Have you ever made your own walnut shell polishing media?

[Charlie MacNeil, SASS #48580]

Has anyone ever done it? I have access to a lot of walnut shells. I use them to dye snares with, but the hamster wheel between my ears started spinning and it came upon me to wonder how one might crush the rest down fine enough to use as polishing media. Anybody?

[Rye Miles #13621]

Sounds like a good idea, let us know how it works out! I'd try it if I had a whole bunch of walnut shells!

[Cypress Sun]

 

Maybe a blender? I don't know how you could make the size consistent though or if it would harm the blender.

 

I just order lizard litter from Amazon, 10 qts for $20.

 

https://www.amazon.com/English-Walnut-Shells-Ground-10quart/dp/B004LOEGK6/ref=pd_lpo_sccl_1/137-6547405-8748869?pd_rd_w=LX6eK&content-id=amzn1.sym.1ad2066f-97d2-4731-9356-36b3edf1ae04&pf_rd_p=1ad2066f-97d2-4731-9356-36b3edf1ae04&pf_rd_r=5WA47VPFRNE40BP0FY6K&pd_rd_wg=DAZSh&pd_rd_r=3e676fed-a5c3-4cc4-9a66-ea27d04ac65d&pd_rd_i=B004LOEGK6&psc=1

[Crooked River Pete, SASS 43485]

coffee grinder?

[G W Wade]

Might been interesting to try.  The Church next door has a Black Walnut tree and the squirrels leave the empty hulls all over my place.   Really a clatter when I find a bunch with my mower.         GW

[Wild Eagle]

Might be fun to play with.  I'm not sure how fine you would need to grind them though.  I would try putting them in a cloth or burlap bag and crushing them with a hammer, or maybe even running over the bag with a car.  1//4" pieces may be small enough to do the job.  A blender or coffee grinder would take forever to grind enough for most tumblers, and would probably ruin those grinders pretty quickly.  Another thought is to see if someone in your area has a industrial size nut cracker.  Most of the feed stores around me have them.  They use them to crack pecans in volume to make it easier to get the meat out.  They may be adjustable enough to crush the walnut shells.

[Capt. R. Hugh Kidnme]

I use reptile litter.....cheap.

[Gateway Kid SASS# 70038 Life]

Sounds good but might be more work than it is worth. If you put a value on your time that cost could easily be greater than the satisfaction of doing something that others could or would not take on. Like others I would be interested in how things turn out but probably not a project I want to take on. 
Good luck in your endeavor 

Regards

    

Gateway Kid

[Badlands Bob #61228]

Go to Petsmart and get a bag of lizard litter.   It'll last you a long time.  

 

I equate crushing walnut hulls to reloading .22 rimfire bullets.  Some things are just not worth the effort.

[watab kid]

ive not had access to the shells or i might have , will watch with interest how this goes for you , ive got two big jugs of media so ill probably not follow suite here tho , 

[Charlie MacNeil, SASS #48580]

I’ve been buying lizard bedding at Petsmart, and I’ve got quite a bit of that left. This was just a random idea whose time has apparently not yet come. Thanks for the replies!

[Zeb Gray, #36839]

Is crushed walnut media made from black walnut or english walnut shells?  

[Cypress Sun]

1 minute ago, Zeb Gray, #36839 said:

Is crushed walnut media made from black walnut or english walnut shells?  

 

Whhhat is the speed velocity of a Swallow?

[Warden Callaway]

I tried pecan hulls once. It was a disaster.  I didn't take into consideration the hull sizes and that the cases wouldn't sift out. 

 

[Colorado Coffinmaker]

 

I can think of a couple things more boring than making my own walnut media.  However, I can't buy Annealed Straight Wall pistol cases for Rifles.  I can buy big bags of crushed walnut media.  Ergo, I have no need to sit out on the patio with a mallet banging away at walnut shells.  It also makes no sense at all to ruin a perfectly good Food Processor or Blender.  So:  No, I haven't tried making my own and have no good reason to try.

[Sedalia Dave]

You would need a Burr Mill to grind the hulls.  One large enough to do the job is going to set you back several hundreds if not thousands of dollars.