Cleaning and polishing brass

[michman]

Another question that I have is, is there anything that I can add to my walnut shells in the vibrating tumbler to polish my brass? I am using 24 grit walnut shells clean them. Coming out pretty clean, but want to polish also. Any tricks? Hate to have to use walnut shells to clean, then have to change everything and reload tumbler with corncob .

[daboone]

NuFinish is a liquid car wax that is popularly use by many. I've read that NuFinish is made up of zinc polymer emulsions that's not like most other car polishes which makes it uniquely good for brass. Add a couple of cap fulls and then run your buzz bucket for 30 minutes to get it mixed in before adding brass. I prefer to mix it 50/50 with mineral spirits (MS) but I live alone so nobody complains about the smell. The MS just make the dispersion faster. I find after 4 batches another capful full is needed.

[gunoil]

Sorry, but l use Stainless media.

Vibrator w/lizard litter & polish l would like to have after brass comes out of ss.

I made this from youtube: love it.


Directions:

[Chajohnson]

Best process I've found is to soak brass in plastic bucket with solution of hot citric acid. Then rinse thoroughly, dry, & then tumble. Brass comes out clean with nice shiny finish. Also, the citric acid solution passavates the brass making it resistant to tarnishing. The solution is reusable. Heating the solution just makes it work faster. It only takes a about 5 minutes soaking to clean and remove the tarnish with the solution at near boiling. The solution react with other metals so heat it & store it in plastic or microwaveable glass. You can get citric acid in powder form on the EBay pretty cheap or merely buy Lemishine dishwasher additive. It's almost entirely citric acid. Add about 3 tablespoon per gallon of hot water.

[Maximumbob54]

You can also buy citric acit anywhere they market jarring and canning supplies. Or if you want a lifetime supply you can go to a feed store and buy the bags of it they use as feed suplement.

[larryw]

All excellent info. If using citric acid, don't soak for to long, it will react with, & remove zinc from the brass alloy & turn it a pretty pink. Lemi-Shine is a great & useful product, you can also get the citric acid in cheap, generic lemonade powder, the kind in the little packets.

[mikld]

Walnut is a bit more aggressive than corn cob media and won't give the high gloss shine that can be achieved with corn cob media with a touch of auto polish...

Over the last few years I've been K.I.S.S.ing my brass cleaning. I'm using a 50/50 mixture of course grind walnut hulls and corn cob blast media.. I have no need for pristine primer pockets and a semi-glossy shine is enough for me to find my brass in the dirt/grass where I shoot...

[Fyodor]

I still prefer the washing machine method.

This highly glossy shine from acid and polish isn't necessary, and the baked on graphite actually doubles as a dry lubricant for sizing dies.

[mr surveyor]

I don't think my brass has any zinc in it. It does have Tin in the alloy, and ammonia reacts with the tin, but I don't use anything but mild acids to thoroughly clean my brass (either vinegar or citric acid .... Lemi-Shine) and they do not contain ammonia. I have noticed a few pieces of brass come out of the wash with a pink hue though and would very much like to know the answer for that from a metallurgist. I'm not into polished brass, but I do like it clean - inside and out (including the primer pocket and flash hole).

JD

[wscywabbit]

I use a water/vinegar/soap/salt mix that works pretty well to get the brass clean, but if you leave it too long it does turn some of the brass pink. ..