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Russel Nash
05-25-2009, 01:37 AM
grind up corn cobs fine enough to use as tumbling media?

I just found one website that has hand cranked grist mills:

http://www.strombergschickens.com/products/grinders.php

Holy cow!

Cha-ching$$$

I think a trip to an old farm auction or to a flea market is in order if that's the kinda prices these things are fetching new.

Eeekkk!!!

So what say you, grist mill to make tumbling media from corn cob?

Thanks!

EMC45
05-25-2009, 07:35 AM
Neat idea. You could get all the cobs for next to nothing too. I would look for a used one though. That seems high!

Bret4207
05-25-2009, 08:35 AM
What you need is a hammermill. Not the sort of thing you're likely to find at the neighborhood flea markets. If you could get access to a lot of cobs for cheap you could try running them through someones lawn shredder/grinder. Otherwise I'd forget it. Whats a bag of polishing cob cost? You might be better off cutting slices of cob with a chop saw type set up and then smashing them with a hammer. You'd be acting as a crude hammermill that way. Another option would be a meat grinder.

imashooter2
05-25-2009, 08:50 AM
I'm constantly amazed at the amount of money folks will spend to save a buck.:)

Go to your local welding supply and buy cob or walnut blast media in 50 pound bags.

Russel Nash
05-25-2009, 10:06 AM
Yeah, it's funny, ain't it, how people will step over a dollar to pick up a dime?

:mrgreen:

As far as crushed walnut shells, the most conveinient place to get it is at either a Pet-co or a Petsmart pet store. It is sold as lizard litter. The biggest bag I have seen at the pet stores is labeled as "10 dry quarts".

Huh?!

That kinda labeling doesn't help me out much. I need the weight. So one store had some scales handy. 13.5 pounds. They want 10 bucks for it too.

So that comes out 74.1 cents a pound.

Now, I have tried calling the auto body paint shops and the foundry suppliers. Nobody had any of it in. They then quoted me a price of say X dollars for Y pounds of it. But what really ticked me off was the shipping....it was like 2 dollars higher to ship it in vs. the actual product price.

:o

So I found some corn cob already ground that comes out to 13 cents a pound.

It has some chunks in it a little bigger than what I would like. Which is what brought me here to ask about grist mills. Hand cranked ones.

Now, I didn't exactly grow up in the city, and I didn't exactly grow up in the country either, but from what I can recall of the corn harvesting machinery I have seen around here....it spits the stripped corn cobs out the back of the machine and onto the ground.

I guess I could ask to go back on to some farmer's property and pick up the corn cobs off the ground, but really that's too much work, IMO. A slicker idea would be to have some wagon or cart pulled behind the back end of the corn picker.

That is if one can find a grist mill that turns the ol' corn cobs into a small enough particle size.

Thanks for the replies so far fellas!

3006guns
05-25-2009, 10:16 AM
I just got a 50lb. bag of 12/20 crushed walnut hulls directly from the supplier for $10.00....that's right, ten bucks. Fifty pounds is going to last me a looonnggg time.

Le Loup Solitaire
05-25-2009, 12:42 PM
Its an ok idea and to quote an old saying, " a buck is a buck". The prices for those gristmills are scary. Go to E-Bay and puch up a search for grinders or meat grinders and you'll come up with models that are handcranked with different sizes of cutter plates (interchangeable) usually produced by Griswold or Universal. They were built in an era where stuff was made to last and not break. Price range from $10-$15. Size #4 is probably the best as it has the biggest hopper and barrel. You would have to dice/slice the corncobs to start with but you would get what you need to work well in tumblers after the stuff was run thru the grinder. LLS

TAWILDCATT
05-25-2009, 12:52 PM
I have one of those.I almost choked when I saw the price.I picked it up in some junk.
harbor freight has blasting walnut.I just bought a bag. 25# I think.:coffeecom [smilie=1:

Russel Nash
05-25-2009, 12:58 PM
3006 guns wrote:


I just got a 50lb. bag of 12/20 crushed walnut hulls directly from the supplier for $10.00....that's right, ten bucks. Fifty pounds is going to last me a looonnggg time.

Qwitchyerbraggin!

Yeah, I already figured out who the main "supplier" is in the whole united states.

And again, shipping was going to more than double the price of the media I wanted to buy in the first place.

