Anyone make their own walnut media

[Wymore Wrangler]

I'm trying to come up with a winter project for "my guys", I work for the State with Highly behavior gentlemen fwithdevelopmental disabilities, and we have a over abundance of walnuts on campus, I was thinking about having the guys pick them up, and grind them up, and was wondering if we should wash them first and then throw everything in the grinder, or do I need to seperate the shells, etc, any advice would be appreciated...

[Wild Ben Raymond]

WW, Don't really know but I would think you would need to seperate the nut from the shell. I would try doing it with a hand full of walnut shells and just put them in a blender and see how that turns out. WBR

[65bsaA65]

Are they American black walnuts, or the English variety?  It makes a BIG difference on the shelling difficulty.  Anybody with a regulation issue set of hands can crack English walnuts without a nutcracker;  you need tools for the American black variety.  Either way, you want to extract the nut meat; it's good eatin'!!! and I can't see where it could be of any use in a cleaning medium.  Also, your on-hand labor pool---is it of the incarcerated variety?  If so, maybe you'd just want to use them to gather the nuts, and wash them.  Anyway, sounds like a good idea. 

[Ten Wolves Fiveshooter]

              If your going to use the hulls as a cleaning medium, you need to remove the meat from the hulls first, otherwise the meat will make everything sticky and gummy, there is oil in the meat, unless you have a heavy duty commercial, press & grinder , I wouldn't put the hulls in a blinder, the hulls are hard, and could bind up the motor. The hulls should be power washed and cleaned ,and dryed , before pressing and crushing ..

                                    Ten Wolves 

[Guage Rod]

I have not used wall nut shells, but rather I have used Pecan shells (paper thin).  They can be ground with a coffee bean grinder if it is an industrial or fairly hearty one.  I ruined a small household one in short order (stripped out the arbor).  Pecan shells can also be purchased in large quantities as a sand blassting media for delicate parts.  I would go with the english walnuts if you insist on walnut shells.  They are readily available around the holiday at most grocery stores in the produce area along with most of the other usual suspects.  Via Con Dios!

[Wymore Wrangler]

Thanks for the answers, these are black walnuts, the only things that will miss the walnuts is the squirrels....  I'm still waiting for the approval from upstair's to start....

[Pitspitr]

Wymore!
Shame on you! Don't you know this is the CORNhusker state (maybe again anyway after yesterday) and you're supposed to use CORNcob media! I gotta whole 50 Lb bag of home made corncob media if ya want it, I could never get it ground fine enough to suit me.

BTW I met a friend of yours Thanksgiving day. Frosty is my brother's neighbor in Milford. Lord he's got some nice deer mounts!

What really shocked me though, was that he admitted being your friend

[Wymore Wrangler]

Pitspitr, glad you got meet Frosty, this is one of the finest young man you will ever get to meet, and actually, I consider him the son I never had...   Did you get to see the mount of the number three all time white tail ever taken in the State of Nebraska, I'm very proud of him for taking that one, and I admire his father for letting his son take the deer instead of himself...

[Pitspitr]

Yes I did! Quite a deer indeed.

Can't exactly quote him, but what he said about you went something like he felt like he 2 dad's because you kind of adopted him after your kids got grown.

Sounds like you 'bout got him convince to try CAS sometime.

[Delmonico]

Jerry, if you know somebody who still shells corn up that way and has a few cobs to spare, I lnow a cosie who finds them handy at times, es[ if it rains a bit.

[Pitspitr]

I don't know of anyone any more Del. I used to, but quit growing corn. And the guys that I know who still pick ear corn feed it to their cows. What about talking to a seed corn company? They usually pick ear corn.

[Delmonico]

I thought if you did we could take some over for the GAF Muster.

I have a source down here.



Sodbusters and Cornhuskers (The real kind. ) like a cook as well as cowboys and GAF Colonels.

I'll slip down to Filley with my burlap bags before the muster, I didn't burn the whole pile.   I should have taken some this year, but it was a bit wet when I reloaded the gear and didn't want wet cobs in my shed.