Salt Bricks?

[Ozarks Tom]

This morning my wife needed more salt for a brine to soak the turkey in, so she went to our storage.  Well, she found 3 packages of 4 pounds each that I'd been too lazy to put in plastic jars with dessicants, that had turned to bricks.  Her answer was to try chopping them into smaller pieces with a knife and running them through the sifter. 

Being the lazy fellow I am, it struck me there had to be an easier way.  There is - it's called a "wood rasp".  It took me about an hour, but all 12 pounds were in the same granulated shape they started in.  Just as fine as if they'd been sifted.  The rasp is still sharp too.

[Deleted]

Well, that's a grand idea! I've been putting ours into a strong plastic bag and slamming it on the concrete floor.

Did you use a fresh rasp?

[Ozarks Tom]

@pony, It was a fairly new rasp, but it didn't dull at all that I could tell. My wife DID make me wash it first.

[joebill]

I'm sure that was a really appropriate tool for the job. Of course it'll have to be cleaned really well afterwards to avoid rust.

I have a favorite granulating tool that I use on pretty much everyting from clay that needs to get powdered to mix with casting sand to casting sand that has lumped up to salt to tumbling operations like de-husking walnuts.....the options are nearly unlimited.

Light up the concrete mixer, throw in a couple of rocks about half the size of your head, then toss in whatever needs processing. Check progress as needed.

We had a black walnut tree in the yard up North, and when we had dehusked the walnuts with the mixer we just dumped them out on the ground and the magpies would sort through the pile, take the husks, leave the walnuts. Let 'em dry for a few days and we didn't even get stained hands when bagging them up....Joe

[Ozarks Tom]

I have to admit, if the rasp hadn't worked so well my next idea was a wire brush on a drill. Of course that would have also involved a LOT of vacuuming.