LEMI-SHINE Alternative?

[GRUMPA]

OK I need someone to chime in on this one. I've done a search in this section of the forum and came up with 4 options but they refer to the ultra sonic type method (mainly).

I have the high speed thumbler tumbler and it came with the lemi-shine stuff along with the stainless media. Although it works fantastic and I only use like 1\4 tsp of the stuff at each use, sooner or later I'll have to get some more of it.

Living very remote (28mi from town) the local grocery store doesn't stock it all the time(if ever). Anyone ever try something else that worked just as well?

Just looking ahead here for that down the road supply...

[bpratl]

I found some at my local Wallmart...to my surprise.

[GRUMPA]

I found some at my local Wallmart...to my surprise.


Well for me that would be about a 116mi round trip (next town over) which for me I never go that far for nuttin. Just curious about alternatives. [smilie=2:

[Alby]

Navel jelly and hot water works but it is more expensive than lemi-shine. Works on the same principle.

[Cranium]

http://www.amazon.com/Lemishine-Super-Concentrated-Powder/dp/B003TP7CIG

[Longwood]

Well for me that would be about a 116mi round trip (next town over) which for me I never go that far for nuttin. Just curious about alternatives. [smilie=2:

You can go online and buy anything Walmart sells - which is much, much more than what they have in the stores - and they will deliver it to your your local store for free or to your door for a small shipping fee. They even have several types,makes and models of gun safes.

[Roundnoser]

Bar Keepers Friend brand. "Copper Glo" is the product. Cleans brass casings amazingly well!

[Longwood]

I put a tablespoon of Lemishine in my ultrasonic cleaner a couple of days ago and when I noticed it was barely working and very slow I went back to the Greased Lightening that A&M cleaning products makes..

[edsmith]

Just wondering, wouldnt citric acid do the same thing as lemi shine.:drinks:

[pressonregardless]

Bar Keepers Friend brand. "Copper Glo" is the product. Cleans brass casings amazingly well!

Jon, tell us more about this Bar Keepers Friend "Copper Glo". How do you use it? Does it clean inside dirty brass well?

[Roundnoser]

Jon, tell us more about this Bar Keepers Friend "Copper Glo". How do you use it? Does it clean inside dirty brass well?

Honestly, you won't believe it until you try it. Once you do, you'll be a believer!

I take my really dirty brass (the stuff with oxydation spots on it), and place it in a plastic container. Then add the Copper Glo (it is a white liquid. Contains some fine abrasives and citric acid.), so that it coats all of the brass. Using your hand, mix it around in the brass really well. After a minute or so, pour cold water on the brass. this will nuetralize the citric acid. Once the Copper Glo is cleaned off, dry the brass then polish in your tumbler. Comes out factory new!

[MtGun44]

Yes, the active ingredient in Lemi-Shine is citric acid. SAFE and will not harm the brass,
actually converts the oxidized brass back to metallic brass, not removing it.

In a rural area, ask at the canning supply place. Citric acid is added to some jams
and maybe other foods when home canning. If you can find it at a good price go for
it.

Of course, a capful of NuFinish car wax in a tumbler with fine cut corncob will make the
brass just absolutely amazingly nice in a hurry. I am quite serious, that even if you
have been tumbling brass for decades (I had been) you will be amazed and pleased
at the far superior results with a capful of NuFinish (orange bottle) car wax.

Bill

[Roundnoser]

Yes, the active ingredient in Lemi-Shine is citric acid. SAFE and will not harm the brass,
actually converts the oxidized brass back to metallic brass, not removing it.

In a rural area, ask at the canning supply place. Citric acid is added to some jams
and maybe other foods when home canning. If you can find it at a good price go for
it.

Of course, a capful of NuFinish car wax in a tumbler with fine cut corncob will make the
brass just absolutely amazingly nice in a hurry. I am quite serious, that even if you
have been tumbling brass for decades (I had been) you will be amazed and pleased
at the far superior results with a capful of NuFinish (orange bottle) car wax.

