tumbler media question....

[Guest tlondon]

hey guys, how long can you use corncob media for?....... 1 week? 1 month, 1year? 10 tumbles? just wondering when i need to get new media.

Tommy

[Dolomite_supafly]

I used corn the first time I started using my tumbler. I didn't like it at all and went to walnut. The corn got stuck in the primer pockets and didn't really clean that well. It polished cleaned brass up really well but for me I wanted clean brass more so than polished brass.

I can't recall how many tumblings I had on my corn before swapping over to walnut. I do know that my walnut media lasts a lot longer than the corn did. Best thing I can say is when it seems to take longer than before then it is time to replace.

Dolomite

[Guest canebreaker]

Add 3 spent dryer sheets to the media. They will collect the dirt from the brass. When the sheets come out black, dark gray and brass isn't as clean as you think, throw it in the garden.

New media, tumble time, 40 to 50 minutes. Older media, adds time. When it's close to an hour and a half to 2 hours, throw it out.

The Tuf Nut media has everything coming out redish brown, dust. The english walnut desert blend from petco is cleaner and cheaper.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

I ran a few thousand 9mm cases last month on one tumblerfull of corncob, about 300 at a time, and it doesn't look dirty or dusty. Maybe it is filthy and worn out, but doesn't look bad. But I'm just using corncob for polish after walnut. And I put a cap of flitz tumbler additive every load, dunno if that affects it.

Maybe it would be way dirtier if the brass hadn't been cleaned with walnut first.

Does that Tuf Nut media have polishing rouge in it? OK I just looked, the Lyman walnut I have is called TufNut. Didn't remember that. Might try petco walnut when I run out, but years ago got a couple of big containers of the Lyman stuff and it is not all gone yet.

I guess people polish lots of other stuff than brass cases with walnut, dunno. Literally have never used any walnut that didn't have rouge in it. Bought the rouge walnut same time bought the tumbler years ago. Dunno if the rouge improves the cleaning of brass or not. Back in high school shop class they taught us to use rouge with felt wheels to polish assorted metal and plastic items, and I still occasionally do that. Amateur and presumably pro optical guys use rouge for the fine-polish stage in grinding mirrors and lenses. Been doing it for centuries. So it must be a good polishing agent, but dunno if it improves brass cleaning/polishing in walnut.

Maybe Lyman just sells it with rouge because they get it from some industrial supplier that makes it thataway for multiple purposes?

That is another advantage for me of running corncob after the walnut, to get the rouge off the cases.

Funny thing about the Lyman corncob-- Never used any other brand so dunno-- Both my coon hounds will do anything for a piece of bread, especially corn bread. One of them just about has a nervous breakdown if he sees a piece of cornbread he likes it so much. When I open the corncob bottle he's right there even if he was sound asleep the other side of the house. He loves smelling it and if he ever got a chance am pretty sure he would eat as much of it as he could get.

Edited February 3, 2012 by Lester Weevils

[ffemtp]

As others have said, when it starts taking longer to clean, change it out.

When you do change it out, go to Petsmart and buy their "Kay-Kob" bedding for small animals. It is the same thing as corn cob media and you can get it for less than 1/2 the price of tumbling media.

[gnmwilliams]

Add 3 spent dryer sheets to the media. They will collect the dirt from the brass. When the sheets come out black, dark gray and brass isn't as clean as you think, throw it in the garden.

New media, tumble time, 40 to 50 minutes. Older media, adds time. When it's close to an hour and a half to 2 hours, throw it out.

The Tuf Nut media has everything coming out redish brown, dust. The english walnut desert blend from petco is cleaner and cheaper.

Wouldn't there be lead residue left over in the media?

[kckndrgn]

Wouldn't there be lead residue left over in the media?

That was my first thought, lead plus any other cleaning/polishing chemicals if used, would end up in your garden. Not a good thing in my opinion. Better to just toss the stuff in the trash when it's used up.

[Guest canebreaker]

You wouldn't be putting it in one pile.

We add all kinds of stuff to the gardens and never really know what they will do to us.

These all kinds of residue in the media after cleaning the brass. Maybe enough to kill the plants as they try to grow, if placed on a few plants. I don't think there is enough lead there to worry about. Put it in the flowerbeds. It will rot.

