Walnut vs CornCob

[lar45]

Hi, what's everybodies opinion on tumbling media?
I've always used Walnut shell, but from looking at the descriptions it looks like Corncob may last longer. It also says Corncob is better for absorbing oils and moisture, plus with it's porous surface it can hold a polish treatment better than Walnut. Makes me wonder why I was useing Walnut.
So what are the pros and cons?

[RobS]

I use walnut but use to use corn cob. I like the wulnut as it is finer and is easier to work with regarding different cartridges (especially the smaller calibers). As for holding more polish I wouldn't say one way or the other is better in my opinion. I use turtle wax's polishing compound cut with 91% rubbing alcohol. The rubbing alcohol simply to thin it out and to help with evaporation. I do believe the corn cob media does last a bit longer though.

[oneokie]

Dust is less of a problem with corn cob. The size I use does not plug flashholes or primer pockets.

[Shiloh]

Price.

A 40 lb bag of 14/20 corncob around $25 out the door. Get a couple of buddies together and have media for a long time. http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/items/2MVR4?Pid=search This grit won't stick in flash holes

I used to use walnut, but I get tumbled brass faster, with a higher polish, than walnut media. It does hold your brass polish better.

Use Nu Finish car polish from Wal-Mart. Very economical. Iosso works well also, but is a good bit more expensive.

Shiloh

[Ohio Rusty]

There was a thread on this list maybe a year and a half ago about Walnut vs. Corn. One poster was saying that the corn cob media clogged up the empty primer holes too badly, and was a pain to remove. He used walnut media after that.
I have had no issues with walnut media, and bought a big 20 pound bag of it in the pet section at Wally World for 5 dollars.
Ohio Rusty ><>

[Bill*]

I bought walnut when I first started and since it worked OK I've never tried corn cob

[oksmle]

I've used both & prefer corn cob but now use only "Pureed" rice. I steal some of Mrs. oksmle's dry, long grain rice & run it through her blender set on "Puree" for about 10 seconds. Sift the dust & larger grains out & puree the long grains again 'til they are of a size that won't clog my flash holes & won't log jam in bottle neck cases. Don't use polishing compound & have very little residue left on the cases. The same load has been in my tumbler for a couple of years & I noticed the other day that it needs changing.

[Jim]

..... One poster was saying that the corn cob media clogged up the empty primer holes too badly, and was a pain to remove.

Not fer sure, that mighta' been me. I once posted that I used corn cob media and made the stupid mistake of tumbling .223s in it. Took me a coupla' hours to pick that stuff outa' those liittle case mouths. When I got it out, it went in the trash and I've been using walnut media ever since.

[jtaylor1960]

I started with corn cob but switched just to see.The walnut seems to work much faster.It does put a red film on the cases that can be easily wiped off.As for the primer pockets I deprime my cases after cleaning to make sure that doesn't happen.I'm afraid I might miss one and cause a missfire.

[putteral]

I like corn cob with NU FINISH or Cleaner wax. I only tumble pistol brass and they come out nice and shiny in about 1 1/2 hours.

[jcwit]

I would say it all depends on if you only want cleaning, walnut. For a high polish better looking than new ammo use corn cob with polish, just about any kind even auto cleaner wax works wonders. Stay away fromany that use amonia unless you let the amonia evarope before putting the brass in.

For those that have trouble or want to use a cob media that doesn't clog flash holes My I suggest 20/40 grit corn cob blasting media available from Graingers Industrial Supply. Its fine enough to flow thru the flash hole and not clog the primer pocket.

[Marlin Hunter]

I like the corncob better: They get shinier. I have tried several types of walnut shells. The fine one works better than the large chunks.

[theperfessor]

I use corncob with a splash of acetone in a home made tumbler that uses sealed one gallon metal paint cans. Gets off old lube, light tarnish, etc. Lasts a long time. Dump brass in right from range, no clogged primer pockets that way.

Coarse walnut media does seem to work good for badly tarnished cases.

