Cleaning corn cob media

[ToddKS]

I am sometimes processing brass 100 pounds or more at a time an found myself using a fair amount of corn cob which was getting expensive. I was getting ready to yet again change out the dirty media so I decided to see if it was feasible to wash the media clean enough to make it useful again.

I dumped the media into a bucket with some hot water, dawn, and Lemishine, and stirred it around for a while. I then proceeded to strain the media using a wire screen colander. After I strained it I put it in another bucket and filled it with hot water to begin the rinsing. It took 5 rinse cycles but the result appeared promising so I stained the media one more time and dumped it in a turkey basting pan so I could dry it in the oven.

It took 4 hours on 300 degrees (stirring every 30 minutes) to get most of the water out. I now have the media running in my tumbler to finish drying it out overnight.

I will have to see how the recycled media works but it is actually much cleaner than I thought was possible. While not quite like new in color it is very close and this stuff was a uniform dark grey in color when I started. I am optimistic that this will work.

This sounds like a big production but the actual washing took less than 15 minutes. If your wife is the type that would not take kindly to the mess in the bathtub or baking corn media in the oven, this may not be the way to go for you. After 15 years mine is used to this sort of thing.

Anyone else out there ever try this?

[grapemeister]

I think it's a great idea to wash and reuse the media. That's more money that could be used for bullets.

I'm not able to do it now since I live in a small apartment, but my idea is to use a small cement mixer to clean the media and then use some homemade boxes, with a combination of chicken wire and window screening on the bottom, for rinsing and air drying the media in the sun. The cement mixer could also be used for cleaning the brass before it's tumbled.

I now wash my brass in a 5 gallon bucket before I tumble it. This process allows the media to last a lot longer.

[56hawk]

I've washed walnut media before. Just used plain water and sun dried. Came out good as new.

[earplug]

Have you tried buying ground corn cobs at a feed store. Much cheaper.

[ToddKS]

I prewash my brass before I tumble as well. Particularly important for 223 that as been run through an AR.

I washed a batch of walnut this morning and have it in the oven drying out. The walnut was messier to deal with because of the finer particles. I would not do this in the bathtub again. I would do the next batch outside with the hose.

Another lesson learned was too much detergent is bad. The walnut I was dealing with was really filthy so I decided to give it a little extra on the dawn. Took some work to get that all washed out. If I had not been doing this more or less as an experiment I might have thrown the whole load out rather than deal with the suds.

I had not thought of the Co op for the crushed cob. First I have heard of that idea. I have heard that lizard litter or some such product from the pet store is supposed to be crushed walnut but I have not personally tried it.

[GlockCanMan]

You can buy it in 50lb bulk bags. A lot of places use it as blasting media. Just make sure you order the right size.

[mcracco]

But if you wet tumble you avoid the dirty media problem altogether. Sorry, had to say it.

[grapemeister]

I'm assuming wet tumbling doesn't polish the brass; it just makes it very clean?

[mcracco]

I'm assuming wet tumbling doesn't polish the brass; it just makes it very clean?

Wet tumbling results put dry tumbling results to shame. Brass comes out incredibly brilliant. Your brass is never really clean with dry tumbling as you are saving the bath water and using it over and over. Polishing compound stays on brass and transfers to everything it contacts on loading equipment. On the other hand wet tumbling cleans inside the case and primer pocket if you deprime and does not carry compound/contaminates over to loading process.

The downsides are initial cost and added step of drying brass. Seeing the results after my first batch I quickly forgot about the cost and drying is throwing on a cookie sheet and putting in a 175* oven for 15 min.

STM is a good source of info and product.

[BillD]

I'm assuming wet tumbling doesn't polish the brass; it just makes it very clean?

Wet tumbling results put dry tumbling results to shame. Brass comes out incredibly brilliant. Your brass is never really clean with dry tumbling as you are saving the bath water and using it over and over. Polishing compound stays on brass and transfers to everything it contacts on loading equipment. On the other hand wet tumbling cleans inside the case and primer pocket if you deprime and does not carry compound/contaminates over to loading process.

The downsides are initial cost and added step of drying brass. Seeing the results after my first batch I quickly forgot about the cost and drying is throwing on a cookie sheet and putting in a 175* oven for 15 min.

STM is a good source of info and product.

Brass only needs to be clean enough to not damage the dies. IMO, pins and water are overkill. Unless you just have to have brass that looks new.

[ToddKS]

Glock,

I did some google on corn media for blasting. It appears to be measured in grit like sandpaper.

