tumbler & brass concoction

[bitethebullet]

Wife bought me a harbor freight 6lb rock tumbler for Xmas. I sent her a link to the stainless pins....well, I ended up with harbor freight plastic pyramid roughing media. Not the right stuff...oh well she tried.
Anyways...couldn't wait so I loaded up 150 or so 9mm cases, 1/4 cup of vinegar, 3/4 cup water, squirt of Dawn, and a 1/4 cup course walnut....tumbled for 2hrs...drains the dirty water, dumped everything in my media separator, filled the bucket with clean water and tumbled for 30 seconds...all the walnut separated like usual..looked a bit like grape nuts, but the brass came out just as good as stainless media.
Drained the water and put the wet walnut back in the drums for next time...anyways, just thought I would share my experience because it worked like a champ without spending $30-40 on 5lb of SS media.... at least not yet....

[Germz]

I think The vinegar / dawn mix is for ultrasonic cleaners.

Congratulations. You have combined elements from every brass cleaning method into one lol!

OP. For a rotary tumble you need SS pins and lemishine and I think dawn.
I wouldn't use walnut in a rotary tumbler; that's for vibratory tumblers.

Glad it worked out tho.

[johnniezombie]

Please tell us what happens when that media dries.

[Pauliedad]

I'm wondering about the smell while it dries but I am intrigued.....

[Cheep]

Don't open that thing for a few weeks and then get back to us...

['ol shooter]

Buy some pins from Stilly, they are larger, work way better than the small pins, and aren't like herding cats when you try to separate the cases from them.

[stonefly-2]

i'm saving my old spent primers to use as media next time i wet tumble brass.

[chknlyps2]

I'm wondering about the smell while it dries but I am intrigued.....

Don't open that thing for a few weeks and then get back to us...

That's what I was thinking if you forgot it and left it closed for a little while.

If you spread it out right away to let it dry it will not mold. I once tried to rinse some real dusty well used walnut, it floats and you need a real fine screen to drain the water from it. I lost all the finer bits through the screen and it did not work as well after it was dry but it worked. Not worth the effort at all.

[bitethebullet]

That's what I was thinking if you forgot it and left it closed for a little while.

^^Yeah....I spread it out and left it open. Hopefully it just air drys. I couldn't imagine it would smell too good!

If you spread it out right away to let it dry it will not mold. I once tried to rinse some real dusty well used walnut, it floats and you need a real fine screen to drain the water from it. I lost all the finer bits through the screen and it did not work as well after it was dry but it worked. Not worth the effort at all.

^^The media separator helped huge. I had some floaters, but ended up using a wire screen colander to get the majority.

Now that I think about it, if some walnut gets away from me, it's not the end of the world.

Below are some pics..

[johnniezombie]

Post some pics of the cake you made with the media lol

[bitethebullet]

Picture Grape Nuts cereal....that pretty much sums it up....

[M1NM]

i'm saving my old spent primers to use as media next time i wet tumble brass.

I'm saving mine to rebuild with fulminate of mercury when SHTF and you can't get them anymore. They'll be corrosive but who cares at that point.

[stonefly-2]

you can do that? don't forget to master making percussion caps as well. (in case you live past gun powder reserves)

[johnniezombie]

I'd like to read up on this. Can you suggest any good links?

you can do that? don't forget to master making percussion caps as well. (in case you live past gun powder reserves)

[stilly]

Wife bought me a harbor freight 6lb rock tumbler for Xmas. I sent her a link to the stainless pins....well, I ended up with harbor freight plastic pyramid roughing media. Not the right stuff...oh well she tried.
Anyways...couldn't wait so I loaded up 150 or so 9mm cases, 1/4 cup of vinegar, 3/4 cup water, and 1/4 cup, squirt of Dawn, and course walnut....tumbled for 2hrs...drains the dirty water, dumped everything in my media separator, filled the bucket with clean water and tumbled for 30 seconds...all the walnut separated like usual..looked a bit like grape nuts, but the brass came out just as good as stainless media.
Drained the water and put the wet walnut back in the drums for next time...anyways, just thought I would share my experience because it worked like a champ without spending $30-40 on 5lb of SS media.... at least not yet....

Glad it worked for you. Now let me pull you aside and ask a few questions...

How did you store your walnut afterwards? I think Walnut is a carbon based matter. At one time it was a living thing. I think it might do you well to keep an eye on it because it will most likely break down, possibly mold, and maybe even get all mildewy like. Who cares if it molds and there are spores all over right? So you just use a respirator when you reload from now on. And so what if mold spores pop out and go all over the place and your clothes, you have a decon room before going into the house right? Just checking.

Please be sure to keep an eye on your walnut. It is a porus object and it can and will grow moldy if you are not careful. SS pins are not porus and are not carbon based like walnut is. ss pins do not mold.

Please proceed with caution. You might also have to toss out the walnut media a lot sooner then expected.

My advice for using walnut media is to tumble the shells in walnut with NO water or checmicals unless it is a brass cleaner (non amonia based please). Those pics DO look nice though. How long did you tumble them for? 2 hours? Interesting... And no, at this point I still have NO desire to do that. Oh the mess it would make...



Just sayin...