Yeah, a buddy just sent me a link to an ebay auction for a grist mill. He's interested in grinding down corn cobs too.

I would just rather wait to go to a flea market in person actually handle an item in my own two hands, maybe even try to run a corncob through it and see what the results are and then plunk down the money if I like it.

Plus, I don't have pay pal set up.

Russel Nash
05-25-2009, 12:59 PM
Harbor freight media is 25 bucks for 25 pounds. So a dollar a pound which is more expensive than the lizard litter at the pet store.

fatnhappy
05-25-2009, 01:03 PM
I'm constantly amazed at the amount of money folks will spend to save a buck.:)

Go to your local welding supply and buy cob or walnut blast media in 50 pound bags.

or buy it online. I found a link where I can buy it for $18 in a 50lb bag. I never dealt with them because I also found a place 200 yards from where I work that had 40 lb bags of corn cob for $15

Russel Nash
05-26-2009, 12:04 AM
The ground up corn cob that my buddy and I bought yesterday was $4 for 30 pounds, which IIRC is 13.3 cents per pound.

The catch is, it is inconsistent in size throughout the 30 pound bag. It would probably be okay for semi-auto pistol cases, but I fear that tumbling bottlenecked rifle cases will lead to me (us?) using a dental pick to un-jam the corn cob media from say a thousand .223 or .308 cases. [smilie=b:

Now, there was another place I tracked down that was $17 for 40 pound bag of what they said was 1/8th inch ground corn cob.

I asked them over the phone how fine it was. The gal was like "do you know what thistle seed looks like for feeding song birds?....Yeah, it's that fine."

So if trying to grind my own cobs down to just the right size proves to be too much of a PITA, then I might have to go with their 1/8th corn cob the next time I am over in that neck of the woods. At least if anything, just to take a look at the stuff to see if it really is as fine as thistle seed. I am wondering if something that fine would actually clean or polish brass in a tumbler.

shotman
05-26-2009, 12:36 AM
Well I dont know what corn cobs done for you but we used the field{red} and sweet {white} to tell the difference. You used the red first and then a white to see if you needed another red. Only the real tough used walnuts and they didnt care. rick

oneokie
05-26-2009, 12:49 AM
The best size is called 20-40 mesh. Will not plug flash holes. Are you close to a Grainger outlet? Have you checked with sand blaster people? Industrial supply places?

Russel Nash
05-26-2009, 02:16 AM
oneokie wrote:


The best size is called 20-40 mesh. Will not plug flash holes. Are you close to a Grainger outlet? Have you checked with sand blaster people? Industrial supply places?


I forgot what the mesh sizes are exactly, but yeah, that sounds about right.

Correct, you get crushed walnut shells small enough it will NOT plug flashholes.

Yes, I tried a Grainger outlet in St. Louis. The gal and I were looking at the exact same Grainger web pages when I was on the phone with here. No, that did not pan out.

Yes, I checked with foundry supply people in St. Louis....

and so it goes.... I will let the cat out of the bag...

the foundry supply gal I talked to in St. Louis said that her walnut shell supplier was in Stockton, MO.

Oooopssss... big mistake!

I got off the phone with her, went directly to maps.google.com and typed in "walnuts, stockton, MO"

BINGO!

I made my way to here:

Hammons Walnut Shell Products: Mesh sizes (http://www.hammonsproducts.com/page.asp?p_key=11C0327901AC464D852200F057E1E6B5&ie_key=093275B1163E451EA575A79C8E796C51)

And again, the shipping just to St. Louis or just east of St. Louis was gonna kill the deal for me.

Yes, I even tried calling auto body paint supply stores. No joy!

Russel Nash
05-26-2009, 02:21 AM
So when I called Hammons to get pricing information, I asked the gal:

"So besides you guys, who else is as large nationally that sells crushed walnut shells?"

Her reply was, "It's just us until you get to California. There are a lot of walnut growers in Cali."

So I can then only ASSume that all this other walnut shell media that you get and is marked up probably several times before you finally get it, all originally came from Hammons.

I am all for cutting out the middle man/men. Especially in this economy.

