Grelko said:
I'll run some tests, then let everyone know how it turns using a pound or more, when I work on chips next. I still have 15+ pounds to go through.
I retract my previous statement about my "theory" on filtering ashes with a coffee filter.
Even if you crush the ashes until the pieces had the potential to be considered almost "microscopic", they still have the tendancy to get trapped within the fibers of the filter. If the filter isn't folded, and the bottom is flat, so that you have a larger surface area to filter the ashes through, the bonding wires and/or copper wires, will make it so that there is less "filterable area" for the powder to go through, resulting in the powder getting stuck between these wires.
If there are any pieces of the ashes that are even slightly bigger than the filter mesh, they get caught, which catches other pieces along side of them, even if some of those pieces are small enough to pass through. Two or three filters, makes even more particles get caught, and it clogs up faster.
Also, the powder itself, likes to clump up and get caught in the filter "like a type of mud", when it is extremely finely crushed and gets wet.
Panning the ashes, or running them with a different process will work much better, and you won't waste nearly as much water.
I tip my hat to you Kurtak, for the statement you posted about running a pound of ashes. After testing this "theory" I had, I believe that at least 90% of the time used to try this, wasn't worth it in the first place (I should have tested it first, then posted the results). I won't be trying to filter ashes with a coffee filter again. :lol: