silas thatcher Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 okay, chopped and dried a bunch of black walnut hulls and now i want to turn the bits into a powder... the only problem i am having is finding a decent way to do this... the food grinders and choppers we have don't seem to do the trick at all... in fact it is starting to look as if i need to grind them down... mortar and pestle or grinding stone kinda thing... any idears for me ?? place in the appropriate forum if this is the wrong one :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dutchman Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 cheese grater? wait- you have kids- first one to turn this cool shell into powder wins a prize! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wes1761 Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 when you grind them, wear a mask!! I have an old cast grain mill in the basement that might work, put the hulls into a cloth bag and bust them up with a hammer to get better sized working bits. The grain mill I have is adjustable, and I can go from cracked corn to fine flour in a fairly short time. It just clamps onto my work bench. I think I PM'd you my phone number, call me tomorrow and you can borrow it to get your hulls done. Wes If it was raining soup, I'd be stuck outside with a fork..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt. Bo of the WTF co. Posted October 7, 2011 Share Posted October 7, 2011 Just a side note: You should know that if the walnut hulls don't work out for you, you can get the same results/color with coffee grounds or by buying a box of cheap bagged tea and using the same dying method as with powdered walnut hulls with less toxic mess. Just a back-up plan if you need it. Bo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silas thatcher Posted October 10, 2011 Author Share Posted October 10, 2011 SUCCESS !! put eh chunks into a tall can, tapped up and down with a 2x2 until they were broken up into even smaller pieces resembling coffee bean size.... put that into the coffee grinder and voila !! got about a coffee can full of nice powder !! the whole process took about 1/2 hour... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michaelsbagley Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 Glad to hear you worked it out! Are you powdering the walnut for dye? Or Walnut ink? Or both? I tried this a few years ago, and outside of losing steam in the project and earning some badly stained hands.. I never got any where with, so I am curious to hear about someone else's success. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Commodore Swab Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 You could always use a blender . . . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silas thatcher Posted October 11, 2011 Author Share Posted October 11, 2011 right now i am trying to stain some army blankets so they don't jump out at every one as being what they are... soaking in a tub as i type :) some of it i am sending to someone so she can make ink... the rest is for dying some off color stuff to help it blend in better.. i have ALOT of bright green coat weight wool that will do nothing but make someone look like a leprachaun !! (sp?) so a small piece is soaking also... may have to add more dye, dunno yet, will post the results Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silas thatcher Posted October 11, 2011 Author Share Posted October 11, 2011 (edited) swab, the problem with the bigger chunks is that they get stuck between the blades and the housing, when i broke them down with tamping ( kinda like the dioramas at the museum showing indian women pounding corn into flour ) they worked out beautifully in the used coffee grinder and you don't want to use something that will be used for cooking later !! the used coffee grinder is now for only walnut hulls... Edited October 11, 2011 by silas thatcher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silas thatcher Posted October 12, 2011 Author Share Posted October 12, 2011 moment of anticipated " duh !! " walnut hull dye is great for dying white material tan or brown... a small piece of white linen turned out great !! it however does nothing for old army blankets...they turned out olive drab with a bit of dirt on them... so out came a few packs of rit dye mixed them up and they turned a beautiful shade of black...good enough to hide the old color, and in went some "leprechaun green" wool we have a few yards of and here again, a useable color... good enough for a winter weight coat... dunno how much other stuff i want tan/brown soo i may just end up sending my remaining powder to a promised person to make ink...may just stick with rit dye from now on and still powder the hulls next year to give away or sell... i am powdering the hulls so that i don't have to deal with buckets of stainable stuff sitting around... a few cans of powder is more convenient for us...besides if i sell it off, it is easier than a bucket full of liquid !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stynky Tudor Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Well post pictures Man - I want to see! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
William Brand Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Aye, pics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
silas thatcher Posted October 17, 2011 Author Share Posted October 17, 2011 ok..... in the dead of night as i took out the blankets to rinse and dry, they certainly looked as black as they could get.... in the morning, they turned out to be a beautiful shade of brown !! almost reddish brown... this was due to the mish mosh of whatever dye i had on hand... the bright green wool that went in afterwards just turned dark green... guess the dye ran out of ooomph ??!! here are some pics of the powdering process :) these are the chunks i started with in the can and the 2x2 i used to pound ( tap actually ) them into smaller pieces the results after pounding the results after the coffee grinder :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PLUNDERING PYLOS PARKER Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 ya dont need to chop to a fine powder-you can order walnut hulls from www.kylecarrollart.com (Grand River Trading company) you can use old panti hose or cheese cloth and place the crushed hulls inside these style bags, knot the end and let soak in a plastic trash can or boil of a fire in a pot, let simmer and cool, rinse with cold water. Use a mordant and add less water to mix for darker color, you can add tea bags and coffee to the mix same way with bags, or just throw loose and rinse off in cold water. the longer you let soak in dye bath the darker the material will get. I have left slops in dye baths for up to a week. good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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