I suppose if I ever make a trip to southwest Missouri, I will have to pick up a half truckload of walnut media. Then I will have to swing by Sedalia, MO and pick up a half truckload of factory seconds from the Sierra bullet company. Maybe some 77 grain SMK's to feed the AR??

oneokie
05-27-2009, 06:25 PM
Have you contacted these people?
http://www.macraesbluebook.com/search/company.cfm?company=408749

This place used to make the larger gun shows:
http://www.armsandammo.com/proddetail.cfm?CFID=394180&CFTOKEN=91278638&ItemID=1166&CategoryID=15

Russel Nash
05-27-2009, 11:55 PM
Nope, not yet. Thanks for the links!

richbug
05-28-2009, 06:56 AM
harbor freight has blasting walnut.I just bought a bag. 25# I think.:coffeecom [smilie=1:


$1 a pound, and it is awful stuff. Way dustier than any I have ever used. Product of CHINA...

Calamity Jake
05-28-2009, 08:49 AM
The ground up corn cob that my buddy and I bought yesterday was $4 for 30 pounds, which IIRC is 13.3 cents per pound.

The catch is, it is inconsistent in size throughout the 30 pound bag. It would probably be okay for semi-auto pistol cases, but I fear that tumbling bottlenecked rifle cases will lead to me (us?) using a dental pick to un-jam the corn cob media from say a thousand .223 or .308 cases. [smilie=b:

Now, there was another place I tracked down that was $17 for 40 pound bag of what they said was 1/8th inch ground corn cob.

I asked them over the phone how fine it was. The gal was like "do you know what thistle seed looks like for feeding song birds?....Yeah, it's that fine."

So if trying to grind my own cobs down to just the right size proves to be too much of a PITA, then I might have to go with their 1/8th corn cob the next time I am over in that neck of the woods. At least if anything, just to take a look at the stuff to see if it really is as fine as thistle seed. I am wondering if something that fine would actually clean or polish brass in a tumbler.


Try running this stuff thru a coffee grinder

Russel Nash
05-28-2009, 10:20 AM
I did already.

Both kinds. The hand cranked cast one and a newer electric model.

The hand cranked one I thought I was going to break because it took so much effort to rotate the handle.

The electric one ground it up into such a fine powder that it was actually leaking around the sides of the lid.

And for whatever reason I still had pencil eraser sized chunks of corncob that would float up above the cutter blade and not get chopped up. :neutral:

Russel Nash
05-28-2009, 04:03 PM
oneokie on the 1st page wrote:


Have you contacted these people?
http://www.macraesbluebook.com/searc...company=408749

This place used to make the larger gun shows:
http://www.armsandammo.com/proddetai...&CategoryID=15


Nope!

Nope!

And I called Olin today. Nope!

<sigh>

The armsandammo place is located probably not even 10 minutes from the Hammons walnut processing plant in Stockton, MO.

The industrial supply place didn't have any and I asked them for recommendations for a place in St. Louis that would have it. Nope!

Bummer!

oneokie
05-28-2009, 05:07 PM
The catch is, it is inconsistent in size throughout the 30 pound bag.

Contact these people and inquire about some of their woven wire screen. A piece of woven wire with a 20 mesh would remove the larger pieces that would tend to plug flash holes. Woven wire mesh screens are sized by the number of wires per inch. So 20 mesh would have 20 wires per inch on the X & Y axis. The openings would be <.050" because you have to subtract the diameter of the wire.

http://www.clipperseparation.com/

I was about to suggest a piece of aluminum window screen, but it is 16x16 mesh, and it is possible for that size media to plug flash holes.

When you talked to the people at Hammonds, did you ask if they could/would tell you of any of their distributors/retailers in the St. Louis area?

Russel Nash
05-29-2009, 03:19 AM
Good point, oneokie.

I guess I will have to call them tomorrow.

I have some 1/8th by 1/8th inch wire mesh. Right now some of it is stappled to some 2X4's to act as a ramp which helps me seperate out the sand and wooden splinters out of my one club's bowling pin pit for when I am scrounging the lead out of there.

I was thinking that I could screw some furring strips (aka one by two's) to the underside of this ramp. And then I have a roll of aluminum flashing just sitting around collecting dust. I could then staple the aluminum flashing to the underside of the one by two's. and then near the very bottom I could put a bucket or a big rubber maid tub under an opening in the flashing and that would catch all the smaller stuff.

All the big stuff would roll right down the ramp and be caught by another rubber maid tub.

I have used a Sawzall tie wired to the sides of this ramp. Then I put a piece of tie wire around the tool's trigger. Plug it in and gradually twist the wire. The vibration of the sawzall makes the stuff move more quickly down the ramp.