Bill

Nu Finish, huh?! I'll have to try that! How long will a bowl of Nu Finish-treated media last?...same as other polishes?

[BD]

Stellar Solutions, in McHenry, Illinois manufactures passivation chemicals for the stainless steel industry. Their product Citrisurf 77 is concentrated citric acid sold by the gallon, or in five gallon pails. It's about a ph of 1, so a little should go a long way. A gallon might be several lifetime supplies.

Six months ago I knew very little about this subject. I've had to learn fast as I have about 65,000 lbs of stainless steel structure to passivate in the next two months. As soon as I crack one of these five gallon jugs I'll take a couple ounces home and try it on some brass. Should be starting this week.

BD

[noylj]

Still seems like a lot of work for no more than bragging rights.
You can talk to your store manager and he might put in an order for you. Unless it has a short shelf lie, you might order a case and use it for more than tumbling brass.

[azjohn]

Here's a little reading on citric acid.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=83572

[7of7]

Just wondering, wouldnt citric acid do the same thing as lemi shine.:drinks:

That is what I use.. picked it up at a micro-brew supply store.. a whole pound of it.. cleans really really nice..

[MtGun44]

Roundnoser -
NuFinish treated corn cob seems to last longer, I add a new capful every two or three batches.

The brass comes out super shiny and waxed slick, you'll be tickled at how nice it is, and much
quicker.

Drop a paper towel torn into strips (they tear perfectly in one direction) into the tumbler and
the towel will pick up most of the dirt, but it seems like with NuFinish I don't need to do this
any more. Also, Granger's online has the perfect corncob size for about $25 for 40 lbs or so, really
great deal and does NOT clog the primer flash holes like the corncob and walnut that I had
been using.

Bill

[cajun shooter]

I will say one thing about Lemi-shine and that is be very careful with it. I was going to just tap the side of the container to add it to my model B and much more than what is needed went into the brass. The brass was 44-40 nickel that had been fired with BP. When it was time to remove and rinse, my brass was no longer shiny nickel. My brass had about 50% of the nickel missing. 64 and still learning about taking short cuts when I should have taken time to measure. I cook a lot of Cajun food and we don't measure anything but just add till it is right. You have to be careful and measure this when cleaning nickel brass.

[Roundnoser]

Roundnoser -
NuFinish treated corn cob seems to last longer, I add a new capful every two or three batches.

The brass comes out super shiny and waxed slick, you'll be tickled at how nice it is, and much
quicker.

Drop a paper towel torn into strips (they tear perfectly in one direction) into the tumbler and
the towel will pick up most of the dirt, but it seems like with NuFinish I don't need to do this
any more. Also, Granger's online has the perfect corncob size for about $25 for 40 lbs or so, really
great deal and does NOT clog the primer flash holes like the corncob and walnut that I had
been using.

Bill

Bill,

Grainger has two grit sizes listed for the 40 lb. corn cob media. 20/40 grit = $27.20 and the 14/20 grit = $26.15. Which size did you purchase?

[Cranium]

This is what I purchased. Ships from Grainger but costs a little less oddly enough.
http://www.drillspot.com/products/499763/econoline_526020g-40_40_lbs_blast_media

[MtGun44]

Yikes! FAR away from home now so can't look at the bag, and I forget which one. I
think it was the 20/40 but not certain. IIRC smaller is better.

Do a search on Graingers and corn cob here, I did not come up with this, this is info
from Mike in Co, he is the brass polishing guru.

I found a reference to PN 2mvr4, does this match what you are looking at?

OK, found it. "14/20 blasting media" add the NuFinish and you will be amazed, I
am sure.

Again - Mike in Co is the source, he cleans and sells brass for a living and this is
quicker and you have to see the results to believe how nice it looks and FEELS.
For somebody selling, this will really please the customers, just like new, literally.

