whats up with my new brasso polish

[gray wolf]

Not sure if I should post this here.

But perhaps someone has an idea.

I replaced my old corn cob with some new crushed English walnut shells.
My tumbler is one from Midway that has worked for years and is still working fine. I got the walnut from a pet shop it is very clean and perfect size.
Most times the pet shop stuff is to big but this is perfect.
OK the last time I changed it I got the corn cob. a little big but it looked like it would work. I put about two spoons of brasso in for about 200 cases.
Well they never got more than a dull shine and had a film on it like if you did the case by hand and didn't quite take all the brasso off.
So I dumped that and went with the new crushed walnut, well the same stuff happened. The bag had enough in it for me to try it twice. The second time I used less brasso, and these cases were almost shiny when I started.
same thing happend again.
I noticed that the new Brasso comes in a plastic bottle and not the old tin can that it used to come in. Did they change the formula? This stuff don't even work as good as the old when I use a rag.
CAN I CLEAN THE WALNUT SHELLS AND START OVER ??
This has me mad, I hate to waste a new bag of walnut.
How can I recover from this? can I WASH the walnut?
Thanks men.

GW.

[EMC45]

Know this: Brasso has ammonia in it. This will weaken your brass. It will look good, but it deteriorates the brass. I just bought some Flitz Liquid at my local ACE and it has brass tumbling instructions on the back. It works nice. It's my second bottle. It does not have ammonia in it.

[Skrenos]

Expanding on the topic, ammonia is not compatible with copper, zinc, brass, bronze or mercury. Ammonia has this weird property of causing invisible weaknesses and your brass will split with no warning. The term is 'stress corrosion'.

[mooman76]

I believe that if you don't put anymore in your media that it will dry enough it won't keep dulling your brass after another load or two. If you still have your brass with the dull coating on it run it some more and see if it goes away!
I clean my media by putting used drier sheets in it with the brass. It catches allot of the dust & dirt particals keeping it clean longer. They are a throw away item anyway. You could try that.

[EDK]

I'm a coward about using additives to the tumbling media--and cheap too! I use straight corn cob grit with no problems in an aged Thumblers Tumbler.

If you want a super shine or to clean up some nasty brass, get the ceramic media the black powder cartridge rifle shooters are all hot about. I used it for my 50/90 SHILOH SHARPS brass and it is great! When I got some dingey 44 magnum brass just before eBay banned brass sales, I threw it in the ceramic, put in the additive and let it roll for several hours....The brass came out looking factory new.

You can get it at SAGEBRUSH SUPPLY, SHILOH SHARPS, BUFFALO ARMS and a whole bunch of other places at varying prices. I try to buy from people in BPCR and these firms are all major suppliers and contributors to the sport...and I consider the owners or employees as my friends from my personal contacts with them.

:castmine: :redneck: :Fire:

[mtgrs737]

Why take a chance? Get some Midway brass polish or some Dillon brass polish and have no worries! :castmine:

[crabo]

I put a little mineral spirits and a little liquid car wax in my walnut shells and it really cleans up nice. I vibrate in the garage and just leave the lid off. One hour and they look good, 2 hours and it's as good as it gets.

[gray wolf]

Thanks men, I still think they changed the brasso formula. But that is here nor there.
I used brasso for many years and I never had a belt buckle fall apart. I always used it on my cases also without a problem.
But that said it don't make me right. I washed the medium with hot soapy water and dried it
I think all the dirt and bad stuff is washed out. I will rinse the cases and not use the brasso
any more. This is the second bottle of the new stuff and I am tired of it not working.
I will get some flitz polish, I like the cream in the tube. it's costly but great stuff.
I used to rub some into the medium and was very happy with it.
If I can't get it in the bottle I will get some of Dillon's or from midway.
To many things in life to get nuts about. Brass polish ain't going to be one of them.
Thanks again for all the help.

GW.

[13Echo]

I've been polishing my black powder cases with walnut with about 4 caps full of mineral spirits and a couple of heaping tablespoons of Bon Ami cleaning powder. Brass is clean after one hour and nicely shiney after two or three.

Jerry Liles

[oldfart]

yeah they changed it, you can't even smell ammonia any more in it
it sux

[Kraschenbirn]

I think I may have picked this up from a post here on Cast Boolits but it works so well that it's worth repeating. Toss two or three cleaning patches soaked in "Goo Gone" (or similar citrus oil cleaner) in with your brass. I use plain ground corncob media...no polish or abrasive...in one of the large-size Dillon vibratory tumbers and my grungiest brass comes out clean and shiny in an hour or two. Using walnut shells or commercial media might shorten the cleaning time but corncob is a lot less expensive...$10-$12 for a 40 lb bag from a feed mill just down the road.

Bill

[Gohon]

I never had a belt buckle fall apart

Me either......... but then again I've never subjected my belt buckles to 40,000 psi either..... :-D

[montana_charlie]

walnut with about 4 caps full of mineral spirits and a couple of heaping tablespoons of Bon Ami cleaning powder.
Same here..
CM

[IcerUSA]

Can also try Nu Finish Auto Polish , I get mine for the dollar store , use a couple caps full and let tumble for a hour then add the brass , run overnight and its purdy in the mornin .

Keith