Lemi Shine - How Much, How Long

[308Jeff]

I've been reading a lot of threads on wet tumbling, hoping to fine tune for the best/easiest results. The one common denominator for almost everyone seems to be Lemi-Shine (or citric acid), but the the quantity used to seems to vary a lot.

Curious to hear what you think is the correct amount, and if you think/know there are ill effects or just plain wastage from using too much.

Same for how long you tumble. I'm sure that experience has told you how long is enough to get the maximum shine, and how long is just a waste of electricity/wear on the machine.

[RichBaxter]

I use a 1/4 tsp Lemi-Shine in each container on the Harbor Freight tumbler. Usually get great results with 120 minutes or so. Have used twice that on old nasty rifle brass however. Hope this helps.

Rich

[NyFirefighter357]

I use 1/4tsp and only a few drops 2-3 of Dawn in my F.A.R.T, I just turn the dial to 3 hrs and walk away. If the brass is really dirty I run it for an hr and change the water. If the stopped unit sits a long time I turn it back on for a little while before removing the brass. I fill my water to the top , just below the end cap.

[Adam20]

1/4 tsp for 90 minutes and a few drops of dawn, I tried more Lemi shine and it made no difference

[XDROB]

I have been experimenting and learning with SS tumbling lately. With the help from guys on these forums. My recipe is 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoon ArmourAll wash and wax, 1/4 of Lemishine. So far good results. Tumbled in a Frankland Arsenal tumbler for 1 hr.

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[Artful]

Um, unless you put an amount of H20 you are dumping it into you will get no accurate solution to your poll.
one man dumping 1/4 tsp into a quart container another man dumps 1/2 tsp into a gallon...
Same with the time to clean enough - do you have a large drum turning fast or a small drum turning slow?
You need specific's


have you looked at this?

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?83572-Citric-acid-brass-cleaner

[XDROB]

Ok, so I forgot to mention the water, sorta thought it was assumed you were using water in SS tumblers. LOL

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[Gillie Dog]

I found when I moved that the quality of water had some small affect and it seems time dependent on what quantity of citric is to much.

I settled on 1/4 t to 1/2 t, one glob of wash and wax (one to two T) in about one gallon hot tap water for 30 minutes in a Thumblers works very well with my water quality. Shorter run also does less case mouth damage to the brass which I like.

YMMV

GD

[Bzcraig]

Using harbor freight machine, filling container approximately 3/4 full with brass, top off with water, I then use the smallest Dipper I've gotten with my Lee dies (about 1/4 tsp) for lemi shine.

[warpspeed]

I use a 1/4 tsp Lemi-Shine in each container on the Harbor Freight tumbler. Usually get great results with 120 minutes or so. Have used twice that on old nasty rifle brass however. Hope this helps.

Rich

me too

[308Jeff]

Um, unless you put an amount of H20 you are dumping it into you will get no accurate solution to your poll.
one man dumping 1/4 tsp into a quart container another man dumps 1/2 tsp into a gallon...
Same with the time to clean enough - do you have a large drum turning fast or a small drum turning slow?
You need specific's


have you looked at this?

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?83572-Citric-acid-brass-cleaner

I took that into consideration, and probably should have included it in the poll/question.

I know there are many options when it comes to tumblers, but I had the FART in mind as it's probably the most prolific among this group.

[GrayTech]

I use citric acid (same thing), but I don't tumble with it. I soak brass for 15 to 30 min in boiling hot water, ¼ tsp per 2 liters, plus a drop or two of dawn. Stir periodically.
Often don't even need to tumble, brass comes out clean and shiny. Rinse well!!!!! last rinse I add wax to the water.
Citric acid is very active in hot water so keep an eye on them every 5 min to check for red colour indicating zink being leached from the brass.

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[jeepyj]

12 lb lortone =1.5 of lemi, squirt of blue coral, 4 oz simple green degreaser, 5/8+/- full brass then finish filling with water. Perfect every time.

[pjames32]

1/4 tsp, capful Armor all carwash to a gallon of water. I'm using it in a Harbor freight ultrasonic for about 30 minutes. If especially dirty I prewash in a bucket with Dawn first.

