Crushing Corn Cobs for Tumbling

Jewelry Discussion
1

We have access to a lot of corn cobs and are tiring to figure out how
to grind them up to make tumbling medium for silver. We have tried a
food processor, a blender, a hammer, and ever the rolling mill to no
avail.Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks

Tommie
TMP Miniatures
Specializing in handcrafted miniatures and founders
of the Handcrafters Miniature Guild
http://tmpminis.theshoppe.com

2

Most feed / farm supply stores will have a grinder for corn that you
could take them to and have them ground .They use the grinder for
full ears of corn for cattle feed and such. Just a thought .

3

Try renting a small wood chipper. It should produce about the
consistancy you want, and you will probably be able to get the whole
batch done in a day’s rental.

Ron Charlotte -- Gainesville, FL
afn03234@afn.org OR @Ron_Charlotte1
4

Hi Tommie,

The easiest way to get cracked corn cobs for most folks, is to buy
them. However, if you’ve got any friends who are farmers they may be
able to help if they’ve got a hammer mill.

Running cobs through a hammer mill with a coarse screen installed
will grind the cobs into the size you’re looking for. There are a
number of different size screens that can be placed in a mill
depending on the size of the desired finished product.

In the event you don’t have a farm friend, you might also check
companies that mfg. animal feed or feed lots that feed large numbers
of animals. They also usually have hammer mills.

Dave

5 
We have access to a lot of corn cobs and are tiring to figure out how
to grind them up to make tumbling medium for silver. We have tried a
food processor, a blender, a hammer, and ever the rolling mill to no
avail.Does anyone have any suggestions?

The most powerful small home grinding unit I know of is the
Vita-Mixer by the Vita-Mix Corp. It is a tall stainless steel
juicer/grinder that looks like a metal blender, but has an enormously
powerful reversible motor. We use it to grind flour from hard wheat
berries, make rice flour from rice, grind ice cubes into slush, etc.
I don’t know how coarse you need them, but you can control the
cutting action of the blades using short bursts, from very coarse to
dust. Probably should use a band saw to cut the cobs into slices or
manageable pieces first. Should be able to find them at specialty
food stores or online - ours ran about $125 some 10 years ago - still
working great.

Jim
Lancaster, TN

6 
We have access to a lot of corn cobs and are tiring to figure out
how to grind them up to make tumbling medium for silver. We have
tried a food processor, a blender, a hammer, and ever the rolling
mill to no avail.Does anyone have any suggestions?

You could try some kind of wood chipper, like people use to reduce
tree limbs to small pieces. The material would have to be fed back
through a few times until you got the size you need, then screened to
get out big stuff and fines. If you own one that’s great, but I
wouldn’t buy one for this project alone. Ground corn cobs are
pretty cheap from reloader supply houses - and they’re already clean.
Good thought so far as converting waste to something useful! I hope
someone has a more efficient suggestion than mine… which sounds
like a LOT of work. Judy in Kansas, where night time temps are in the
20s and the game against Nebraska this Sat starts at 6:00 pm!!! Brrr.
Judy M. Willingham, R.S. Extension Associate 221 Call Hall Kansas
State Univerisity Manhattan KS 66506 (785) 532-1213 FAX (785)
532-5681

7

I know of a papermache artist who adapted a garbage disposal unit to
process paper scarp. Needless to say, it wasn’t attached to a sink.

Marilyn Smith