Ok.. so last time I didn't really go over my method, and I am getting a few confused readers out there, so i'm gonna go start to finish on how I do it, exactly as I do it so there are hopefully, far fewer questions.
Since we're starting from the very beginning, i'll go ahead and say that I encourage removing any/all fan leaves from your product well ahead of the point where you intend on drying/running any type of dry sift. You don't want them, and this method is far less forgiving than others, being you do not have either the water, or the butane/whatever. to help you remove contaminants. This is on us. We want a very organic, very clean and very pure product that uses no chemicals, and as a result we just have to spend a few extra minutes keeping our product clean. Dry brittle fan leaves break up into very small fragments of green very easily, so try to avoid them as much as possible.
I know some of you have fire trim.. and obviously there are no fans or anything of the sort, so onto drying. I really like using a small (or large) dehumidifier. You do not have to, but I find it greatly helps, especially if you are trying to run product in a moist environment or part of the country/world. Even a 25 or 30 gph unit will do wonders in a small closet overnight. You want stuff dry.. very dry. Nugs should 'poof' into dust.. if it's wet or moist, it will not work as well and will gum up your screens. I had a unit that went down to 35% and stopped there, but also had an 'on' mode where it would just run no matter what. You can do that in the short term, but keep an eye on it, lol. Usually 35% is plenty dry. Just check on it. If not, run it a bit more. Aged trim does just as well, if not better. But you can certainly use fresh trim to make this.
I typically dry my nug SEPARATE from my trim. I generally only use trim, but if I do have some nugs, I do them in another bag, and on their own kinda schedule. If you overdry the trim it can literally dust.. you don't want that. You want it very dry, but not overly dry, if that makes any sense. The nug on the other hand, dry it out as much as you want. It should turn to dust when you twist it or do anything of the sort. I'm a big fan of only using lower, airy type nug. Big dense buds tend to have far too much plant matter and it's just.. a waste imo.
Anyways, now that you have your dry product, it's time to get to the method. It's a double screen technique that uses no carding or refining of any sort (unless you *truly* want to) and will give you 2 very high quality grades in just a few seconds, roughly 10-15. If you were to refine once, you could still get the entire process in under a minute. It's very quick and hassle free, as was the intention. I wanted to avoid having to card and break down contaminant further and this was the answer.
The idea is that while resin heads are round and dense, the stalks and hairs are long and.. not so dense. In essence they're very light and tend to fall to the side. When you scuff the material on the top screen, it all falls down and ultimately results in the long stalks and hairs getting caught on the bottom screen, which is what you want.. but here is where lots go off track, at least to me.. they start to shake it. Or vibrate it.. which results in the stalks and said 'caught' contaminant being dislodged and dumped down further.. into your A grade.
Get yourself a grocery bag, a paper one, and save it for later.
So here's how this works.. first, go ahead and take your bottom screen with the feet, and set it down on your surface (hopefully a very clean surface lol).. that is roughly twice as wide as your screen, preferably a bit bigger. You're going to need to slide the bottom screen over to a clean area right next to this area.
And then put the top screen on top of that. That's the bottom of the bag I am going to run. Very sativa, just the meh portion of the bag, most would likely blast it.
So go ahead and spread the stuff over your screen gently..
Once you've done this, I like to gently 'poof' any small nugs that are present before I run it.. go around and pick out any larger or small buds, and just quickly spend a few seconds breaking up a handful of them. No need to worry about doing them all, as you'll likely want to run this product a 2nd time through the screens later, so save some for next time. The 2nd run is almost as good as the first.
Before I start, I generally make sure i'm alone, or with somebody who knows what's going on. If you bump the bottom screen, the table you're working on, or even walk heavily near the table over and over, you can ruin the product. This method relies on NOT bumping the screens or having any type of vibrations, zippo.
Gently wax on, wax on type motion for about 4-5 seconds.. stop, and then gently bring everything into the center of the screen.. being very careful not to bump the bottom screen or the table/counter you're working on.. this part is VERY IMPORTANT..
So.. now that you've done this.. and you have your stuff in the middle..
Go ahead and break up a few more buds, or don't.. your call at this point.. gently flip the product or just gently tumble it back out across the screen and again, kinda wash it lightly for another 4-5 seconds. Go ahead and then put it all into the one corner, whichever you prefer, to make it easier to dump out in a second here..
Very carefully.. and without bumping anything again.. lift the top screen off and dump the stuff into that paper bag you set aside. You're done for now with that, and then set the screen aside.
Now.. back to the screen that's still sitting there.. go ahead and very carefully, lol.. I say that a lot eh.. move it over to your clean area next to where you just sifted. You do not want to bump anything or let anything fall into that pile. You need to move the screen to the side.. and then give it a few gentle flicks of the finger. I generally do it 4 or 5x.. doesn't need to be hard, all up to you. You can experiment..
And that's pretty much it. You are now left with 2 grades, both made in a matter of seconds. The first grade that naturally falls through will almost always be over 90% resin head. The second grade you flick down, will still be laden with heads, just a bit more hairs and a few other bits. Pictures of product coming in the next post...
