Jost Cartilage Crusher | Gubisch Pattern Block Crusher

What a Jost cartilage crusher is

The Jost cartilage crusher is a bench instrument and this is the problem it solves. A cartilage graft comes out of a nose or a rib curved, springy and uneven, and it has to go back in flat. Squeezing it in a pair of pliers flattens the part between the jaws and leaves the rest alone. Putting it in a block and tapping the block spreads the force across the whole piece at once, which is the difference between a graft that lies down and a graft that fights you.

Google’s own description of the block pattern is exactly how it is used: a compact heavy metal block with a hinged lid, the cartilage placed inside the bed, the lid closed, and the surgeon gently taps the block with a surgical mallet to achieve uniform flattening. Put plainly: a block crusher is not squeezed, it is tapped with a mallet, which is how the force stays even across the whole graft.

The Jost cartilage crusher is the heavier of the two blocks we make. Where the Cottle handles septal cartilage comfortably, the Jost is for the cartilage that resists: thick septum, costal cartilage from a rib harvest, anything with enough fiber in it that the lighter block needs three attempts. Catalogs list the same pattern as a Gubisch cartilage crusher, after the surgeon who popularized it in rhinoplasty, and a US catalog house prices it at 237.99 dollars. Ours is 45.

One thing has been taken OFF this page since the last version. The Jost cartilage crusher used to be called a German Grade Stainless Steel crusher, which is an origin claim in the most visible place on the page, and it is not one we are entitled to make. The steel is made to a German specification and that sentence appears once, further down, where it belongs.

There is no attribute set on this product, so no bed size and no weight appears here, and it is listed in some catalogs as a surgical bone crusher and in others as a cartilage crusher instrument, which is how buyers tell it apart from the mining kind. Rival listings for the pattern quote a 65 by 30 mm working area with interchangeable smooth, longitudinal and cross serrated inserts. Ours is one bed and we do not publish its dimensions.

Key design features

A block, not a pair of pliers

The graft sits in a bed and the lid comes down flat on it. Force arrives across the whole piece at the same time, which is why the result is an even thickness rather than a flattened stripe. It is also why you cannot overdo one corner.

Heavier than the Cottle, on purpose

Mass is the feature. A block that moves when it is struck absorbs the tap instead of passing it to the cartilage, and on dense rib cartilage that is the difference between crushing it and knocking the block across the trolley.

A hinged lid and nothing else

No screw, no ratchet, no setting and no interchangeable inserts. One bed, one lid, one hinge. The pattern has lasted because there is nothing on it to lose, strip or fit the wrong way round in a hurry.

What we do not claim

No interchangeable serrated or longitudinal plates, because ours does not have them. No published bed dimension, because our record does not carry one. If the size of the working area has to match something, ask us before ordering.

Which crusher to order

Two blocks, and the decision is about the cartilage rather than the budget.

Where it is used

Graft preparation, which happens on a trolley rather than in the patient. A Jost cartilage crusher never goes near the nose.

What it holds back, and what it must not do

Crushing is irreversible and the right hand column is where the judgement lives.

How it compares with the rest of the family

Four instruments in this family crush or soften cartilage, and the difference is where the cartilage is and how the force arrives.

Materials and finish

Every Jost cartilage crusher we make is cut from high quality medical grade stainless steel. The steel itself is made to a German specification. We do not publish a grade number. The number on a certificate tells a surgeon nothing about whether a bed and a lid still meet flat after two hundred autoclave cycles and a few thousand mallet blows, because a lid that has gone out of true crushes one end of the graft and not the other, and the answer to that is in the making rather than in the alloy.

The bed and the lid are machined as a pair and lapped flat together. On a block crusher the two faces are the instrument: a pair that meets at one edge first puts all the force there and the graft comes out wedge shaped. Nothing else about the instrument is difficult and that one thing is.

The hinge is set so the lid falls square rather than swinging onto the bed at an angle. There is no sharp external edge anywhere on the block, which matters because this is an instrument held in a gloved hand and struck.

Caring for it

Open it and wash both faces. Crushed cartilage leaves a film and the film dries hard, and a bed with dried cartilage on it does not sit flat on the next graft.

Warm water and a soft brush, nothing abrasive on either face. Autoclave open rather than closed so steam reaches both faces. Store open for the same reason, and close it empty against the light occasionally: the faces should meet all the way across, and a pair that now touches at one edge is a crusher that will wedge every graft it takes.

Ordering and wholesale

Every Jost cartilage crusher is made by Adas Instruments in our own workshop and sold direct, which is why the price sits where it does against the catalog houses. Order one for a single tray, or in quantity for a hospital list or a distributor line. We do OEM work under your own brand and your own item numbers. Send us a sample and we will hold a run to your pattern rather than ours. Stock items ship from our own workshop. Backorder items take 10 to 12 working days to make. Every instrument carries a three year replacement warranty against manufacturing defects. Production is controlled under an ISO 13485 quality management system.

Frequently asked questions

What is a cartilage crusher used for?

Flattening and softening a harvested cartilage graft so it will lie flat and can be shaped. Crushing breaks the fibers that hold the graft in its original curve, which is also what makes a graft less visible under thin skin.

How is a block crusher actually used?

The cartilage goes in the bed, the lid closes, and the block is tapped with a surgical mallet. It is not squeezed. The tap spreads the force across the whole graft at once, which is what produces an even thickness rather than a flattened stripe.

What is the difference between the Jost and the Cottle?

Mass and intent. The Jost is the heavier block, built for thick septal cartilage and rib; the Cottle is the everyday septal crusher and it has a serrated or a smooth bed to choose from. A theater doing rib harvests usually ends up with both.

Is the Jost the same as a Gubisch crusher?

Yes, it is the same pattern under a second surgeon’s name, which is how some catalogs list it. A US catalog house prices that version at 237.99 dollars; ours is 45 and it is made in our own workshop.

What size is the bed?

We do not publish a figure, because our own record carries no attribute for this product. Rival listings for the pattern quote a 65 by 30 mm working area. Ask us before ordering if the size has to match something, and it is on our list to measure.

Related products and categories

For the everyday septal graft with a serrated or smooth bed, the Cottle cartilage crusher. For softening cartilage still in the nose, the Gorney septal morselizer. For carving a graft rather than crushing it, the Teflon cartilage cutting block.

The rest of this family sits under nasal cutting, crusher and septum forceps, and the wider set for the operation is under rhinoplasty instruments.