered at the edge, generally with some kind of handle at the other end.

A separate device is a ''cork borer sharpener'' used to hone the cutting edge to more easily slice the cork.

Cork borers are also used to take samples from living trees, for [[tree ring]] analysis (dendrochronology), and for taking samples for experiments when a constant diameter is required, e.g. When testing the [[water potential]] of a potato, a cork borer is used to maintain a constant surface area.

A cork borer is also used to punch holes on an agar plate and to perform well diffusion assays in [[microbiology]] to study [[bioactivity]].

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{{Laboratory equipment}}

[[Category:Laboratory equipment]]