Clean, but dull brass

[Jim]

I use walnut media to clean my brass. I run it for 3 hours and the brass comes out very clean, but dull. There's nothing wrong with the brass. It's fine, I'm just not getting that shine I'm looking for.
Below are two .30-06 cases. The one with the dull finish is what they look like when they come out. The shiny one, I chucked in a universal case holder in a cordless drill and hit it for a few seconds with some 4/0 fine steel wool. That's what I want them to look like.
What am I doing wrong? I've got 50 pounds of brand new media. I don't want to can it and buy more media.
Any suggestions on getting that shine I'm looking for?

http://fgsp.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/pics-078-e1294163613482.jpg

[bradh]

Jim go to an auto parts store and get NuFinish car wax, add about 1/2 cap full and see what
happens.....I think you'll like it!

[jcwit]

Yup that, or just about any liquid auto cleaner wax or polish.

I know you don't want to buy more but corn cob will give you a much shinney look.

[Jim]

I have mucho trouble with bottlenecks in corn cob. Took me the better part of a day one time to get it out out a hunnerd or so .223 cases. That's the primary reason I switched to walnut media years ago.

Coupla' questions about the Nu-finish:
Do I need to put the polish in every time I clean?

Does the media eventually get saturated with the polish and have to be thrown out?

Tell me the specifics on using this stuff. The more I know, the better I like it.

[3006guns]

Walnut media is hard and coarse......knocks off any initial crud very well, but doesn't really polish like a softer media. Corncob would be your answer.....just empty the walnut into a container and switch to the corncob. Minor PITA, but....

My advice is based on using car polish as suggested. For some reason it clumped up in my walnut despite stirring, etc. and never really produced a nice shine. I finally threw it out and refilled with corn cob and got a polish like you want.

Now the car polish used with corn cob might work well.......never got that far.

[Bill*]

You can pour the NuFinish on a small pile of walnut in a dish or something, let it dry, then break it up by hand into the tumber material. That will eliminate the clumping. You don't need to add it each time. I use drier sheets from a tip I got here to gather some of the crud out and haven't replaced the media yet( maybe 30-40 uses over a couple of years and maybe added NuFinish 2-3 times)

[jcwit]

Jim Go to this site, shipping is free, its about as fine an sand and flows even out of the flash hole, believe me it will not clog in .223 brass or any other for that matter. Have used it for years. Much smaller than what is purchased at pet stores or feed mills.

http://www.drillspot.com/products/521055/econoline_526040g-40_40_lbs_blast_media

Add a little auto polish and let it dry on top of the media before running the tumbler.

[fatelk]

I've used the car polish quite a bit. What works best for me is to put a little bit of car polish in maybe every other load, and put a torn-up paper towel in with every load. The paper towel seems to attract the majority of the crud to keep the media from getting too plugged up.

I don't think this will get them as shiny as steel wool, but it works pretty good. I used corn cob media once 20 years ago, and hated it. Haven't used it since.

As to the car polish clumping up, I haven't had that problem. I put just a little bit in at a time and run the tumbler for ten minutes or so before adding brass to let it mix thoroughly.

[Jim]

Dang! I hate thinking that I have to throw out a brand new 50 lb. bag of walnut media and buy corn cob. On the other hand, messin' with adding polish, letting it dry and declumping...I ain't got the patience for that. I was hoping I could do something that allows me to just throw the brass in, turn it on and be done with it.
It's beginning to sound like it is what it is and that's what I'm going to get.

[jcwit]

Jim, Jim--This evening before going to bed sprinkle some auto polish on top of your media, tomorrow morning turn on the tumbler for 10-15 minutes, then toss in some rifle brass, any caliber, and let run for another 10 minutes. You'll be all done, no patience needed, have a cup of coffee in between and a donut, and breakfast.

Try this before you toss the walnut, you might be totally satisfied. If not get the Corn cob and use the walnut for REAL dirty/tarnished brass.

[mold maker]

Course cob can be a PIA, sticking inside the case of small necked brass. Small walnut is a pain in flash holes. There is no 1 answer for all. I use walnut to get rid of light tarnish. Heavy tarnish gets citric acid bath or a tumble, in the cement mixer if batch is big enough.
Then cob with Nu Finish, and it's all brighter than new.
I've cleaned a lot of brass, and any that don't shine with the above gets used otherwise or tossed in the recycle bucket.
I like it to hurt your eyes in the sunshine.

[Jim]

OK, JC, I'll try it.
Now, tell me: how often do I need to add polish and will it eventually gunk up the media? I don't mind buying more eventually, but I don't want to go through my media so fast that I'm having to buy more on a regular basis.
Patience now, I'm just tryin' to get some details here so I understand.

[jcwit]

I usually use a teaspoon or 2 to start with and after a few full tumblers full I'll use the dryer towel trick to remove most of the crud, course this also removes some of the polish, I then all another teaspoon or 2. Its my opinion lots of folks use to much polish, but then thats just an opinion. I'll usually do this one more time then toss and start over. You'll clean thousands of cases using this method.

