sactorick
having dreams about rocks
gemfield
Member since October 2017
Posts: 67
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Post by sactorick on Mar 10, 2018 8:21:41 GMT -5
I live in the suburbs and don't have a place in my yard to dump slurry. What I do is place cheap, clumping, kitty litter in a shallow bucket. Then I hold a strainer over the bucket and empty the barrel into the strainer. The slurry clumps up and I scoop the clumps out into a plastic bag and dump it in the trash.
I then use 2 buckets with water to rinse the rocks. I dip the strainer in the first bucket and rinse it, then move to the 2nd bucket for a better rinse. After that I'll usually rinse the rocks more completely under the sink or if there appears to still be some residue, I'll hose the strainer in the yard at this time.
As far as the buckets, the first bucket I let settle, then dump the clear water on top. The second bucket isn't usually too bad and there's a place behind the shed I dump that.
It was kind of a hassle at first but I've grown used to it.
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NRG
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since February 2018
Posts: 1,687
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Post by NRG on Mar 10, 2018 11:36:35 GMT -5
I am wondering if it is possible to put it down the drain when it is strained through a towel that sits inside a strainer. A towel, cloth or paper, cannot strain out something as fine as the mud particles in tumbling slurry. Paper certainly would. Why even care. Just dump it in the yards.
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ohthatspretty
starting to shine!
Member since March 2018
Posts: 28
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Post by ohthatspretty on Mar 15, 2018 17:21:54 GMT -5
I am contractor. I do a bunch of tile work. Always dealing with a bunch of bucket clean outs in all types of situations. Dumping waste water and tile saw sludge in the middle of a yard is a no-no for me and anyone lucky enough to work for me. Occasionally I will dump behind bushes and such, but my favorite method is the swirl and fling. It always seemed so obvious to me, but I have had to show it to every helper I've ever brought on and evidently it's tricky to master. I just dump out the clear water on the top half of the five gallon bucket wherever. Then I take that bottom half of heavy water and swirl it around vigorously to get all the particles suspended in the water and fling that two gallons or so as far as I possibly can into the lawn. This broadcasts the slurry water over a very large area. No white crusty pancake in the yard. No long white trail in the grass. No bushes all caked in grit. Sounds simple, but you'd be surprised how often I've had to clarify this to people through the years. I had one helper who had the bright idea to dump the buckets against the curb in the street........at the top of a hill......in a super nice neighborhood. I came back a month later and the white stain was still there, buy now it was about 1500 feet long.
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melf77
having dreams about rocks
Member since July 2017
Posts: 70
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Post by melf77 on Mar 26, 2018 6:28:56 GMT -5
I find that sometimes when my slurry water sets in a bucket for a couple days, everything settles out and the top water is clear. When that happens, I carefully dip the water off the top and dump it down the drain. So it’s not slurry going down the drain, but plain water. For some reason, when I tumble Petoskey stones (limestone) and dump that slurry into my bucket, everything settles out over night. With other types of rocks most of the time the particles never settle out. I was doing this for a bit, but got so worried about ticking the hubby off I stopped. I would SLOWLY pour the clear water until i saw a line of slurry moving with it, than I would stop and dump remaining outside. SO this is fine?
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Post by Jugglerguy on Mar 26, 2018 6:37:04 GMT -5
I find that sometimes when my slurry water sets in a bucket for a couple days, everything settles out and the top water is clear. When that happens, I carefully dip the water off the top and dump it down the drain. So it’s not slurry going down the drain, but plain water. For some reason, when I tumble Petoskey stones (limestone) and dump that slurry into my bucket, everything settles out over night. With other types of rocks most of the time the particles never settle out. I was doing this for a bit, but got so worried about ticking the hubby off I stopped. I would SLOWLY pour the clear water until i saw a line of slurry moving with it, than I would stop and dump remaining outside. SO this is fine? I'm not sure what your water looks like, but mine is super clear when I do this. I find it safer to dip it out with another container so I don't accidentally let any go down the drain. I try not to dump excessive amounts into my backyard hole either because it eventually clogs the sand and has to be cleaned out. I used to dump it like you described but I have changed to dipping it from my five gallon bucket with a smaller ice cream bucket. I don't know it makes a big difference, but that's what I do.
