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?

[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/52...bs_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.