[helg]

I use both. First I tumble in walnut with mineral spirits. This gets all dirt out to matte yellow surface. Then I decap and tumble in corncob with brass polisher. This makes brass, including primer pockets, looking shiny.

I doubt that this is an overkill, and does not increase accuracy. However, I enjoy the reloading process more when I handle perfectly clean brass.

[Ken O]

I use both also. Walnut for cleaning out the powder/lube fouling, then after resizing I use corncob to absorb the lube and put a nice shine on them.

[MtGun44]

Walnut shell dust is irritating to the nose and eyes. Walnut trees are biowarfare
experts. Many folks are severely allergic to walnut wood dust, the roots of the trees
will kill other trees and shrubs nearby. Walnut works OK, but the dust is mildly
irritating to me and I don't want to become more allergic to it from exposure. That
would be very bad when I want to rework or build a stock from walnut.

Bill

[cheese1566]

I have used both, but prefer corn cob in my Hornady M2 tumbler with a polish; come out nice and shiny!

My thoughts: walnut for scrubbing; corn cob for polishing

I just got done building a homebrew rotary tumber that uses up to two 5 gallon buckets at the same time. I am using my old stash of walnut media and an old bottle of Finish 2000 liquid car wax I found buried in a garage cabinet. I just cleaned up a gallon ziplock bag of dirty and tarnished 223 casings in about an hour. It will work good for my range brass and bulk lots prior to sorting headstamps and case prep work.

I'll then do my final high polish just prior to reloading using my vibratory/cob/case polish. I buy my stuff from the local sandblast shop in 50# bags and split it with friends. They have several grit sizes to choose from.

[mike in co]

Invalid question.

They have two different specific uses.

Walnut to clean dirty brass

and

corn cob to polish.....


There is no "better"


mike in co

[troy7769]

Walnut with rouge on it.
Troy

[S.R.Custom]

I use a 50/50 mix of both. Cleans and polishes. And I keep the mixture on the damp side with mineral spirits to speed the process up.

[malpaismike]

Hello the camp! Feel compelled to add .02--fully concur with corn polish and walnut clean. That said, I don't care if my brass is polished--AZ dusty ranges will eat it ennyhoo!!! I opt for clean, and further opt for lizard litter--walnut in particles small enuf not to clog flash holes. This could tip off another go-round, but I don't decap before tumble. My .44-40s go from range to bp cleaning solution to tumbler to lube spritz to reload to another miss or procedural--dang!!! See ya round the campfire. mm

[Mk42gunner]

I don't really care about shiny cases so I use walnut hulls (lizard litter) to clean cases.


Robert

[WHITETAIL]

I have allways used corn cob+ a few table spoons of Pine sol.:redneck:

[zomby woof]

Brass cleaning
I like my brass clean and shiny. Here’s what I do. I have a one hour timer with two rotary tumblers.

1. Put dirty brass in media separator, spin to remove dirt, grass un-burnt powder etc…
2. Place brass in walnut, polish, fabric sheet and mineral spirits for one hour.
3. Remove from walnut and place in Corn cob, fabric sheet and polish for one hour.

It’s that simple. My brass is clean and shiny.

[John Guedry]

I voted for corncob but actually mix 'em not quite half and half (more corncob) works for me.

[jcwit]

Shiney Brass
Here's what I do, very, very simple. This applies to handgun brass.

1. Deprime brass and resize.
2. Dump brass into tumbler with corn cob media.
3. Turn tumbler on and go to bed and go to sleep for all night.
4. Wake up in morning and turn tumbler and at my leisure recover brass.

Its possible to combine steps 2 and 3.

[SPRINGFIELDM141972]

The first time I used walnut media I let it run for a couple of hours, and when I inspected the brass, I found it was dull looking. Not knowing any better, I run it a couple more hours. It was still dull. I run it a couple more hours. (Yep, I still didn't catch on) To make a long story longer, I let it run over night and the next day the head stamps were hard to read. I thought walnut was suppose to polish brass not just clean it.

