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I'm relatively new to reloading & just bought a new tumbler. What is a good all around media for cleaning & polishing brass? I had a midway vibratory that I used walnut media in that seemed to clean, but not polish. Any help would be greatly appreciated...George | ||
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Both walnut or corn cob work well. I prefer corn cob because it makes less of the fine dust that sometimes accumulates with walnut shell. Add some enhancing agent like the tumbling polish from Lyman to speed the action of the tumbling media. (The polish is very similar to auto polish, which some reloaders use in the place of the Lyman product. I'm sure that auto polishes vary in content, and I'm not aware of which work best for this application.) | |||
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Try adding some rouge (sp?) to the walnut media. Seems to make it a little shinier. You could chuck 'em up in a drill and use some Brasso However, most dead animals don't care what your brass looks like  | |||
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If you want polished, you need to add a polish compound, to either one. On a commercial basis, I prefer walnut but not the fine ground junk that is sold for case tumbling. I buy coarse walnut and clean and sift it to get any small particles out. The coarse walnut is far too large to get stuck in a primer flash hole. The beauty of walnut is that it can be washed over and over and will last indefinitely and, in fact, improves with age. You cannot do that with corn cob. But sometimes, for a small user, it is easier and cheaper to just buy corn cob and pitch it when it gets dirty. | |||
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Add just enough Hoppes #9 to taste and you will have real purdy brass. Actually, quite a bit of Hoppes, so that the media is almost wet. | |||
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George, Welcome to AR. My best results are washing my brass with Cascade or other dishwasher detrigent in a RCBS Sidewinder and drying at low temp (170F). This process has produced cleaner brass and no dust on brass to run thru sizing die. | |||
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I use plain corn cob and add Flitz Brass polish to it. Makes them shine better that new. | |||
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NFMike, How do you wash walnut media? | |||
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George, I would like to suggest do both! By that I mean walnut after decapping and then corn cob before you prime and powder. Do yourself a favor and go to a pet store and get some "Lizard Litter" and save a little money. ______________________ Smedley  ______________________ From Audacity of Hope: 'I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds shift in an ugly direction.' B.H.Obullshitter ------------------------------------ "Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery" Winston Churchill ------------------------------------ "..it does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds.." Samuel Adams ------------------------------------ Facts are immaterial to liberals. Twisted perceptions however are invaluable. ------------------------------------ We Americans were tired of being thought of as dumb, by the rest of the world. So we went to the polls in November 2008 and removed all doubt.....let's not do it again in 2012 please. | |||
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There are 2 compounds . One looks pinkish and one is red. The pink stuff is CERIUM OXIDE, used to polish eye-glasses. The companies buy that stuff by the 20lbs. containers, take 5 ounces add water and charge you plenty. The RED stuff is Rouge ( FERROUS OXIDE) You cannot buy ROUGE anymore the EPA will not allow this. We, in Optics, had to change over to CERIUM, which does not give a finish as good as Rouge.for precision optics. Rouge is closely related RUST Marlin | |||
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I second Smedley here.. Walnut is better at cleaning the brass... corn is better at making it shine more.. I don't use any additives in my cleaning media... | |||
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I don’t normally worry about shiny brass for the most part but I do want clean brass. Free of grim and resizing lube inside and out. I have tried different methods to make them shiny from time to time with some success. There are a number of interesting suggestions here. I’m going to try a few. | |||
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davel Sorry so long getting back. I made a 3'x3'x4" box with screen in the bottom. It is about the same mesh as screen door screen (my walnut is about the size of 1FG or cannon grade black powder) but it is stainless so it won't corrode. The size of the box depends on how much you wish to clean. I set the box on top of two saw horses outdoors and have at it with the garden hose. A little dish soap helps clean but it takes a lot more water to get all the soap out. If it's really filthy, I use soap; if not, I don't. Work it around with the hands and flush all of it real good to take out any dust that has accumulated and any other small bits that get stuck in places you don't want them stuck in. I do about a 5 gallon bucket at a time and it takes ~10 minutes to wash and out in the sun about 3 to 4 hours to dry. Comes out better than new. | |||
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Try walnut with 25ml of parrafin (kerosene)for a few hours. Please post your result. | |||
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Me too. Remember, forgivness is easier to get than permission. | |||
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Go to Wally's World and get some rubbing alcohol. Pour a half cup into while the tumbler is running. It does two things cuts any oil or grease and makes the crude stick to the side of the tumbler. When finished take the tumbler outside, use an old paint brush and clean out the crude. Ohh I used walnut hulls from the pet store. Jim "Whensoever the General Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force." --Thomas Jefferson | |||
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George You could talk to some of those WV hill boys who make their own and use that as a cleaner. A couple of jiggers for the tumbler and a couple for you. Will speed up the intire process. Howeve it may dissolve your tumbler bowl. Jim "Whensoever the General Government assumes undelegated powers, its acts are unauthoritative, void, and of no force." --Thomas Jefferson | |||
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I was tol on a recent pig hunt to get lizard litter from the pet store. Nothing but crushed walnut hulls. That is my next batch for the tumbler. Keep yer powder dry and yer knife sharp. | |||
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I recently bought a 25 pound box of crushed walnut at Harbor Freight and Tool. It was on sale. I can't remember what I paid, but it was a fraction of the cost of what is sold for reloaders. Haven't gotten around to using any yet, but it's size and apparent quality look fine. I still a little prefer corn cob, but hey, this shit was cheap! | |||
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