If there is considerable amounts of clay and mud in a sample, it will need to be cleaned up before it can be sieved. The following procedures will need to be completed before the sample can be sieved.

1. The sample needs to be dry. You will first weigh the sample to get a total weight of sand and mud. (From this point, any loss from the sample will affect your results, which will translate to your conclusions.) Any loss of material should be noted so you can include this in you evaluation.
2. After recording the total weight, place the sample in a 230 mesh sieve with the pan below (don't dump the sample into the sieve to where the sample falls into the sieve, but is should gently spread onto the bottom of the sieve). Initially dry sieve the mud out of the sample by gently shaking the sieve side to side. After dry sieving the sample for a few minutes, wet sieve the sample.
3. Wet sieving the mud out of the sample. (do not touch the sieve with any sharp objects, especially fingernails)
1. Wash the sample under running water in the lab sink; make sure the sample does not splash out of the sieve.
2. Make sure the water is not run too hard to bang the sieve.
3. If the mud has balled up in the sieve you may have to gently rub the mud balls under the stream of water to have them break apart and wash out of the sample
4. Place the sieve on a triple layered paper towel, and place the sieve and paper towel in an oven or allow the sieve to air dry. It will take several hours for the sample to dry, so you will need to return, or have your instructor remove the sieve when it is dry.
5. Weigh the sample. You will want to determine what percentage of the sample was the fine material.
6. To do this, if the balance you are using can weigh several 100 grams, weigh the sieve and sample together, dump the sample out and weigh the sieve so you can determine the total weigh left after wet sieving.
7. If the balance is not capable of weighing the sample and sieve, dump the sample onto a paper towel and weigh the sample. Make sure you weigh the paper towel so you can determine the weight of your sample.
8. Dump the dried sample out on to a paper towel, if you have not done this already. You will want a sample of about 25 to 30 grams.

If the sample is 25 to 30 grams go to the procedures for the size analysis by sieving. If the sample weighs more follow the procedure below:

Using the sample splitter, split the sample, continue to split the sample until the sample in the tray is between 25 to 30 grams.

To do this:

1. Pour the sample into the sample splitter
2. Weigh one of the samples produced, if too heavy empty the other tray (keep the sand, so place the sand in a sample bag provided for you.) and place the two trays under the splitter and split the sample. Continue this procedure until the sample is the desired size.
3. Remember to keep the portion that you are not going to be using.