Read about mercury poisoning. It's everywhere. You can't cut a tree, dig a hole, break a rock, mow your lawn or gather your crops without releasing it. It's in all organic material. We release tons of it yearly in everything we burn.

Then there is all the mulch we add to flowerbeds and gardens. What are we adding? meth al.

Throwing it into the trash, you're adding to the problems we have with landfills.

Why not pour a little gas on it and burn it. Another problem, released into the air.

No real good way to get rid of it.

Edited February 3, 2012 by canebreaker

[chances R]

Wouldn't there be lead residue left over in the media?

...but cow and horse manure is OK....? ?

[Guest canebreaker]

And what are you adding to the soil with manure? Methane and mercury, is it good for us in our foods?

[Guest canebreaker]

Let's put it a different way.

You go to the gun range. The range is open 8 hours. The range is packed. There are 100 lanes at the range. Everyone shoots 1,000 rounds in 4 hours. That's 200,000 rounds shot.

What residue is released from the action of everyone's gun? What residue is released with every primer strike? What residue is released with the powder explosion? What residue is released with every bullet sailing through the air? What residue is released with the paper being hit? What residue is released with the bullet going into the brem?

Do you wear a painter's mask at the range? Do you wear a vinyl suit?

[Guest Lester Weevils]

I definitely wouldn't let the dog eat the used corncob, no matter how much he might want to. Probably my walnut run beforehand gets most of the lead styphenate from the primers, but the corncob probably gets some too.

Our bodies might need at least a trace of every element in the periodic table, but too much of any of them are unhealthy.

Years ago read an article saying that even radiation has a "health J curve". It was done, IIRC by plotting population health or longevity against the amount of background radiation, and also extra radiation dosage of people who work in fields where radiation exposure is measured.

Anyway, if the article was to be believed, the people who live in vicinities with unusually low background radiation are slightly unhealthier than people who receive slightly more background radiation. People usually think any amount of radiation is bad, but perhaps people even need a little bit of radiation to be in best health.

OTOH, maybe areas with unusually low background radiation, have other minerals lacking in the soil, in addition to the radioactive minerals, and deficiency of the other minerals accounts for that health J curve. IOW, the people in low-radiation areas might be slighly unhealthier due to some other mineral deficiency rather than because they have a "radiation deficiency". Or maybe the body actually needs trace amounts of some of the radioactive minerals?

Anyway, old age rambling again. Too much lead might not hurt the flower bed but it would eventually hurt humans and dawgs. Too much water hurts humans and dawgs also. Moderation in everything!

I sniffed enough solder fumes for many years doing electronic stuff, am slightly careful about lead exposure, but maybe could be more careful.

[Guest nicemac]

Anyway, old age rambling again. Too much lead might not hurt the flower bed but it would eventually hurt humans and dawgs. Too much water hurts humans and dawgs also. Moderation in everything!

We need to be more concerned about the Dihydrogen Monoxide problem than the lead issues…

Facts About Dihydrogen Monoxide

[gnmwilliams]

We need to be more concerned about the Dihydrogen Monoxide problem than the lead issues…

Facts About Dihydrogen Monoxide

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[SonnyCrockett]

I ran a few thousand 9mm cases last month on one tumblerfull of corncob, about 300 at a time, and it doesn't look dirty or dusty. Maybe it is filthy and worn out, but doesn't look bad. But I'm just using corncob for polish after walnut. And I put a cap of flitz tumbler additive every load, dunno if that affects it.

Maybe it would be way dirtier if the brass hadn't been cleaned with walnut first.

Does that Tuf Nut media have polishing rouge in it? OK I just looked, the Lyman walnut I have is called TufNut. Didn't remember that. Might try petco walnut when I run out, but years ago got a couple of big containers of the Lyman stuff and it is not all gone yet.

I guess people polish lots of other stuff than brass cases with walnut, dunno. Literally have never used any walnut that didn't have rouge in it. Bought the rouge walnut same time bought the tumbler years ago. Dunno if the rouge improves the cleaning of brass or not. Back in high school shop class they taught us to use rouge with felt wheels to polish assorted metal and plastic items, and I still occasionally do that. Amateur and presumably pro optical guys use rouge for the fine-polish stage in grinding mirrors and lenses. Been doing it for centuries. So it must be a good polishing agent, but dunno if it improves brass cleaning/polishing in walnut.