[308Jeff]

At the suggestion of another poster (Bayou52), I tried 1/4tsp of Lemi and 1 ounce of Turtle Zip Wash and Wax last night. Ran about 800 pieces of 40 S&W in the F.A.R.T. for 3 hours.

Man... Not only is it shiny, clean, and spotless, it has a totally different "feel" to it. Very smooth and sleek. The wax angle is legit.

I'm sold.

[Bmi48219]

I use 1/8 tsp Lemi, 4 drops Blue Coral W&W, in each HF drum, 2/3rd to 3/4 full of brass, 1/2 cup m/l SS pins. Most cartridges tumble for 2 or 2 1/2 hours. Except .45 auto. For Winchester 45 brass, 3 1/2 hours. Any less & the primer pockets don't get clean in Winchester 45 brass.

[David2011]

I use citric acid (same thing), but I don't tumble with it. I soak brass for 15 to 30 min in boiling hot water, ¼ tsp per 2 liters, plus a drop or two of dawn. Stir periodically.
Often don't even need to tumble, brass comes out clean and shiny. Rinse well!!!!! last rinse I add wax to the water.
Citric acid is very active in hot water so keep an eye on them every 5 min to check for red colour indicating zink being leached from the brass.

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GrayTech,

I think there is some misunderstanding in your post. Lemi-Shine may have citric acid in it but it is not 100% citric acid. In fact, the actual ingredients are listed as trade secrets on the MSDS. The box says, "Made with real fruit acids, natural citrus oils and sodium bicarbonate." Lemi-Shine is an additive to the citric acid. Your concentration of citric acid is pretty low and that is probably why it's taking so long. If you were adding Lemi-Shine to a citric acid solution then it would be enough Lemi-Shine. When I treat brass with citric acid I heat the water to about 160 degrees F. I add about 2 tablespoons of citric acid and a dash of Lemi-Shine to a gallon of water and at 160 degrees and the action is pretty much instant. I see little improvement after 5 seconds but generally leave the brass in for about 2 minutes while stirring it in the solution.

I have never seen citric acid remove zinc from the brass. The red/pink color is revealed because corrosion has already removed the zinc. If it is smooth I tumble the brass after it's dry. If there is pitting in the pink areas I consider the brass to be scrap. Once polished in a vibratory polisher the pink color disappears.

David

[308Jeff]

Well that's interesting. We all know that baking soda is a mild abrasive, so I'm sure that probably adds some effectiveness to wet tumbling process.

[Bayou52]

At the suggestion of another poster (Bayou52), I tried 1/4tsp of Lemi and 1 ounce of Turtle Zip Wash and Wax last night. Ran about 800 pieces of 40 S&W in the F.A.R.T. for 3 hours.

Man... Not only is it shiny, clean, and spotless, it has a totally different "feel" to it. Very smooth and sleek. The wax angle is legit.

I'm sold.
Congrats on your great results, Jeff. Well done!

Just for everyone's benefit, you can cut your wet tumbling time by at least half by pre-soaking the brass overnight in hot water and laundry detergent (I use Tide). If your time permits, of course. No need to add Lemi-Shine or citric acid to the pre-soak.

A jeweler couldn't put a brighter shine on the brass!

Pic:

http://i1244.photobucket.com/albums/gg578/Bayou413/IMG_20150611_111556_zpsvmsnexwm.jpg (http://s1244.photobucket.com/user/Bayou413/media/IMG_20150611_111556_zpsvmsnexwm.jpg.html)

Bayou52

[DocSavage]

Squirt of Dawn and 1/4 tsp lemoni shine to a gal of water.

[375supermag]

Hi...

Just to add my two cents worth...

I have recently started using about a tablespoon of Lemi-shine and a couple of squirts of Dawn to about a gallon of boiling water to wash dirty brass. Just enough water to cover the dirty brass in a plastic container. I stir it enough to get the dishwashing liquid and Lemi-shine well mixed and then stir it about every five minutes or so. It works very well to clean brass and remove tarnish from brass that has gotten wet. I discovered this method of cleaning brass after a large water leak in my reloading room left several thousand brass cases submerged in water. This method leaves a pinkish hue on the brass where it was tarnished.

