Lanolin removal with laundry detergent?

[Faret]

Just ran some threw my wet tumbler with laundry detergent instead of dish detergent. Brass and bullets took like half hour and are look like they were polished in a tumbler with corncob! Always used dish soap before and had poor results. Anybody else try it? Any reason not to?

[Hickory]

I wish you would have posted this two hours ago.
I have got 4000 22 RF jackets in the oven drying out now

[Faret]

Total newbe here just knew there has to be a better way to get that lube off! Got a half gallon in the tumbler I just derimmed last week. Using the same batch lemishine and Laundry soap I'll see how it works again.

[Hickory]

I have sulfur water, not concerned about shine, no shine with sulfur water, more concerned with getting the lube off.

[Faret]

Well tried reusing the water and it got half off but was still cold. Ran for 30 minutes some buildup on drum wall. New batch of water and warm like bath temp not hot. Ran for 15 minutes checked and cleaner with no buildup on wall! Going to run for another 15 minutes and call them done! Give it a try!

[Hickory]

I've been thinking about getting an ultrasonic cleaner to remove the tarnish after I get the lube off.
May be the jolly ol' elf can make it happen?

[ohnomrbillk]

I rinse my lanolin/castor oil lube off with mineral spirits or isopropyl alcohol in a glass jar.

Soak and shake for 2 minutes.

Dump through strainer and catch used solvent for later.

Dump strained jackets on paper towels to air dry.

Once dry you can use tumbler of choice. I use wet tumbler with stainless pins and zip wax car wash soap with hot water and lemishine. My water is reverse osmosis, which likely helps.

I rinse in cold tap water. Dry in food dehydrator. Jackets seem to not tarnish this way.

I tumble my complete bullets in my dry tumbler with NuFinish car polish.

[reed1911]

Alcohol works great, you can buy the big bottles for less than $2 at the big box stores and it is good for several uses. That is what we use for cleaning jackets and cores. Once they are made, we tumble the bullets, but hot water and dish soap do quite well to remove the lube, but we do leave them in there for a while.

[Pressman]

This may a a tad off topic, but how about using shampoo. It's a great oil and grease cutter and not as strong as dish soap. It won't damage paint like dish soap does and it rinses off really easy.
Just thinkin' before coffee this morning.
Ken

[clodhopper]

Isn't shampoo designed to leave behind residue for "sleek manageable hair"? or is that just a product of wet hair.

[reed1911]

I suppose it depends on how you clean them. Any good detergent will work, some faster than others, hot water also helps

[runfiverun]

some of it is.
they make oil stripper types too.

what we are removing [lanolin] is more an animal wax than an oil.
I know mineral spirits will cut lanolin pretty well but it still leaves a thin film behind.

[kc3ak]

I boil mine with a couple of drops of Dawn. Seems to work quite well.

[lead chucker]

I tried gasoline and it seemed to work. I dumped them out on a paper towel and let the gas evaporate then used lacquer thinner to get any gas residue off. I do all this out side. I was doing the SS pin wash with dish soap and lemishine but was getting a build up of black nasty goo on the walls of my tumbler. I will try laundry soap. Maybe it wont suds up so much.

[B R Shooter]

If you don't want suds, use dishwasher detergent. Can't have that foaming up so it won't.

[Faret]

I tried gasoline and it seemed to work. I dumped them out on a paper towel and let the gas evaporate then used lacquer thinner to get any gas residue off. I do all this out side. I was doing the SS pin wash with dish soap and lemishine but was getting a build up of black nasty goo on the walls of my tumbler. I will try laundry soap. Maybe it wont suds up so much.

It seems to build more suds. But maybe thats why the lanolin comes right off of everything better.

[R.Ph. 380]

I tried gasoline and it seemed to work. I dumped them out on a paper towel and let the gas evaporate then used lacquer thinner to get any gas residue off. I do all this out side. I was doing the SS pin wash with dish soap and lemishine but was getting a build up of black nasty goo on the walls of my tumbler. I will try laundry soap. Maybe it wont suds up so much.

Hey, that'll work, could light a match and anneal in one step. Kidding aside, sometimes I use non-chlorinated carb cleaner for small batches, dry on paper towels.

[lead chucker]

Maybe the suds are good, they are grey and dirty. I guess that means there holding the grease. Its just messy. After making the bullets I polish with SS pin wash with lemishine and dish soap. I'm still experimenting with my cleaning methods. Clean is good when it comes to making bullets that's for sure.

[NavyVet1959]

If you don't want suds, use dishwasher detergent. Can't have that foaming up so it won't.

OK, everyone raise their hand if they've ever put regular hand dishwashing liquid in an automatic dishwasher...

[runfiverun]

best way to get the dishes and the floor clean at the same time.