Odd thing when tumbling with SST pins

[cheese1566]

I tumbled a batch of brass the other day using the dishsoap/Lemishine combo with SST pins in my Thumler Model B. I ran it a couple hours; enough to get the brass nice and new looking.

When I loaded it, I threw in an old dirty grundgy RCBS steel 357 seater die that I broke down into its seperate parts.

I was rather surprised to see the die and steel parts was a now bronze color. Interseting and kinda neat, almost like a antique finish.

I have soaked and wiped down the die with CLP and the finish seems to be "fixed" and not rubbed off. (i am sure I could easily get it off, but thats not my point. I could easily tumble again with no brass.) The brass looked great.

[GRUMPA]

Picture?

[Chicken Thief]

Different metals and acid = electro metal plating.
Copper/Zink atoms are drawn from the brass and added to the iron.

[mdi]

Cool idea; I can "plate" some of my gun parts with a "brass" plating...

[Cactus Farmer]

It didn't happen without pictures........

[cheese1566]

Ask and ye' shall receive...
62643

[seanhagerty]

That is pretty damned cool. I wonder how this would affect the hardness of the metal in the die.

[Springfield]

It's probably just discoloration from the Lemishine. Wonder if it helps keep down rust, like bluing.

[cheese1566]

Unsure on the rusting...I must have put it together a little damp at first before the soaking of CLP. When it was seperated from the mix, it was rinsed in hot tap water, then wiped down with a paper towel. I screwed the seater in and a day later, the seater had a little rust on the threads...enough to bind a little.:oops:

The exterior though showed nothing. I can see that the pins didn't get fully into the threads, so may venture a guess the rust may have been from there. The exterior and die internals of the crimp band look good.

Then I soaked it with CLP.

[1hole]

Electrolisis; it happens when two different metals are in a conducting solution.

It had NO effect on the metal "in the die", it's just a thin layer or brass over the steel. It will wear off with a bit of use and will slightly resist rust until it's worn through.

[lmfd20]

Same thing happened to a piece of stainless angle in my concrete mixer tumbler.

[plumbob]

That looks great! I have got to try it.

[Canadian reloader]

I dropped a shell holder in a batch , came out same color as your die did.

[DLCTEX]

Nickled brass can get a copper plate on them when using Lemishine that has cleaned brass before, or when doing mixed batches. At first I thought the nickle had been removed. It is not a good idea to mix metals, such as steel/brass when using Lemishine, due to the oxides that are removed and left in solution. Iron oxide can be deposited on the brass.