After cleaning and drying the brass, I run it through a tumbler with corn cob media for roughly two hours. This completely removes the pinkish hue on the tarnished brass and shines it to like new condition.

I like shiny brass.

FWIW, I do not usually de-cap my brass before washing and tumbling it. I like to de-cap and re-size and then clean the primer pockets on my RCBS Case Mate prep center. I just enjoy doing it that way which is one of the reasons I do not care for using a progressive press.

[Mytmousemalibu]

I use about 1 tsp to 1.5 tsp of Lemi and about a Tbsp of car wash & wax soap with about 2gal +- hot water to do 2-3K of 9mm with about 5lb of pins. I get perfectly acceptably clean brass in 45min and like new shine with 60-90min. I do have a large capacity machine, i like to do large batches and be done with it for a while.

[David2011]

FYI, I've found that when I treat decapped cases in citric acid it removed most of the primer pocket crud and what's left is much softer than before treating.

[JBinMN]

FYI, I've found that when I treat decapped cases in citric acid it removed most of the primer pocket crud and what's left is much softer than before treating.

Ditto. ;)

[lightman]

In a 15# drum, like a Thumbler Model-B, I use about a 9mm case of Lemi-Shine and a cap full of Armor-All Wash and Wax. You need to adjust your Lemi-Shine to match your water hardness. Tumble time varies depending on how dirty the cases are. Cases that I loaded and shot will clean up nicely in an hour but range pick-up may take up to 4 hours.

When I first started wet tumbling there was a huge thread on the old Snipershide about this. Lots of info and ideas about wet tumbling. One day, I dug a bunch of cases out of the burn barrel at the range and tumbled them, just to see what would happen. These were terrible looking, as you can imagine. It took 6 hours, but they came out looking like new. Being in a fire, I crushed them afterwards, just to keep them from ever being used again.

[Walter Laich]

my time is based on using Southern Shine Tumblers' media www.facebook.com/southernshinetumblers

they are more like little chips than pins

I think they do a much better job in a shorter amount of time

[marlin39a]

I used to use 1 Tbs of Lemishine in my Ultrasonic cleaner, with a touch of Dawn. I have since gone to Citric Acid and a touch of Dawn.

[Reverend Al]

It depends on your local water quality, but I use a teaspoon of Lemi Shine with a good squirt of Dawn blue dish soap and they come out bright and shiny ...

[308Jeff]

My rifle brass ends up getting cleaned 3 times. Once in the wet tumbler after I've decapped, the second time (though brief) in the vibratory to clean the lube off, and then a final run in the wet tumbler after I've trimmed and done all the primer pocket work.

For the final clean, I'm getting the best result by using only a dab of detergent, about 1-1/2 teaspoons of Lemi, and a 45-60 minute tumble.

Prettiest, cleanest, shiniest brass I've ever had.

[trapper9260]

If the brass is to bad I use Citric Acid and hot boil water. and just drop the brass in it for about 1 to 2 min. and take it out and drop in cold water and then they are clean and then after they are dry i use corn cobs in my tumbler with the brass and then are nice a shine to them.I like the idea of do the Citric Acid after the depriming. That would make life easyer on me.

[Iowa Fox]

I use citric acid (same thing), but I don't tumble with it. I soak brass for 15 to 30 min in boiling hot water, ¼ tsp per 2 liters, plus a drop or two of dawn. Stir periodically.
Often don't even need to tumble, brass comes out clean and shiny. Rinse well!!!!! last rinse I add wax to the water.
Citric acid is very active in hot water so keep an eye on them every 5 min to check for red colour indicating zink being leached from the brass.

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Same process I'm using and they come out plenty clean & shiny for me. I do de-prime everything first, then in the boiling water & Lemi-Shine all in plastic coffee container with the lid snapped on. What kind of wax are you using?

