I wonder just how much lead dust gets washed out of it. I wear a dust mask and try to stand upwind of the tumbler when I transfer the brass into the sifter. I wasn't always that careful and ended up having an elevated blood level of lead. I used to use my media for a long time, adding media boost to squeeze every last moment of its life. Since then I just pitch it when it stops cleaning well. For the cost of one box of bullets one can get a supply of new media. I buy lizard litter at the pet shop as it is much cheaper than actual reloading media. It cleans my brass fine and I no longer am concerned about getting a brilliant shine on my brass.
I do use dryer sheet strips because it decreases the dust.
I am not sure how much lead dust remains embedded in the media vs washed away. But consider, for a second, a dirty rag. It can be contaminated with all sorts of stuff. After you wash it, it is still stained. But w/e is embedded in the rag is largely going to stay there, forever. I don't throw out a shop rag because it's dark. I throw it out when it's finally too stiff and hard to work, anymore. I would rather handle a dark and dirty rag that has just been washed than a new-looking rag that has been used to wipe up lead oxide dust only once.
I was under the impression that it is the sharp edges on the cleaning media, that makes it work.
If you use plain corncob, then the sharp edges certainly help to knock off the carbon deposits. The entire surface of the corn cob actually does the polishing. And the surface does get clogged over time. Washing doesn't remove all the debris. So if you do not use additives in your media, washing won't restore 100% of the cleaning power.
If you use additives to speed things up, the actual surface of the corn cob media isn't as important. Mineral spirits removes the carbon. And polishing compound shines up the cases. Once you clean the media of excessive dust that is clogging up the polish, it works pretty close to new, again. Dryer sheets work fairly well to trap dust (no matter how clean your brass, you will continually accumulate brass dust in your media, along with a little carbon and dirt and powder residue). A quick rinse of the media with water, followed by drying in the sun, works wonders. When you drain off the water, you drain away most of the dust, and you don't need to worry about airborne particles. You don't need to touch or eat or roll around in the dirty media/water naked, unless you really want to. I just use a plastic bag and a few cups or water (usually taken from the bucket of dirty and slightly soapy water I have recently cleaned my brass in*) to clean a tumbler full. Add media, add water, mash the bag for 20 seconds, and squeeze out the excess dirty water. Dump into a tray to dry in the sun. Other folks may wash more throroughly. I rather spend 5 minutes to remove 90% of the dust, than 30-40 minutes to remove 99%. To me, that's the difference of taking 30 minutes to make the media work for another 10-20 loads, vs 5 minutes to make it work for another 9-18 loads.
*Warning. Do not use acidic water to wash media (Lemishine or citric acid, for instance), unless you take extra precautions to not come into contact with the dirty water. Water with a high enough acidity can dissolve lead oxide, and you can more easily absorb it unintentially through your skin. Of course if you are washing cases with lemishine or citric acid, you should hopefully already be aware of this potential hazard when you handle your wash water.
I still powder coat all of my bullets. It takes a lot of time and is probably not necessary for lower pressure round like .38 or .45acp but I like the way they look and I love that they don't gum up my dies etc.
