Washing Rocks

I wash rocks in a cement mixer using soap and water. Since the photo was taken I have coated the inside of the barrel with spray on truck bed liner and painted the mixer with "Matches John Deer Green" enamel. I am much happier with it now. It's quieter with the bed liner.

I only put rocks in the mixer/washer that are kiwi size and smaller, so I sort them beforehand. First I screen them to remove sand and chips, then I remove the larger stones by hand. Then the middle sized rocks go in the washer.

After the rocks have been agitated for about 15 minutes I transfer them to another screen and wash off the dirty water and residual sand. If the batch needs further sorting I sort them while they are still wet because the colors and textures are easier to see and it sure cuts down on dust. After final sorting I leave them on this screen to dry or spread them out on the driveway if I am processing a lot of rocks on the same day.

My mixer and screens are all sized to make it convenient to transfer stones using 5 gallon buckets.