So emptied the walnut out of the vibratory tumbler and refilled it with corncob. I refused to talk about my stupidity until now. Thanks for the therapy session.:veryconfu

Regards,
Everett

[SciFiJim]

I use walnut. Deprime with a universal deprimer first and then tumble overnight. It comes out very clean. I left the depriming pin in the resizing die to make sure that no media is stuck in the primer flash hole.

[kelbro]

Walnut with a capful of mineral spirits really gets 'em clean and removes light tarnish. If I have some spare time (ha!) then I will run them through the corncob with a capful of Nufinish to get them shi-ny. Tried the 50/50 corncob/walnut mix and it worked OK too.

[jjohnson]

I agree with the premise that "which is better" without an express purpose doesn't ask the right question.

I (like many) use Grainger's corn cob for polishing. I don't think they offer walnut.
It's well under a buck a pound, so the 40-pound bag for $25 or so lasts awhile.

I did use walnut for some years, and have little doubt it might be better for cleaning, but if I have really, really dirty brass to deal with, I just add a capful or two of Nu-Finish to fresh media. If the brass really needs more, I add a teaspoon full of red iron oxide - "jeweler's rouge." I bought a pound of this from Powder Valley a couple years ago. It's a very fine abrasive, and if your corncob media has that tiny bit of Nu-Finish in there, the rouge will bind with it, and make a more aggressive cleaner. I rarely find that necessary, though.

Walnut? If it was as available and as cheap as Grainger's, maybe I'd buy it, but I haven't needed anything other than Grainger's and Walmart (corn cob and Nu Finish). I tumble 10-12 thousand rounds each year.

[mtgrs737]

I use them both, walnut if I have some heavy tarnish to remove then the corn cobb to make them shiney. If the brass is not too bad I just tumble them in corn cobb with some Midway brass polish per the instructions on the bottle.

[warf73]

I use both. First I tumble in walnut with mineral spirits. This gets all dirt out to matte yellow surface. Then I decap and tumble in corncob with brass polisher. This makes brass, including primer pockets, looking shiny.

I doubt that this is an overkill, and does not increase accuracy. However, I enjoy the reloading process more when I handle perfectly clean brass.

This is the same process I use with 2 tumblers.

[lwknight]

I saw the Graingers #40 bag for about $25.00 and just had to say that you can go to any sandblast supply and get walnut and corncob both 12/20 and 20/40 for about $19.95 for 50# bags. Also for about $25.00 you can get 5 lb #400 white alum to use as rouge. 5 pounds will treat about 2500 pounds of media. Its the minimum order..

[jcwit]

Next time I need to treat a little over 1/2 a ton of media I'll get in touch with you, maybe we can split a 5 lb. bag. Sorta like a mini group buy eh?

But if someone else wants to split an order before I contact you, go ahead.

[longhorn47]

Back home when I was a small boy we all used Sears and Roebuck calolog and then went to the corn cob I must say a little tuf on the butt, it did get the job done

[lwknight]

Now that we know where to get discount media, how about using a cement mixer to tumble the tons of range brass that you pick up? Should be able to do several 1000s of rounds at a time.

The idea is real although sorta of a joke. boolit casters are generally not into commercial operations.

[Dale53]

Over the years, I have tried both walnut and corn cob media. I first used a Thumbler Tumbler Model B rotary. Then when Dillon came out with their large Vibratory Tumbler I switched - MUCH faster than the rotary tumbler ( and, of course, much greater capacity).

I used Walnut media with jewlers rouge and without. I then tried a specially prepared (but not expensive) corn com media from Gil Hebard. I liked it so much that I bought a "lifetime supply". I have been using that for YEARS. It, as I remember, was described as "corned" media. It was not that soft stuff you can get at a farm supply store. It lasts MUCH longer.

After much use, the media gets dirty and I save it for tumbling loaded rounds. I limit the tumbling time to 15 minutes with a couple of caps of mineral spirits. I immediately remove the ammo from the tumbler (don't want fumes to possibly damage the priming compound). I end up with NEW looking reloads and it has the real benefit of not picking up dirt and abrasives from the lube that invaribly gets on cases when you used lubricated cast bullets.