Gosh... I'm so smart.... :- P

LOL!

45 2.1
05-29-2009, 07:05 AM
I have a couple of grinding mills and have used a hammer mill when I was a lot yonger, all ran off a tractor. They all produce ground corn cobs with larger chunks down through dust. You will have to seive anything you grind to get the right size to use.

oneokie
05-29-2009, 07:49 PM
Corn cob media:

http://greenproducts.com/corncob_products/

Russel Nash
05-30-2009, 01:05 AM
Cool!

Thanks!

Russel Nash
06-07-2009, 05:53 PM
Okay, well, here is my second try at posting here back in my thread.

I'll have to be sure to do a copy (Control + C) just in case my post gets eaten again. POOF! gone. Arggh....

I originally typed in a long post, but I don't feel like typing it all in again.

I bought the 1/8" corn cob at a feed store yesterday. It looks perfect for tumbling media. It was 18 dollars out the door for 40 pounds....45 cents a pound.

I am still kinda investigating buying a meat grinder and/or a grist mill to grind up corn cobs, if I could get them for free. But right now as it stands, it just seems too labor intensive and time consuming. Especially when compared to the price of what I paid for the quantity and the quality of consistent size.

Besides, that, I have other irons in the fire right now.... I don't need any more distractions.

<sigh>

lylejb
06-10-2009, 01:03 AM
forget the hand crank grain mill, it won't produce the results you want. i owned a corona (not related to the beer brand, but used for making beer) about half the size of the one you linked to. I was an all grain homebrewer, and ground several 50# sacks of malt with that grinder over the years. it grinds by a mashing and twisting action, and produces a mix of sizes all at the same time. i guess you could TRY to separate the grind with several different mesh screens, but you would wind up with mostly wrong size / reject material. i think i paid about $100 for the corona mill probably 20 yrs ago. for that price you could buy ALOT of media!!!

Russel Nash
06-10-2009, 04:02 PM
oneokie wrote:


Corn cob media:

http://greenproducts.com/corncob_products/


I actually got a hold of them yesterday. Shipped to me, near St. Louis, $38 dollars for a 40 pound bag. :(

So we are back up closer to a buck a pound. :-?

If my one feed store can keep getting in 40 pound bags of the 1/8" corn cob at $18 OTD, that should keep me happy.

I found a meat grinder on Craig's List for $10.

I am going to pick it up this Saturday.

If you watch this video (turn down your speakers first):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4Rc8azlfOQ

At the 21 second mark you will get a good pic of what the innards look like. From doing some google'ing, I have gathered that is basically just a hammer mill.

I am thinking I could cobble something up, but like I said I have other irons in the fire.

jawjaboy
06-10-2009, 05:19 PM
I use this in the link below. Good stuff. Pick it up at the store and there's no shipping charges.

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/items/2MVR4

.

Russel Nash
07-02-2009, 01:06 PM
Thanks for that link JawJawboy.

OneOkie and I had PM'ed each other quite a bit about this thread.

Yeah, I tried Grainger in St. Louis already. They didn't have any of the walnut or the corncob in.

To get it to St. Louis, they said I would still have to pay shipping. :(

So we are back up to a dollar a pound or higher, again.

Anywhooo... I sold some of my ground up corn cob media at a match on Sunday. With the money I made...well.... that paid for my match fee.

After the match I stopped off at one local gunstore, they had MidwayUSA's brand of corn cob media. They want 3 bucks a pound for it. :shock:

So maybe at this next match I will have to bump my prices up too, to say like $1.50 a pound.

KCSO
07-02-2009, 04:18 PM
You can go to Earl Mays and pick up enough reptiile bedding to last the rest of your life for that amount of money. Or go to your friendly farmer and when he grinds cob foe feed additive give him a buck foe a bushel or two.

Russel Nash
07-02-2009, 04:47 PM
Poking around the internet led me to believe that Earl May stores are strictly an Iowa and Wisconsin thing. There aren't any of their stores here in the St. Louis area.

And...AND!!!

The Hammond's place I linked to back on the first page is the #1 place in the whole United States for getting walnuts and crushed walnut shells on the cheap.

Everybody else gets it from them.

I would like to cut out all the middle men and their associated step ups in price for each middle man.

