"Michael Brill" > wrote:
> You know as well as I do that the very first thing that will happen is
> I will drop in whatever I'm using to fish out the lees stirrer. I'll
> fret about it this week and take your inspiration, go to the hardware
> store and assemble a lees stirrer remover. Tom, I'll ship it off to
> you when I'm done.

If you make your "fish" sufficiently long, it won't be able to fall in.
Alternately, you can tie a long cord to the end, so --- if it does fall
in --- you can pull it out.

Rather than trying to shape the ends of the hardwood into "fingers" (as I
suggested earlier), take a pair of "ice tongs", and attach it's "fingers" to
the end of your hardwood.

But before doing all that construction, if your "stirrer" has something
which you can hook, why not try a (long) piece of wire, with the end bent
into a "v". That may work.