Maybe Lyman just sells it with rouge because they get it from some industrial supplier that makes it thataway for multiple purposes?

That is another advantage for me of running corncob after the walnut, to get the rouge off the cases.

Funny thing about the Lyman corncob-- Never used any other brand so dunno-- Both my coon hounds will do anything for a piece of bread, especially corn bread. One of them just about has a nervous breakdown if he sees a piece of cornbread he likes it so much. When I open the corncob bottle he's right there even if he was sound asleep the other side of the house. He loves smelling it and if he ever got a chance am pretty sure he would eat as much of it as he could get.

Hand gun brass need not look new but look clean .......Walnut for 2 hours is plenty clean..u my friend are overkill

[Guest canebreaker]

(Hand gun brass need not look new but look clean .......Walnut for 2 hours is plenty clean)

Agreed, but polished cases won't need to be lubed for sizing. Which I don't polish anyway. Mostly for steel dies, I have the carbide ones.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Hand gun brass need not look new but look clean .......Walnut for 2 hours is plenty clean..u my friend are overkill

Thanks SonnyCrockett. Excellent points.

[TongueInCheek] [joking] [NoOffenseIntended]

You are correct that it MAY be overkill- A pinch of OCD mixed with a dash of frugality.

Canebreaker is right. The rouge from Lyman TufNut walnut will coat the brass. The rouge stains hands and clothes and eventually finds its way into the innards of pistols and mags.

It is even conceivable that excess rouge on the cases could eventually ruin the dimensioning of loading dies. Considering that rouge easily polishes down stainless or pyrex, then rouge might just as easily polish down a loading die. Given sufficient time, the dies will get polished completely out of spec. Perhaps in as short a time as 20 or 30 years the dies may have to be replaced!

A spendthrift would simply discard the Lyman walnut and buy non-rouge walnut. However, I still have several years' supply of the Lyman TufNut in inventory. I paid at least ten or fifteen bucks for the stuff! Waste not, want not!

Corncob removes the rouge and as a bonus, ya got to admit the brass do look shiney. Ooooh! Shiney!

Granted that it may be remotely possible that tarnished-but-clean brass MIGHT shoot just as good. However, if tarnished brass shoots just as good, then why does quality factory ammo look so shiney? Answer me that! Surely the big factory experts know a thing or two. If lackluster brass shoots just as good, then why wouldn't Corbon save money and sell patina ammo rather than beautiful shiney ammo?

Though dual-media runs necessarily require longer machine time, OSHA rules do not yet require me to keep an eagle-eye on the tumbler for the whole time in order to prevent explosion or fire. Though it takes the TUMBLER more time, it only costs ME an extra minute or two to switch media.

Now a true skinflint would factor-in the fraction of a cent wasted electricity. To say nothing of equipment amortization cost. Longer machine runtime per case would obviously require more-frequent tumbler replacements as time goes by.

A seriously-thrifty person would at least calculate the cost-benefit of dual-media runs and shorter machine life, versus the tragic loss of investment by discarding the current rouge walnut inventory and the extra expense of replacing it with non-rouge walnut. While simultaneously attempting to somehow quantify the value-added via aesthetic improvement of shiney brass. Ooooh! Shiney!

Admittedly it may be obsessive, but I try to maintain balance in life with intentional sloth in other areas. For instance, I make it a point to rarely if ever shine shoes, wash the car, or sweep the floor!

Anyway, its for the children!

[/NoOffenseIntended] [/joking] [/TongueInCheek]

[Guest tlondon]

Thanks for the answers guys. I think its time to replace mine.

[SonnyCrockett]

Dolomite turned me on to this

2 hours and a small squirt of flitz and I have a great looking case

ready for battle

Its cheap too

Amazon.com: Zilla English Walnut Shell Litter 25QT: Pet Supplies

[Guest canebreaker]

That's a super price, a dollar more than the 10 qt. bag at petco. I didn't check shipping cost.

[SonnyCrockett]

That's a super price, a dollar more than the 10 qt. bag at petco. I didn't check shipping cost.

6 bucks.......my point ,keep things simple....lifes too complicated already