Alternative dry tumbling media

[Tony k]

Anyone tried dry tumbling with anything other than corn cob media and walnut? I'm a fan of lizard bedding, but it seems like there could be other everyday household items that could work, so long as it's softer than brass, fairly dense, and not too coarse or fine.

Things that come to mind:
coffee grounds
rice
pearl barley
corn meal
cous cous
quinoa
whole grains of wheat
grape nuts cereal

Sand seems like a really bad idea, but I bet someone has tried it.

Sure, some of these would not be cost effective. I just like to experiment. Plus, The nearest source of corn cob media or walnut bedding is two hours away. I just had to use all my ground walnut on my slippery road so that the power company could get up to my house to fix a blown transformer.

By the way: Ground walnut provides AMAZING traction on ice.

 

[LiveLife]

I tried medium and long grain rice and results were OK. If your brass is from indoor range with light fouling from jacketed/plated bullets, rice did OK to remove the fouling and clean up the brass. But if your cases have residual lube from lead loads, brass cleaned up OK until rice broke down enough and started coating the brass instead of cleaning it. I never got rice to polish brass.

If rice was all you had, it would work as a tumbling media in a pinch but I would start looking for fine grit (20-40) walnut/corn cob media which works much better to clean/polish brass, especially with some NuFinish polish added.

And no, you cannot use any polish with rice.

 

[CCWdownrangeP2]

I think I would stay away from coffee grounds. The oil in them may not leave the brass. Just thinking about the residue that collects in my coffee grinder that needs to be cleaned out every month or so.

 

[z7]

A very good source is the internet, harbor freight fine walnut blast media is $1 per pound. Not sure what shipping is. It is quite dusty but it flows well and does not get stuck in flash holes

 

[clearcut]

The only way to get a shine with rice is to add some ajax(abrasive) to the mix it cleans but not really shiny. Isn't lizard beading walnut?
CC

 

[mdi]

While the lizard litter is crushed walnut, it isn't blast/tumbling media. It works, but dedicated blast media works better. Here's a couple years supply; http://www.drillspot.com/products/499763/econoline_526020g-40_40_lbs_blast_media

I've tried quite a few things as alternate media; rice (works but breaks down fast), beach sand (too abrasive, gives dull matt finish to brass), dried beans (much like rice but does not clean as well), glass beads (sand blast media. too abrasive, dull finish on brass), "de-burring media" ( hard plastic 3/8" pyramids, ceramic 1/4" chunks, too aggressive, dull finish), wood chunks (1/2"-1" wood chunks. didn't work), dried coffee grounds (didn't clean brass), and small stainless steel nuts and washers, wet (works pretty good. I had a supply of #4 and #6 nuts screws, washers. too involve for me with mixing solution, rinsing, drying). I tried these in a rotary tumbler and so far the best for cleaning is brass cases is dedicated corn cob or walnut blast media...

 

[Potatohead]

Ive wondered about sand too. Just dunno though. Guess I could try it. Well I see now the previous poster tried it.


Ha! MDI, I thought you wrote "wood chucks" at first..That would be a sight!

 

[mdi]

My "experiments" were in a rotary tumble, and I'm not sure how some of those things would work in a wobbler/vibrator cleaner. I think some will just sit on the bottom of the tub and not do much...

 

[Blue68f100]

Sand is considered a blast media and it works. You can get it in different mesh sizes. You do not want to run the tumbler near as long when your using a very abrasive media. Glass beads is another one that works. not quite as abrasive as sand. If you have blast cabinet recycling the glass media will work provided you keep the oils of of your media.

 

[rogerstg]

Plus, The nearest source of corn cob media or walnut bedding is two hours away.

FYI, some cat litter is made with walnut shells. Somewhere I read that Blue Buffalo Naturally Fresh Non-Clumping Pellet Cat Litter was used as tumbling media and worked great. I have not used it, but I noted it in case I can't find lizard litter.

 

[dave from mesa]

Like mdi said.
I had a friend that used sand. Still have some of those cases. Won't use them because they look like they were sandblasted. I guess they are. Not shiny kind of a dull rough finish. Not sure what size it was but I will never use sand.

 

[ambidextrous1]

Grainger's is a great source for "blast media", both walnut and corn cob, in 20-40 (and other) sizes.

When I ordered it by phone, they were out, and had it shipped from the warehouse in a couple of days, and offered to deliver it; I declined, and picked it up.

Grainger's is very nice to deal with; when you walk in, they don't know if you're going to spend 30 dollars or 15 thousand, and they treat you very nicely.