Bill

[Safeshot]

For small quantities of Citric Acid a handy source and availability is Walmart. The "Great Value" brand of unsweetened Lemonade Drink Mix is 98% Citric Acid, costs $0.10 per .25 oz. package that makes 2 Quarts of Lemonade. Might be good for 1 quart or 1 pint of Case Cleaner. A little dish washing detergent might be added to improve it. Kool Aid brand Lemonade mix is "Similar" and is available for $0.20 per package.

I have not tried this as a Case Cleaner yet. I will try to "get to it" and try it Thursday or Friday. I will report on the results, Safeshot

[BoolitBill]

Has anyone tried Cream of Tartar? About 1/2 teaspoon in a Thumbler tumbler filled with water and your brass. Cheaper when bought in bulk. Works great for me!

[Longwood]

For small quantities of Citric Acid a handy source and availability is Walmart. The "Great Value" brand of unsweetened Lemonade Drink Mix is 98% Citric Acid, costs $0.10 per .25 oz. package that makes 2 Quarts of Lemonade.

I tried it today.
Thanks Safeshot for the tip.
It works extremely well. Four cycles of 4 minutes and I have nice clean brass, primer pockets and all.

[RP]

Try about any dishwasher additive like jet dry or a knock off I have gotten good results using them.

[Safeshot]

I have tried the "Great Value Lemonade Mix" (citric acid) (like "Kool Aid" mix) from Walmart in warm water with a little "Dawn" dish washing liquid. It did work to clean some very tarnished and dirty brass that I had. I do not think that it worked much if any better than Distilled White Vinegar in warm water with a little "Dawn" dish washing liquid. It may be "easier" on the brass or less "damaging".

[lgvenable]

Guys
All the citric acid does is remove all oxides and carbonates, to expose base metal brass. Period. This clean oxide free metal can be polished using any typical cleaner or polish, avoiding ammonia based polishes.

This is well documented out at places like finishing.com, where all they do is pre-clean metals of every type. In the truest sense, the surface is not passivated, as that would require something nastier like nitric acid.

That said, use a high quality USP grade citric acid to make a solution. The use of 28 grams /gallon works well (thats 1 oz per gallon). Since your using a very large excess of citric acid, the reaction is pushed to completion. If you use less concentrated citric, you can expect slower results.

Hot water use will increase the reactivity of the citric acid, for every 10 degrees centigrade the reaction rate doubles ( thats true for every chemical reaction/part of thermodynamics). So 160 to 180 degree F water will give a 8 fold increase in reaction speed, aka removal of the oxides and carbonates on the surface of brass.

go here for usp citric acid, or find another via Google...
http://www.ingredientstodiefor.com/item.php?item_id=39

After this it becomes the use of your favorite way to shine up the brass, without ammonia. Personally I think the use of small pieces of stainless steel will give the best surface without any real removal of metal. Thats my personal bias though.That said every gun site I go to had long threads on cleaning brass, and this is pretty much as straight an answer as you'll get.

One last thing, rinsing the brass with water which has gone though ion exchange resin will gve you a spot free finish, you could also use the spot free water made by the Mr Clean product for cars to rinse the brass and leave a spot free finish.

[WildmanJack]

Just did my first load of brass in an old Thumlers Tumbler I think the 9 pound model. Anyway, I used the stainless steel instead of ceramic media.
#1 Sure came out of the bottle neck cases way faster than the ceramic media did..LOL...
#2 Absolutely the cleanest cases I have ever seen except new ones. Even the primer pockets are clean as new...
I used a little too much Dawn and a squirt of Cascade dishwasher additive, the one that keeps the dishes and glasses spotless!!
Worked amazing and I only tumbled for about 3 hours..
Jack.

[MtGun44]

The surface is passivated by citric acid, if by passivation, you mean removal of embedded foreign material that
will form an electrolytic cell and cause localized corrosion. This is the purpose of passivation with stainless steel,
the place where I have seen it used in industrial processing for corrosion resistance.

Actually, nitric acid is being replaced for stainless steel passivation by citric acid in many shops. Works as well
or better, harmless and easy to dispose of.

Bill