What grit are you using?

Thanks,

Todd

[johnsons1480]

Glock,

I did some google on corn media for blasting. It appears to be measured in grit like sandpaper.

What grit are you using?

Thanks,

Todd

I'm using this media from Grainger

ECONOLINE Blast Media,40 Lbs,Corn Cob,20/40 Grit

Item # 2MVR5

It was about $42, I picked it up in the store

[tires2burn]

OK, who is going to post a picture of wet tumbled brass compared to dry tumbled? I went to wet tumbling about 6 months ago and just can't imagine going back to dry tumbling. Its xtra work but well worth it to me. I only use the dry tumbling for cleaning loaded ammo for about ten minutes & its just as clean on the outside as the inside.

Edited June 13, 2014 by tires2burn

[razorfish]

This wouldn't work on a large scale, but when my corn cob starts looking a little grey, I slice up a dryer sheet into strips and run it with the next few cycles of brass. Sometimes it takes multiple dryer sheets but eventually this "revives" the cob and removes the grey color.

Also, dirty is one thing, but after a while the crushed corn cob becomes "dull". Part of the polishing effect you get from the crushed corn cob are the fresh "sharp" edges. Repeated use smoothes/rounds out the crushed cob and it takes longer to polish your brass. The same thing goes for crushed nut.

Eventually you'll want to change it, but keeping the media clean is always a good idea.

[Jhp147]

Also, dirty is one thing, but after a while the crushed corn cob becomes "dull". Part of the polishing effect you get from the crushed corn cob are the fresh "sharp" edges. Repeated use smoothes/rounds out the crushed cob and it takes longer to polish your brass. The same thing goes for crushed nut.

Eventually you'll want to change it, but keeping the media clean is always a good idea.

This seems to go much faster for the crushed nut hulls than corn cob (I use Lizard Litter usually, then a "rinse" with fine corncob). I was wondering why it started taking so much longer to clean my cases, and I took a look at the hulls and could see that they lost their sharp points on the pieces as it got dirty. I change it when the cleaning slows. Edited June 18, 2014 by sheepdog

[RePete]

I use a 40/60 mix of treated corn cob (Lyman) and corn blast. I add 2 or 3 USED Bounce dryer sheets in each batch of brass. The mix stays clean for a long time and when the brass takes 4+ hrs to clean, then I change it out.

[ToddKS]

I have not noticed any difference in performance with the corn cob I washed vs. prior to washing. I do, however, tend to tumble overnight so any slight performance changes are likely overcome by duration.

[Steve RA]

[tires2burn]

Tumbling with water & pins RULES

[ToddKS]

I washed the same batch of corn cob a second time. It did not come as clean the second time as it did the first, but in fairness I let it get much dirtier this time than before. I dried it in the oven same as before and ran it over night in the tumbler to make sure it was good and dry.

I treated it with Nu Finish like I normally do and put it back in service. Just finished a batch of .223 and can see no reduction in the performance of the media even after a second washing.

I have about 150# of .223 left to tumble so I will likely get to see how this batch does after a third washing soon.

[Steve RA]

Only problem I see with cleaning walnut is that the rough edges wear off and even though it is clean again it's less rough.

[ToddKS]

I just finished washing my batch of corn cob media for the fourth time. It is definitely stained and no longer comes back to the original color but the performance is still as good as before with regard to polishing.

I have found that purple power is better than Dawn for cleaning the media. It is significantly easier to rinse out. I can get the purple power out in 2 rinses where it was taking twice that or more with the Dawn.

Another item of note is that the moisture stays in the media for a long team, even after baking. Even after over a week I would find the underside of my tumblers lid soaked with water after running. To solve this problem I cut a slit in the middle of an old wash cloth so it will sit on the center rod of my tumbler and use the wash cloth instead of the lid. This keeps the dust from going everywhere while allowing the moisture to escape.

I am going to keep washing this batch until it stops performing as I am saving decent money here.

[tires2burn]

Why don't you put the wet media in a pillow case, tie it shut and throw it in the dryer.

[RePete]

Why don't you put the wet media in a pillow case, tie it shut and throw it in the dryer.

Now that would be expensive - the cost of hydro.

[v1911]

+1 on the dryer sheets.

Not all dryer sheets are equal though. The store brand are not as effective as national brand. I cut up 2 sheets for every batch I clean. Also add a cap of Nu finish and dillon polish on occasion. I've never had to replace my walnut media and I've cleaned about 15k-20k worth of brass. Those sheets come out a very dark grey each time.