Whatever Hammond's wholesale prices are to other businesses who then turn around and re-package the crushed walnut shells as lizard litter or blasting media or brass tumbling media...well those retail prices are still gonna be way more expensive per pound, than what I could get it for if I could make it to Stockton, MO to buy it from Hammond's directly in person.

The shipping is what dings me.

I shoot 3 to 6 action pistol type matches a month. There are match fees, gasoline to get there (even though we try to car pool), meals, and the ammunition expended.

If I can drag a few gallon jugs of finely ground corn cob media with me to matches that my fellow shooters will buy off me, at least I will have my match fee paid for. Maybe a little extra if I am lucky.

Let's say $10 per match, 6 matches a month, 72 matches a year, that's $720 that I could put back into my pocket and use for something else like groceries, or that 13th house payment in one year. And years down the road, pay off a 30 year mortgage in like 19 years just by making that 13th payment.

A buddy of mine is even more entrepeneurial. He has a lathe and a bridgeport. He makes parts for the Springfield XD. He's wheeling and dealing all the time.

Sorry to step up on my soap box here... I'm just trying to figure out ways to get my shooting hobby to pay for itself.

I'm NOT just posting this thread to provide media for myself. I wanna make some money. (wink, wink).

oneokie
07-02-2009, 05:17 PM
An off the wall suggestion--What about a food blender? A WaringŪ blender will grind up some pretty tough stuff. Might find one at a garage sale.

Russel Nash
07-02-2009, 05:20 PM
What I am thinking would be just the ticket for grinding up or chopping up corn cobs is this thing, made by Lentz:

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q101/chills1994/LetzGrinder1.jpg

These are some other pictures of it too:

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q101/chills1994/LetzGrinder1.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q101/chills1994/LetzGrinder3.jpg

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q101/chills1994/LetzGrinder4.jpg

That is, if I could get a machine like that cheap enough and could get whole corn cobs for free. :confused:

Russel Nash
07-02-2009, 05:38 PM
I already tried the old fashioned meat grinder idea. I went with the Tim "the toolman" Allen mentality: more power! more power! woof! woof! woof!

And it broke! [smilie=1:

Dang it!

But it was only ten bucks.

I am about to head out here and get another one off of Craig's list, again for 10 bucks. By the time this is all said and done, I am going to be like an antique Enterprise meat grinder afficianado. :roll:

So this next one I will get I will just be sure to crank it by hand.

I had put a 5/16" bolt in where the hand crank had gone, then chucked a nut driver in my cordless drill. And to my surprise that cordless drill had enough torque behind it a part of the archimedes like screw shaft snapped right where it was threaded. :(

I even had the clutch set low on the cordless drill too. :confused: Must have been a void or an occlusion in that screw's casting.


Bret on the first page wrote:


....If you could get access to a lot of cobs for cheap you could try running them through someones lawn shredder/grinder....

A-ha! I saw a compost shredder grinder today for sale on Craig's list. It has a metal screen in the bottom for 3/4" stuff to fall through.

The guy wanted $200 for it, and I would still have to come up with a way to get 1/8" size stuff out of it, so that would probably mean fabricating my own screens?mesh or drilling lots of tiny holes in sheet metal.

And then I got to thinking about maybe just renting a small chipper shreder for the weekend or just for a day. Hmmn...

Russel Nash
07-02-2009, 06:06 PM
Oooppss.... I forgot to add this picture:

http://i134.photobucket.com/albums/q101/chills1994/LetzGrinder2.jpg

It's got some guts to it. And I bet once it gets spinning there is some inertia, some uumph behind it.

Technically, it is a burr mill so there are two circular plates that grind against each other just like the old fashioned wind mills in Holland and the water wheel powered grist mills popular here in the 1700 and 1800's.

So I guess if I really wanted to I could grind my own wheat flour or corn meal. :roll:

LOL!

Looking at the pictures, it appears that there is an adjustment knob to make the flour or cornmeal coarser or finer. I am ASSuming it would open up wide enough to let 1/8" particle size cob through.

Anywhooo.... just kicking around ideas.

bobotech
07-03-2009, 03:07 AM
First post here but I am curious. I have a coffee grinder, but not one of those cheesy small blade style but rather a commercial grade burr grinder. It grinds coffee by spinning two burrs (round plates with cutting heads on them) together for various grits of grind. You can adjust it all the way down to a super fine powder.

