Lee Loader

Where are the best places to buy walnut shell media locally?

If you have a Harbor Freight near you they sell a walnut shell for "sand blasting" that works quite well and as I recall is quite reasonable. You might wish to add some polish to it.
Alsso here locally (Dayton, OH) Cabelas has it on the shelf along with 2 different corn cob blends.

Make smoke,

I do have a Harbor Freight not too far from me. Thanks.

The crushed walnut shell I use I bought at a pet store they use it for reptile cages if not mistaken. Probably cheaper options out there though. Its just an option if you cant find it anywhere else pet stores are everywhere.

I got a lifetime supply at Amazon several years ago.

In my experience, blast media is better than pet litter, both walnut and corn cob. The last batch of walnut media I bought was from Harbor Freight. Long ago I used some dark brown walnut pet litter from PetSmart and it worked OK, but other walnut pet litter (lighter shade) I found since then wasn't as good. Blast media is better quality controlled and is designed (produced) for the purpose of cleaning metals...