Since we're starting from the very beginning, i'll go ahead and say that I encourage removing any/all fan leaves from your product well ahead of the point where you intend on drying/running any type of dry sift. You don't want them, and this method is far less forgiving than others, being you do not have either the water, or the butane/whatever. to help you remove contaminants. This is on us. We want a very organic, very clean and very pure product that uses no chemicals, and as a result we just have to spend a few extra minutes keeping our product clean. Dry brittle fan leaves break up into very small fragments of green very easily, so try to avoid them as much as possible.
I know some of you have fire trim.. and obviously there are no fans or anything of the sort, so onto drying. I really like using a small (or large) dehumidifier. You do not have to, but I find it greatly helps, especially if you are trying to run product in a moist environment or part of the country/world. Even a 25 or 30 gph unit will do wonders in a small closet overnight. You want stuff dry.. very dry. Nugs should 'poof' into dust.. if it's wet or moist, it will not work as well and will gum up your screens. I had a unit that went down to 35% and stopped there, but also had an 'on' mode where it would just run no matter what. You can do that in the short term, but keep an eye on it, lol. Usually 35% is plenty dry. Just check on it. If not, run it a bit more. Aged trim does just as well, if not better. But you can certainly use fresh trim to make this.
I typically dry my nug SEPARATE from my trim. I generally only use trim, but if I do have some nugs, I do them in another bag, and on their own kinda schedule. If you overdry the trim it can literally dust.. you don't want that. You want it very dry, but not overly dry, if that makes any sense. The nug on the other hand, dry it out as much as you want. It should turn to dust when you twist it or do anything of the sort. I'm a big fan of only using lower, airy type nug. Big dense buds tend to have far too much plant matter and it's just.. a waste imo.
Anyways, now that you have your dry product, it's time to get to the method. It's a double screen technique that uses no carding or refining of any sort (unless you *truly* want to) and will give you 2 very high quality grades in just a few seconds, roughly 10-15. If you were to refine once, you could still get the entire process in under a minute. It's very quick and hassle free, as was the intention. I wanted to avoid having to card and break down contaminant further and this was the answer.
The idea is that while resin heads are round and dense, the stalks and hairs are long and.. not so dense. In essence they're very light and tend to fall to the side. When you scuff the material on the top screen, it all falls down and ultimately results in the long stalks and hairs getting caught on the bottom screen, which is what you want.. but here is where lots go off track, at least to me.. they start to shake it. Or vibrate it.. which results in the stalks and said 'caught' contaminant being dislodged and dumped down further.. into your A grade.
Get yourself a grocery bag, a paper one, and save it for later.
So here's how this works.. first, go ahead and take your bottom screen with the feet, and set it down on your surface (hopefully a very clean surface lol).. that is roughly twice as wide as your screen, preferably a bit bigger. You're going to need to slide the bottom screen over to a clean area right next to this area.
And then put the top screen on top of that. That's the bottom of the bag I am going to run. Very sativa, just the meh portion of the bag, most would likely blast it.
So go ahead and spread the stuff over your screen gently..
Once you've done this, I like to gently 'poof' any small nugs that are present before I run it.. go around and pick out any larger or small buds, and just quickly spend a few seconds breaking up a handful of them. No need to worry about doing them all, as you'll likely want to run this product a 2nd time through the screens later, so save some for next time. The 2nd run is almost as good as the first.
Before I start, I generally make sure i'm alone, or with somebody who knows what's going on. If you bump the bottom screen, the table you're working on, or even walk heavily near the table over and over, you can ruin the product. This method relies on NOT bumping the screens or having any type of vibrations, zippo.
Gently wax on, wax on type motion for about 4-5 seconds.. stop, and then gently bring everything into the center of the screen.. being very careful not to bump the bottom screen or the table/counter you're working on.. this part is VERY IMPORTANT..
So.. now that you've done this.. and you have your stuff in the middle..
Go ahead and break up a few more buds, or don't.. your call at this point.. gently flip the product or just gently tumble it back out across the screen and again, kinda wash it lightly for another 4-5 seconds. Go ahead and then put it all into the one corner, whichever you prefer, to make it easier to dump out in a second here..
Very carefully.. and without bumping anything again.. lift the top screen off and dump the stuff into that paper bag you set aside. You're done for now with that, and then set the screen aside.
Now.. back to the screen that's still sitting there.. go ahead and very carefully, lol.. I say that a lot eh.. move it over to your clean area next to where you just sifted. You do not want to bump anything or let anything fall into that pile. You need to move the screen to the side.. and then give it a few gentle flicks of the finger. I generally do it 4 or 5x.. doesn't need to be hard, all up to you. You can experiment..
And that's pretty much it. You are now left with 2 grades, both made in a matter of seconds. The first grade that naturally falls through will almost always be over 90% resin head. The second grade you flick down, will still be laden with heads, just a bit more hairs and a few other bits. Pictures of product coming in the next post...
70 micron is like.. 200 lpi? That's a bit tight, but it might work? I am using something down around 200 micron 