FWIW
Dale53

[kbstenberg]

From a newer caster/loader. Reading all of your reasons for corncob versis Wallnut cleaning media. Wallnut is best for cleaning an Corncob is best for polishing.
An useing all the diferent enhansers. I have read of A: turtle wax, B: New finish 2000, C; Isso , D: Jewlers rouge, E ;Mineral spirits , F: #400 White Alum. Could someone classifie all of the addatives as to either being a cleaner or polisher?
Can i assume (i know it makes an ass of you an me) any of the additives is safe with either of the cleaning media.

[jcwit]

Most any of the auto cleaner waxes will work very well and they have the added benefit of adding a coating to the case to protect it from tarnishing. Isso is a chemical cleaner, not a polishing comp. Jewlers rouge and white alum. are only polishing agents, and lastely Mineral spirits keeps the dust down and may help some with cleaning just as water will help clean dirt and grime from your hands. Now then I hope I've not made an a$$ of myself.

Hope this is what you were looking for.

[dromia]

I have both as I buy as available.

If I had to use just one then it would be walnut, cleans quicker and deeper in my experience.

Corncob for shiny if thats important to you.

[nonferrous]

It seems as though Walnut is available in many places. Are there local sources for Corncob so it could be carried out instead of paying shipping from Grainger? Is it used for pet bedding?

Thanks

[jcwit]

If you have it shipped to your local Graingers and pick it up yourself their is no shipping. Google Graingers Industrial Supply to find where you local one is at.

Hope this helps

[Shiloh]

If you have it shipped to your local Graingers and pick it up yourself their is no shipping. Google Graingers Industrial Supply to find where you local one is at.

Hope this helps

Thats what I did.

Shiloh

[nonferrous]

Thats what this site is all about, <Saving Money>, I Love it.

One of my favorite posts was a while back, when a member said that he got into casting to cut down on his shooting costs.
Now his casting operation (addiction), is a monthly budget item.

Thanks for the advice on the shipping, I will do just that.

[Oldtimer]

75% CC, 25% walnut. Works really well. Bob

[mauser1959]

I have found that the corncob in the 1420 grit is the cats meow. I use turtle wax rubbing compound (rouge in a base) on the cob, after mixing it with some cob in a zip lock baggie. I have found that the 1420 size does not seem to plug primer pockets as much as the 1014 size that lyman uses. I just wish that I could have bought the cob in a 5 gallon package instead of the 50lb size, kindly sad to have 3 , 5 gallon buckets sitting in the reloading room. I have also found that it is to my advantage to soak the brass in a vinegar solution prior to polishing as it tend to load up the cob slower; I do dry the brass prior to putting into the polisher.

[oneokie]

If you can find it, the 2040 grit is the cats meow. Small enough that it flows through the flash hole.

[nonferrous]

When I first saw the title of this thread I thought, "what's up with this, you use what you use, who cares". However, I cannot believe the amount of interest and information that has been gleaned fron this simple question.
Thanks for asking.

[peter nap]

I've used both & prefer corn cob but now use only "Pureed" rice. I steal some of Mrs. oksmle's dry, long grain rice & run it through her blender set on "Puree" for about 10 seconds. Sift the dust & larger grains out & puree the long grains again 'til they are of a size that won't clog my flash holes & won't log jam in bottle neck cases. Don't use polishing compound & have very little residue left on the cases. The same load has been in my tumbler for a couple of years & I noticed the other day that it needs changing.

Okmile, you're a genius.
I was reading your post and chuckling and then realized I had a few hundred pounds of rice I can't eat. I was saving it for the end of the world but then I got diabetes...(Ms Nap claims it's justice because I used to hunt possums with a golf club...2 iron:redneck:)

Anyway, I can't eat rice anymore or the end of the world will come a little faster....I think I'll try some to polish cases so when the EOW finally gets here, I'll have plenty of ammo to take diabetic food from other people[smilie=l: