thx for the input, y'all, but swim has succeeded with the stirrer (for now), despite the poorly chosen equipment. the improvised stirrer in
https://www.thevespiary.org/rhodium/Rhodium/chemistry/equipment/overhead.html
provided me w/ some inspiration (thx lugh) that got me through the stirring i needed to do.
on a more novel note, due to swim's friend not taking into consideration that the stirrer should be made of PTFE or glass (conc. HCl + stainless steel + hrs. of reflux -> corrosion), the stirrer paddle broke free during the reflux. swim suspected this would happen, and has decided to continue the reflux (w/out stirrer) to completion to see what comes out. swim has only another 14 hrs. to completion
(yawn!).
hopefully the clemmenson (spelling?) reduction will come out dandy (not in the British sense) irrespective of the stirring, but swim will try to UTFSE to determine that.
big money, no whammies, stop!
L-j