Again to those having trouble with C/C clogging in flash holes and/or clumping inside the case we're talking of 20/40 grit here. Again its fine and WILL NOT clog, unless it gets wet of course. And YES it will clean just fine.

One more add-on. NO I am not associated with Drillspot or any thing to do with the corn industry and never have been. I'm retired and fully enjoying it.

[fatelk]

I suppose the corn cob media I used once 20 years ago was probably some different stuff. I've just used walnut ever since. I followed that link to the blast media, and it looks like good stuff. I may try some when I run out of what I have.

[3006guns]

Bill.......thanks for the "anti clumping" tip. I'll use the info and give it another go. I'm kinda fond of the walnut media, only because a relative can get me a 50lb. bag for ten bucks!

[troy_mclure]

heres my shiny brass recipe.


add 2 caps of nufinish, and t caps of mineral spirits to the media. run it with no brass till it is no longer clumping. add 1 wad of dryer lint(or sheet) to catch the dust.

run 4-6 hours.

comes out almost, but not quite as shiny as what you are looking for.

[DanWalker]

I used Walnut hull media for a while and got exactly the results you did. I switched to Corn cob and get nice shiney brass. I bought a rotary media separator and it only takes a minute or so of tumbling to get all the media out. I've done everything from 17 rem's to 45/70 this way.

[Char-Gar]

I add a a table spoon of Mother's Mag Polish to my crushed walnut and shines real good.

[KennethF]

Just adding 1-2 table spoons of mineral spirits or paint thinner to either corn cob or walnut media will clean and polished your cases with 3-5 hours in the vibrating cleaner. Polishing additives don't hurt either, but are not needed.

Ken

[Jim]

I can't do the paint thinner or mineral spirits thing in the house. Janet is allergic to the smell and it makes her sick.

[RayinNH]

Jim instead of paint thinner you can use any type of solvent. It's just to reactivate/reliquify the auto polish. I use a degreasing solvent. You could probably get by with alcohol. I keep mine in a spray bottle and give it 6-8 spritzes every other time I tumble brass. I only use walnut media. Mine comes out shinier than your picture shows your brass...Ray

P.S. I put the polish in then turn it on a few seconds until the polish is no longer showing then put in the brass. I do that so that I don't toss the brass into a puddle of polish. I run for 1-3 hours depending on how dirty the brass is.

[AZ-Stew]

I use walnut and Nu-Finish (orange plastic bottle - 16oz/$8 - half the price of what the gun accessory mail order outfits charge for brass polish) and have gotten VERY shiny brass. I accidentally let the tumbler run over night on a bowl full of .45 Colt brass and when I opened it I thought the brass had been gold plated. It helps a lot if you put as much brass in the machine as possible. Small lots don't polish well.

I pour in a couple of caps full on top of the media, turn the machine on and let the media cycle through a couple of rotations, then reach in and break up the polish globs with my fingers. Once they're down to about half the size of a pea, I toss in the brass and put the lid on. Only takes a few minutes.

My biggest gripe is that the last walnut I bought was lizard litter from a pet store and it's the dustiest walnut I've ever used. Really dirty. I have to find a better source. Other than that, it works great.

Regards,

Stew

[GOPHER SLAYER]

Jim, I have shared your frustration for years. I tried walnut media and while it knocked off the big clumps, it just didn' put any shine to the brass. One day I got the bright idea of breaking up some jewelers rouge and adding it to the mix. At the phone company we used it to polish switch board pluges . Dating myself there. Big mistake. It ruined some expensive walnut media. It was much more costly back then. What made it worse , it stuck to the brass and the inside of the drum. It took gasiline to get it out. Since then I have been reluctant to add anything to the media. I have also tried different grits of corn cob. Same result. The only thing I found that does the job is acid, but I hesitate to use it. I am intrigued by the idea of using brass polishing rods that I read about on the pages. Someone suggested using 22 rimfire cases. When I have a little free time I plan to try it.

[Jim]

OK, now I'm gettin' somewhere. Thanks, Ray, that was the ejukation I was lookin' for!

[AZ-Stew]

Gopher,

I've had jewler's rouge dissolved in a liquid solvent that worked very well for polishing brass. What you had was suspended in wax. No wonder you had problems. The Nu-Finish is also suspended in a liquid solvent, Once the solvent evaporates, all that's left is the micro-abrasive of the polish and it wants to stick to the media, not the brass or bowl. It actually works very well.

Regards,

Stew

[fatelk]

I have wondered about this for years. The couple of times I tried it, it didn't work well for me. I must have done it wrong.

Some time back I needed some media and was in a hurry. I ended up spending $15 for a 6 pound jug of Lyman Tufnut Turbo Tumbler Media. The only reason it still sits in my garage is because I can't bring myself to throw something away that costs that much.

"Crushed nutshell treated with rouge. Cleans and shines all metals to a high luster."

This should read instead "Coats all your brass with a nasty red powder that you have to wash off." I don't know how I could have used it wrong, but it was total garbage.