I would love to grind the bag of 1/4 inch grit corn cob though it to make it more like 1/8 or smaller grit BUT i'm worried about it contaminating my grinder or are corncob no big deal?

I mean corncob is a food grade product of course.

I think I shall try it tomorrow and see what the results are. Has anyone else ever tried it?

bobotech
07-03-2009, 03:22 AM
Here is a picture of my grinder:

http://www.opal-coffee.com/images/Carimali_grinder%20M1.jpg

Russel Nash
07-03-2009, 12:33 PM
Yeah, my buddy was thinking about the exact same thing, using a higher end coffee grinder with an adjuster for grind size. He says they are expensive though, like 100 dollars.

Ooopss... I forgot to add that I picked up that other meat grinder yesterday. It is even bigger than the first one I got. Wow! I was impressed by how heavy it was.

bobotech
07-03-2009, 12:46 PM
LOL 100 dollars. My grinder lists for about 900 dollars. Its a commercial grinder used in coffee shops. I got it for free though at a yard sale from a woman who had a espresso stand that went out of business. I bought her commercial espresso machine for 50 dollars and she threw in the grinder.

:)

I will report my findings later on today when I try it out and see.

What is the best size of grit to use for a tumbler anyways?

Russel Nash
07-03-2009, 12:55 PM
Well, that depends....see, there are a few folks who reload bottle necked rifle cases in what I think is a bass ackwards kinda way.

They will lube their cases, resize and deprime them, and then throw them back into the tumbler to get rid of the lube left on the case.

Then once they are clean they will put them back on the reloading press or hand primer and re-prime them, charge with powder, seat a bullet, and possibly crimp.

So long story short... the ideal size is something that is so small it won't get stuck in the primer flash-holes.

Me? I just leave the lube on there and then tumble the loaded rounds for a short while to get rid of the excess lube. "Short while" being the operative phrase.

But then I reload rifle on a Dillon 650. One time through the press. That's it, no on the press off the press back on the press business.

Rockydog
07-03-2009, 02:10 PM
Russel, That Lentz burr mill will probably take a minimum of 20 HP to run. We had a similar one when I was young except it operated with a PTO shaft rather than a flat belt. If you fed it full bore it would work the snot out of a 40HP WD Allis Chalmers with shelled corn. Corn cob is much harder to grind that dried grains which shatter upon impact. Corn cob has a lot of fiber and has a tough almost rubbery consistency. I've ground a bunch of it in my lifetime, read tons. I used to use it for bedding for newborn pigs. Our local commercial mill stopped grinding it because it was too hard on the mill. I honestly don't know if a burr mill would work as I think it would just tend to roll it over the burrs. A hammer mill is the way to go. They are similar in concept to the video except that the hammers are free swinging on a shaft and have very minimal clearance to the screen almost pounding the cobs through the surface. The fixed hammers in his mill shatter the hard kernels and the pieces escape through the screen vs the hammer mill where they are almost driven through the screen. My dad owned and ran a commercial mill when I was a kid in addition to my growing up on the farm and owning my own farm at one time. If you scour farm country you can probably find a modest sized 1950s Gehl hammer mill for scrap price but again you'll need 25 to 40 HP to run it. RD

Russel Nash
07-03-2009, 08:00 PM
Thanks RockyDog for the reply.

I called the seller for the Lentz one. He is out in Iowa. He said he was going to convert it over to PTO at one time but just never got around to it.

Then he said they bought something brand new with more uumph behind it that did the trick.

I think in doing my research I read somewhere that getting a PTO powered one lined up just right with the tractor was a total pain. A little bit off angle and the belt would come slipping or flying off. :-o

I tried the new Enterprise meat grinder I bought yesterday. It is actually a #22. The first I tried (and broke :- ( ) was a #12.

This #22 has some beefier parts to it. I figured out that there was a technique to it.

And boy did I get a work out too. [smilie=l:

If I keep up at it, I'm gonna have a helluva punch. Not to mention it strengthening my grip. :lol:

Yeah, you're right, there is this spongey, rubbery quality to the cob.

