Cleaning Media for Re-use.

[Matt P]

I am sure there may be some others here who have tried re-washing walnut media.
I cant be the only tight dollar spending reloader here?

Anyways, I have tried my second cleaning effort.

I have used a BIG pillow bag, and I keep rinsing water through it to clean the media.
Not easy, but I thought it was better then just pouring the media in a 5 gal bucket and washing with water, the way i did it last time.

Any other suggestions out there?

[anyracoon]

I was buying a 50# bag at the feed store for around $15.00 a bag. You had better figure what your time is worth?

[ar15barrels]

The issue with the media getting dirty is NOT the dirt.
It's that the media has lost it's sharp edges that did the polishing.
Those sharp edges are where the dust comes from that you are washing away.

Now that you washed it all, throw it away because it's still no good.

[xrMike]

You are also increasing your handling of the contaminated media (and thereby, your exposure to lead). For that reason alone it's NOT worth the few dollars you're trying to save, imo.

[Matt P]

Thank you gentlemen, I will cease my cleaning efforts.

I was unaware that a feed store would be a location for media.. Very nice.

And you are right, my time is worth more then the 3 hours off and on I put into cleaning the stuff.

[packnrat]

cleaning media = cheep

my time = not cheep.





.

[grywlfbg]

And if you live in the "city" you can get walnut hulls from pet stores too - $5.99 for 25lbs.

[Turbinator]

There was a point in my life when cleaning media was worth it - no income but still interested in reloading.

I actually washed my media in a bucket, laid it all out on towels to dry, and have been using the same media ever since. I think my media is about 12 years old now. I kinda figured out that it's not worth my time and effort to clean media any more, after I tried it that one time. I have two extra bags of media that, at this rate, are never going to be used. Media lasts a long time, although others have pointed out that as the walnut shell bits lose their edges, the cleaning power tends to reduce. One thing that helps to mitigate this effect is that older media tends to be fairly impregnated with cleaning solution compared to new media.

Should I ever decide it's time to clean my walnut shell again, I figure I'll just throw it away and start fresh.

Turby

[hawk81]

Do what you think is right.

[ar15barrels]

Do what you think is right.

Vote for Ron Paul?