[mike in co]

ok so now the bottom line is fine ground corn cob and nu finish car polish.....( you can skip the nu finish for the first couple of loads)

one hour....no mas..... and you will have bright shiney brass...worst case out door brass...2 hours....no over night..no 4 hours( ok if you have a rotary instd of a vibrator longer is ok..but into days age its sorta like having a rotary phone!)

nufinsh form car stores walmart etc...

corn cob from industrial supply( blasting media) 14/20 is a good size.....

12lbs of brass in 5 lbs of media(big tumbler) or 5-6 lbs brass in 2-3 lbs media......

there nothing WRONG with his clean brass......but since shiney cost no more takes no longer and is shiney........why bother with walnut ?


mike in co

[oneokie]

I don't know how I could have used it wrong, but it was total garbage.

You used too much rouge. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

[afrance]

I have found that dull look can also occur because you have too many cases in the tumbler and they aren't tumbling but rather vibrating against each other. Reducing the number of cases until the media has more of a "flow" makes a significant difference.

Alan

[Jim]

Alan,
That's a point I hadn't thought of. I'll cut down on my count and see if that makes a difference.

Thanks!

[fatelk]

You used too much rouge. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.
The problem with the Lyman stuff is that it was pre-treated. I didn't add anything but brass.

I agree with Alan about too much brass. I've done that too.

[runfiverun]

just add about a half a cup to the walnut media and stretch out the lyman stuff.
i have had a container of it for years and just add a bit when it gets worn down.
i use the citric acid to clean, then the walnut/lyman/ceramic sand mix to clean,dry and somewhat polish the cases.
they get shiney, and i can see the insides of the cases too.
a dryer sheet or paper towell [ripped into strips] cleans out all the little bits of grit and dust pretty good.

[Rick N Bama]

I have wondered about this for years. The couple of times I tried it, it didn't work well for me. I must have done it wrong.

Some time back I needed some media and was in a hurry. I ended up spending $15 for a 6 pound jug of Lyman Tufnut Turbo Tumbler Media. The only reason it still sits in my garage is because I can't bring myself to throw something away that costs that much.

"Crushed nutshell treated with rouge. Cleans and shines all metals to a high luster."

This should read instead "Coats all your brass with a nasty red powder that you have to wash off." I don't know how I could have used it wrong, but it was total garbage.

Fatelk, cut the Tufnut about 50/50 with fresh Corcob media, it'll work a lot better for you then.

Rick

[Echo]

Jim, FWIW, I use corn cob. I put in about a scant teaspoon of finely ground rouge (about like rust flour!), run for 20 minutes, put in a dollop of mineral spirits, run for another 20 minutes, and I'm ready to go. I add a used dryer sheet, if I remember to, and the brass turns out Bee-You-Tea-Full. Lasts and lasts, especially with the dryer sheet to pick up the dust & crud.

[jcwit]

Jim another benifit of using auto polish is that the brass gets a light coating of wax/polish that retards tarnish for an extreamilly long time. Using straight rouge does not give this benifit.

Best

[mike in co]

just for the record, i bought about 4000 pcs of 223/556 brass that was "fully prepped/ready to load". the plan was to sell it along side my std cleaned and polished once fired 223/556 brass. no one was buying so i decided to load it for my own use...heck most of the work was done.

except when running through my dillon 550b..started getting poor primer seating. started looking at the primer pocket prior to first stage...guess what?

the brass had been done in walnut and rouge.....maybe 10% of the primer pockets had dried mud in them..the mud appears to have been walnut dust and rouge. so now the"fully prepped brass" had to have all the primer pockets recleaned.....the brass "looked" good....but just one more reason to stay away from rouge and walnut.

mike in co

[blackthorn]

O.K.--If you wax your cases--do you clean off the wax before you fire them? I am wondering about the wax acting as a"lube" on the case.

[mike in co]

nufinish is a polish, not a wax......

[jcwit]

nufinish is a polish, not a wax......


You're absolutly right Mike, I usually say "Wax/Polish" because I never remember just what to call it let alone how to spell it. Per the Nu-Finish site its "zinc cross-linking polymer emulsions". I think I'll go along with you and just call it a polish, works for me.

BTW, I always mention using 20/40 grit corn cob and you always say 14/20 grit. I realize they both more than likely work just fine but does the 14/20 get caught in the flash holes? Just wondering.

[felix]

NuFinish is formulated more like a typical moisture-cure poly-urethane. Made to mimic a clear coat, which is why it keeps the brass in good looking shape for quite some time. ... felix

[Recluse]

I have a Thumler's Tumbler (rotary) and for years my brass-cleaning process has been KISS simple:

1. Walnut media with a capful of NuFinish and a capful of odorless mineral spirits

2. Plug in to the timer in the evening, set timer to go off in the morning.

3. Close door to shop

4. Next morning or day, empty the tumbler while wearing sunglasses.

A rotary tumbler does not work nearly as fast as a vibratory tumbler, so I just load my tumbler up in the evening, add the polish and spirits and then shut down the shop. However, the Thumler's also runs quiet enough that I can do all the reloading I want or casting or whatever and the tumbler is no distraction.

Being that it has a lid, there is no dust and no odors coming from it.

As Felix said, the NuFinish keep my brass from getting tarnished or dull a lot longer than with no protectives.

:coffee: