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Thread: Lemi Shine: A Cautionary Tale

  1. #1
    Boolit Master
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    Lemi Shine: A Cautionary Tale

    I've been using the recommended mix of Simple Green and water in my new ultrasonic cleaner. This worked well on parts and a recently inherited Ortgies pistol. There were a number of suggestion to add Lemi Shine to the mix, so today I did and cleaned a Walther PP I got at an auction yesterday.

    The bluing on the frame was completely removed and the bluing on the slide is dull and mottled.

    Since there was not bluing damage to the Ortgies, I'm going to say that the addition of the Lemi Shine to the Simple Green mixture is responsible for this rather expensive lesson.

    Cheers(?),
    Richard

  2. #2
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    rancher1913's Avatar
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    it is an acid
    if you are ever being chased by a taxidermist, don't play dead

  3. #3
    Boolit Master
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    As I have now learned. It doesn't advertise itself as an acid, unfortunately for the Walther.

  4. #4
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    You can directly substitute citric acid for lemi shine, it basically the same thing

  5. #5
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    I regularly get more and more confused with my attempts at playing "chemist"! As one example, for s.s. pin tumbling I used for quite a long time distilled water with a teaspoon of Dawn detergent and 1/2 teaspoon Lemi-Shine. Worked great. But, to make it work "greater", I had read of persons adding Armor All Wax n Wash -- so I started adding a tablespoon of that to the mix as well. Results were mixed.... huh? Then, I came across a post where it was explained that car-wash solutions, including the Armor All product, are formulated to NOT remove waxes; while the Dawn is formulated to do exactly that. (Most auto maintenance detailers state one should NEVER use dish-washing detergents to wash automotive finishes for that reason). Later -- and I now use -- just the Armor-All Wash n Wax plus Lemi-shine -- NO Dawn -- and my brass seems to be considerably shinier -- "better 'n new" -- with this formula.
    I feel badly for your results with your pistol blueing -- looks like you, too, had not chemistry as prime subject! (Sixty years ago I worked as a "grunt" in a supermarket, and to clean a really scuzzy dairy cooler I filled a cart with all sorts of goodies to accomplish this. Yes -- I mixed ammonia and Clorox -- they actually evacuated store -- still do not know why I wasn't let go -- but, I think I should have stopped playing chemist then.)
    geo

  6. #6
    Boolit Master
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    I clearly should have paid more attention to the ingredients.

    I did have chem in high school, back in the '60s. I, however, spent most of my time trying to make gun cotton and other more interesting concoctions.

    Now to find a good person to reblue the pistol.

    Cheers,
    Richard

  7. #7
    Boolit Grand Master

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    Could have just as well dipped the gun in vinegar! Citric Acid removes blue form guns.

  8. #8
    Boolit Buddy 45-70bpcr's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by RG1911 View Post
    I clearly should have paid more attention to the ingredients.

    I did have chem in high school, back in the '60s. I, however, spent most of my time trying to make gun cotton and other more interesting concoctions.

    Now to find a good person to reblue the pistol.

    Cheers,
    Richard
    Thank you for sharing your experience. I recently had a tub of dissicent in my safe leak some of the water that accumulates in the tub as it does its thing. It got the little piece of rug my Ruger single six .32 H&R lays on damp. It Corroded the side of the cylinder pretty bad and the scope rings. Ruger polished and reblued the cylinder for free and I found a replacement set of rings but things happen. Sorry for your mishap.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by 45-70bpcr View Post
    Thank you for sharing your experience. I recently had a tub of dissicent in my safe leak some of the water that accumulates in the tub as it does its thing. It got the little piece of rug my Ruger single six .32 H&R lays on damp. It Corroded the side of the cylinder pretty bad and the scope rings. Ruger polished and reblued the cylinder for free and I found a replacement set of rings but things happen. Sorry for your mishap.
    I had the same thing happen with a tub of desiccant. It un-blued a couple rifle butplates. I use goldenrods now instead of chemical desiccants.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by 45-70bpcr View Post
    Thank you for sharing your experience. I recently had a tub of dissicent in my safe leak some of the water that accumulates in the tub as it does its thing. It got the little piece of rug my Ruger single six .32 H&R lays on damp. It Corroded the side of the cylinder pretty bad and the scope rings. Ruger polished and reblued the cylinder for free and I found a replacement set of rings but things happen. Sorry for your mishap.
    Are you talking about Damp rid or a similar product? That stuff is calcium chloride with a layer of Tyvek over it to work as a semi-permeable barrier. What leaked out was a high concentration of caustic salt water. I won't use that stuff need metal.

    Citric acid makes a great cleaner for brass & copper but is really used to soften the water so the soap works better. The soap holds the dirt in suspension.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by KCSO View Post
    Could have just as well dipped the gun in vinegar! Citric Acid removes blue form guns.
    Yes. Thank you. I got the point.

  12. #12
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by 45-70bpcr View Post
    Thank you for sharing your experience. I recently had a tub of dissicent in my safe leak some of the water that accumulates in the tub as it does its thing. It got the little piece of rug my Ruger single six .32 H&R lays on damp. It Corroded the side of the cylinder pretty bad and the scope rings. Ruger polished and reblued the cylinder for free and I found a replacement set of rings but things happen. Sorry for your mishap.
    Yup. The problem with gaining experience is gaining the experience.

    Since I don't plan to clean brass in the ultrasonic cleaner, I've dumped all the solution and tossed the Lemi Shine.

    Richard

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by georgerkahn View Post
    I regularly get more and more confused with my attempts at playing "chemist"! ……
    I feel badly for your results with your pistol blueing -- looks like you, too, had not chemistry as prime subject! (Sixty years ago I worked as a "grunt" in a supermarket, and to clean a really scuzzy dairy cooler I filled a cart with all sorts of goodies to accomplish this. Yes -- I mixed ammonia and Clorox -- they actually evacuated store -- still do not know why I wasn't let go -- but, I think I should have stopped playing chemist then.)
    geo
    Ran a barracks of 60 Marines in the ‘80’s. Weekly some jarhead would mix bleach with ammonia to clean the “head” (bathroom). You would think after being told WEEKLY(!) Not to mix the 2 that it would sink in………!


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  14. #14
    Boolit Master

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    Quote Originally Posted by JWT View Post
    I had the same thing happen with a tub of desiccant. It un-blued a couple rifle butplates. I use goldenrods now instead of chemical desiccants.
    Go to the pet supply store and buy the crystal cat litter. It’s the same stuff as in the little paper desiccant packets. Much cheaper! If you really need it in a package, tie some up in a holey sock. Mine always die in the heels anyways. Use the toe.


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  15. #15
    Boolit Master Shawlerbrook's Avatar
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    Lemi-shine for cleaning brass only.

  16. #16
    Boolit Buddy 45-70bpcr's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by NyFirefighter357 View Post
    Are you talking about Damp rid or a similar product? That stuff is calcium chloride with a layer of Tyvek over it to work as a semi-permeable barrier. What leaked out was a high concentration of caustic salt water. I won't use that stuff need metal.

    Citric acid makes a great cleaner for brass & copper but is really used to soften the water so the soap works better. The soap holds the dirt in suspension.
    That's the stuff. I have a goldenrod that works but I back it up with a tub of damp rid. It always pulls water so think it is a good second step in pulling moisture, but it also needs put in a second container to contain any leaks.
    This does bring up a question on how the goldenrod works but I would ask that in a separate post.

  17. #17
    Boolit Grand Master In Remembrance
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    Pretty sure the goldenrod is just an electric heater? That's a WAG though, haven't researched them.

  18. #18
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    Had a customer years ago, bring in a wartime Browning High Power for a reblue. The metal was in perfect condition except for numerous spots on the slide, about the size of a penny where the bluing was just gone. When I asked him what the though caused the bluing to disappear, he stated that when he was out shooting it last time he was also snacking on cherries while at practice. The cherry juice on his fingers, transferred to the gun and the round circles were his fingerprints.
    “Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry.”
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  19. #19
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    Goldenrod is a low power heater. When the air inside the safe is warmer that outside it drives out the moisture (lowers the humidity).

  20. #20
    Boolit Master

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jeff Michel View Post
    Had a customer years ago, bring in a wartime Browning High Power for a reblue. The metal was in perfect condition except for numerous spots on the slide, about the size of a penny where the bluing was just gone. When I asked him what the though caused the bluing to disappear, he stated that when he was out shooting it last time he was also snacking on cherries while at practice. The cherry juice on his fingers, transferred to the gun and the round circles were his fingerprints.


    I have a Colt New Frontier 22LR/22WMR that I bought new in 1975, in 1976 I was at a picnic where we were doing some shooting and during a pause I laid the Colt down on a paper towel on a picnic table. Don't know how it got there but a piece of a green bean of all things stuck to the side of the Magnum cylinder, it was only stuck there for a a few minutes before I saw it but it took the bluing off right down to the metal when I wiped it off! To this day that spot is still obvious and I occasionally touch it up with cold blue, I have often threatened to reblue the cylinder but it's been there so long now it has become part of the gun's "character" so I suppose I will just leave it. A stinkin green bean of all things, who would have thought that?
    Statistics show that criminals commit fewer crimes after they have been shot

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check