I'll keep putzing around with stuff. I will figure it out eventually or until I feel like this:

[smilie=b:

Rockydog
07-05-2009, 12:39 AM
Russel, The PTO, Power Take OFF, ones are a snap to use. They use a female splined drive shaft with universal joints, like a car drive shaft, that connects to a splined shaft on the tractor. They telescope in and out to connect to the shaft and can even run at a 45* angle although the straighter the better.
The belt drive ones are a pain. You have to stake or bolt the mill to the ground or a barn floor etc. Then you have to line the tractor up exactly straight and level crosswise too. Then you have to determine the rotational direction of the mill and the pulley wheel on the tractor. If it runs the wrong direction you have to put a 1/2 twist in the belt before attaching on the tractor pulley. Then you have to back the tractor up to tighten the belt to just the right tension and set the brakes to hold it there. Remember tractors built after about 1960 did not even come equipped with a belt pulley although you can buy them as an attachment driven by the PTO. Belts are leftover from steam engine days.
This is what you need. I used to own 2 of them identical to this one.
http://site153.webhost4life.com/jk/jk/equipment-traders/forsale/101608gehlhammermill.jpg

insanelupus
07-05-2009, 01:36 AM
" Well I dont know what corn cobs done for you but we used the field{red} and sweet {white} to tell the difference. You used the red first and then a white to see if you needed another red. Only the real tough used walnuts and they didnt care. "

Now that's funny right there!

RP
07-05-2009, 02:12 AM
Keep checking the pet stores i buy mine when they have the buy one get one free deals that knocks .75 cents in half and your done. Sometimes looking a cheaper way is fun but do you have the time to do it if so go for the cheap way if not bite the bullet walnut last along time.

Rick N Bama
07-05-2009, 10:22 AM
Well I dont know what corn cobs done for you but we used the field{red} and sweet {white} to tell the difference. You used the red first and then a white to see if you needed another red. Only the real tough used walnuts and they didnt care. rick

Only a true Redneck will understand this post, & I guess I'm a Redneck, for I've been there & done that:drinks:

Rick

Russel Nash
07-05-2009, 10:23 PM
^^^ I got it too, I think, the first time around back on page 1.

Thanks RockyDog, that was a most informative post.

But, I gotta ask... is there some sort of clutch or mechanism to keep a PTO from totally wrecking a machine should something go haywire?

I am ASSuming that at least, maybe, with a belt driven gizmo if something should lock up in a machine the belt would or could slip or maybe come off the pulley entirely.

Anywhooo.... I sold 4 jugs of my ground up corn cob media today. So I made like $12, which paid my match fee at today's match (match fee = 10 dollars).

oneokie
07-05-2009, 10:58 PM
But, I gotta ask... is there some sort of clutch or mechanism to keep a PTO from totally wrecking a machine should something go haywire?

A slip clutch is used in the PTO driveline for some applications. They are available in different horsepower ratings. Most farm supply stores will carry them. They are adjustable as to the amount of torque they will slip at.

Heavy lead
07-05-2009, 11:00 PM
A slip clutch is used in the PTO driveline for some applications. They are available in different horsepower ratings. Most farm supply stores will carry them. They are adjustable as to the amount of torque they will slip at.

Or a shear bolt or pin.

DLCTEX
07-06-2009, 10:47 AM
In my part of the country the combines used for harvesting corn have choppers on the back to reduce the corn stalks and cobs to small pieces so that they will be more easily broken down over the winter , causing less problems in planting and plowing the new crop. It would be almost impossible to get corn cobs here, as "pickers" are no longer used.

Rockydog
07-07-2009, 09:32 PM
Dale, You are right on that aspect of harvest. About the only places I know of where ear corn pickers are used is the hill country of SW Wis. and I hear some of the hill country in Tenn/Ken. Where ever land is too steep for combines to traverse.The only other place ear corn pickers are used is in the seed corn industry. Combines which shell the corn off the cobs prior to drying damage the growing tip of the kernels. Seed corn is still harvested with ear corn pickers, dried on the cob and then shelled with stationary shellers that do much less damage to kernels than combines. If you can find a major seed corn plant (Pioneer, DeKalb, etc.) you'll see mountains of cobs, read semi loads, out back of the drying houses. RD

Russel Nash
07-08-2009, 12:21 AM
Just doing a real quick google image search, from what I can remember from last October or November, at least here in southern Illinois, was that I still saw a lot of these:

http://www.kfar-masaryk.org.il/privet/gadash/crops/corn%20picker.jpg

Granted they were most likely John Deere and had the green paint job. There might have been a few Hollands or New Hollands in their blue paint scheme too.