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Post by grumpybill on Mar 26, 2018 6:58:26 GMT -5
I've been course-tumbling glass spoils and obsidian, and saving the grit/mud because it doesn't break down very much. Interesting thing is that the water on the top never gets clear. The heavy stuff settles to the bottom, but there seems to be a lot of dark gray stuff that stays suspended. (Maybe because I use a lot of borax to prevent "shaving cram" in the barrel?)
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melf77
having dreams about rocks
Member since July 2017
Posts: 70
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Post by melf77 on Mar 26, 2018 7:00:06 GMT -5
I was doing this for a bit, but got so worried about ticking the hubby off I stopped. I would SLOWLY pour the clear water until i saw a line of slurry moving with it, than I would stop and dump remaining outside. SO this is fine? I'm not sure what your water looks like, but mine is super clear when I do this. I find it safer to dip it out with another container so I don't accidentally let any go down the drain. I try not to dump excessive amounts into my backyard hole either because it eventually clogs the sand and has to be cleaned out. I used to dump it like you described but I have changed to dipping it from my five gallon bucket with a smaller ice cream bucket. I don't know it makes a big difference, but that's what I do. That's an even better idea. I will start doing that with another bucket. The water I SLOWLY poured out was crystal clear. I would let it settle for maybe 2-3 days before doing this.
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Post by rockpickerforever on Mar 26, 2018 7:43:52 GMT -5
I'm not sure what your water looks like, but mine is super clear when I do this. I find it safer to dip it out with another container so I don't accidentally let any go down the drain. I try not to dump excessive amounts into my backyard hole either because it eventually clogs the sand and has to be cleaned out. I used to dump it like you described but I have changed to dipping it from my five gallon bucket with a smaller ice cream bucket. I don't know it makes a big difference, but that's what I do. That's an even better idea. I will start doing that with another bucket. The water I SLOWLY poured out was crystal clear. I would let it settle for maybe 2-3 days before doing this. After allowing it to sit for a few days, I also used to slowly pour off the clear water on top. But I could only pour off maybe 1/3 of it, before it got stirred up, and had to stop before I poured out cloudy water. I also tried skimming the clear water on top off with a smaller container, seems like I always managed to stir it up after a just few dips.
Now I set the bucket up off the ground (on another bucket with lid before letting it sit), and now I use a clear plastic 3/8" hose to siphon the clear water off the top. I can get the level down quite a ways before it starts to cloud up. I put the rest of the bucket out in the sun, it is dried out in a couple days. I can save the dried slurry to start a new batch, or put it in a bag and put it out with the trash.
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melf77
having dreams about rocks
Member since July 2017
Posts: 70
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Post by melf77 on Mar 26, 2018 7:47:02 GMT -5
That's an even better idea. I will start doing that with another bucket. The water I SLOWLY poured out was crystal clear. I would let it settle for maybe 2-3 days before doing this. After allowing it to sit for a few days, I also used to slowly pour off the clear water on top. But I could only pour off maybe 1/3 of it, before it got stirred up, and had to stop before I poured out cloudy water. I also tried skimming the clear water on top off with a smaller container, seems like I always managed to stir it up after a just few dips.
Now I set the bucket up off the ground (on another bucket with lid before letting it sit), and now I use a clear plastic 3/8" hose to siphon the clear water off the top. I can get the level down quite a ways before it starts to cloud up. I put the rest of the bucket out in the sun, it is dried out in a couple days. I can save the dried slurry to start a new batch, or put it in a bag and put it out with the trash.
Thanks, even better. I think I got an extra fish tank siphon around here somewhere.
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