And again, IIRC, they would shell the corn and it would get "sprayed" either into a "farm truck" or a trailer.

Oh...okay, another quick google search for "combine" led me to this picture right here:

http://www.teejet.com/media/52b5465e-a453-423d-9e32-c2ccffb60d53-Deere-Combine.jpg

But when I think combine, I think of this:

http://www.kevinkirby.com/images/Site_Images/Combine_Hire/COMBINE3.JPG

Which I think is used both for soy beans and wheat around here.

IIRC, the corn pickers would spit stuff out the back.... the stalks for sure and the cobs. Now, I can't exactly remember if it spit out whole cobs or just parts of cobs.

:confused:

Russel Nash
07-08-2009, 12:23 AM
I'm guessing from my limited farm knowledge that a farmer can just buy a combine and then put a corn picking "head"... I guess....???

Rockydog
07-08-2009, 08:04 AM
Russel, This thread is getting like Successful Farming Magazine. Yes most corn is harvested with a combine and a corn head attachment. The ears are stripped and go into the "feeder house" that contains a large rotating cylinder equipped with bars that force the ears through a series of stationary bars breaking the kernels from the cob abd grinding most of the cob into small chunks. The combine then uses either shakers or centrifigal force to separate the lighter cob and trash from the heavier kernels, depositing the ground cob back on the ground. Although not too clear I think your first picture is of a New Idea Unisystem. The Uni has several combinations of attachments. I think the one depicted has a corn picking head that strips the ears and deposits them in a large hydraulic dump box to be lifted over the side of a truck and dumped for transort to the dryer. From the height of the corn in the picture I'd guess it to be seed corn. RD

Russel Nash
07-08-2009, 01:01 PM
Define "seed corn":

PS: I don't mind that I am drifting my own thread to talk about farming equipment.

Rockydog
07-08-2009, 10:02 PM
Ok, Since you asked. Most of the corn grown in the United States is from hybrid seed. Plant scientists experiment continually by crossing varieties of field corn to develop larger ears, smaller ears, varities with multiple ears, varieties higher starch levels, varieties with higher oil levels, etc, etc. In essence designer corn. To cross the varieties they normally plant 5 rows of corn at a time. 4 evenly spaced rows of corn destined to be female corn and one centrally planted row between rows 2 and 3 as the male corn. As the corn grows and reaches puberty if you will the male part of the corn, the tassel begins to emerge from all 5 rows. The producer either mechanically, or in the past hired mostly high school kids, pulls the tassells from the 4 female rows of corn and drops them on the ground. The tassel on the central row is allowed to emerge and the pollen from this tassel lands on the Silks (Hairy part) of the ear from there the plant absorbs the pollen and kernels form on the ears. After pollination is complete the male row is chopped off at ground level and is not harvested. Seed corn is normally very short and almost resembles a failed crop but from humble beginnings giants grow next year. These ears from the 4 rows are allowed to mature. Ears are then picked as seed corn for the nations commercial crop seed for next year. The ears are dried with the kernels attached and then the kernels are shelled off with a sheller that is much gentler than a combine to protect the "germ" on the end of the seed. It also does not grind the cobs as much. The seeds are sorted by size and shape. Kernals at the ends of the cob tend to be round, kernels mid cob tend to be flatter, almost rectangular in shape. Next spring these seeds are sold to farmers to grow the nations crop. Seeds sold in Northern climates (northern MN, WI, ND etc. are of shorter maturity 85 days seed to crop than seeds in Souther Ia, Ill 120 days seed to maturity. Longer maturity means larger yields. The producer matches varieties to his end use. Oil, ethanol, food use, animal feed, forages where the whole plant is used etc. If I remember rightly there is a big seed corn processor on I70 east of Bloominton, Ill. I think it is a Northrup King plant. Hope this veeery brief synopsis answers your questions. You realize we've probably put the entire board to sleep and used tons of bandwidth. Maybe next time I'll just post a wikipedia link. RD

472x1B/A
07-09-2009, 12:06 AM
Very good defination Rockydog. I work at a grain elavator and our grain marketing manager couldn't do as good a job as you did. He's been doing it for 20+ years. Thank you.

Most combines made after 1990 have cob/stock shreaders as standard equipment. Most cobs aren't even an inch long after the shreader.