[GrayTech]

Same process I'm using and they come out plenty clean & shiny for me. I do de-prime everything first, then in the boiling water & Lemi-Shine all in plastic coffee container with the lid snapped on. What kind of wax are you using?It's an auto wash and wax product that leaves a very thin film of wax. Isn't really needed as the citric acid treatment retards tarnishing.

[oldhenry]

I de-prime to make sure all brass will drain off the liquid.
I fill my Lortone #12 no more than 1/3 full with the brass to assure that I get a good action.
I add a 6 to 1 mixture of water (6) to lemon juice (1) (the cheap kind from Dollar General) enough to cover the brass.
Add a squirt of dish washing detergent ....Dawn is best, but others work too.
Tumble no more than 2 hrs.
Rinse well: sometimes after rinsing, I'll tumble with just water for 5 minutes to make sure they are rinsed well & if any soap bubbles are present, I'll re-rinse & tumble in water for 5 more minutes.
I lay out a bath towel (one my wife gave me for this purpose), pour brass in a line down the center, fold each side over & dry brass by letting it slide back & forth. In the summer I spread out the towel on my front porch in the sun & it'll dry fairly quick. In winter or @ night: I put the wet brass in a cut down plastic container & put it under the goose neck lamp on my loading bench & it'll dry.
After it's dry, I tumble it in corn cob media for about 30 minutes. It'll look just like new. Old range brass that has turned black will come out almost as good as new (but will have a slight pinkish hue).

[jarhead0321usmc]

I have always just guesstimated with my FART but if I had to say it 1/4 of lemishine maybe half teaspoon of dawn add the pins and water then set the timer for 2 hours. Than into the dehydro to dry.

[Uncle Dave]

As with many others I put about a 1/2 tsp in my F.A.R.T with cold water and 1 TBSP of RainX Car Wash with Carnuba wax pellets. I usually run 3 hrs because I'm cleaning it well before I need it so no hurry.
FYI for you F.A.R.T users I have a easier time rinsing out by setting the drum on end on top of a large 8"ID piece of PVC that's 3' long. I drilled holes near the bottom of the pipe to Let water through and set the entire combo in a bucket to catch the pins by shaking around the drum on the pipe while rinsing through the grated end caps. After 5 back surgeries and I'm not happy with any kinda bending over and this is much easier on me.
Uncle Dave

[XDROB]

I also have a F.A.R.T. Took me a few post to put that together. HAHA! I have a 5 gallon bucket that I pour my cleaning water into. On the sides I duct taped a tool hanging magnet. So when I pour the dirty water out the magnet captures the pins. I rinse everything a couple of times and then put the bucket in the sun or near a hot air source and dry my pins. Then I pull the magnet and let the dry pins fall to the bottom of the bucket. Then pour them into my container. I lay the brass on a wife approved towel to dry. [emoji41]

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[g17]

Simple enough, using a Frankford Arsenal tumbler, 1/4 tsp Lemishine and 1oz of car wash and wax for 90 minutes for new looking brass.

[iomskp]

I use 1 teaspoon of Citric acid per liter of hot water at my house that is 65 C at the tap, about 1/4 teaspoon of dawn or some such dish washing liquid per liter of hot water and they come out like new.

[308Jeff]

Didn't add any citric acid to the nickel plated brass I tumbled today. Figured no need, right?

Just the usual amount of car wash and the pins. Everything came out nice.

[Mxrick55555]

I use the Frankford arsenal wet tumbler fill it about 3/4 with brass, about an ounce of car wash soap, a 45 case or 2 worth of lemishine and water to just below the neck of the threaded end and this seems to work the best. I have found that if you fill it all the way up with water the brass doesn’t seem to come out as clean.

[Livin_cincy]

if you are going to use Lemi-shine do not follow the Dishwasher directions unless you live alone...
You might find a world of hurt and pain should you load a basket of brass into the dishwasher...

[Gunners Mate]

All to 1 Gal of tap Water. Iam in Texas and the waters harder than a wood peckers lips
1.5 Tbl Spoons Dawn
1.5 Tbl Spoons Yellow Meguiars Wash and Wax
1/4 Tbl Spoon of Lemi Shine
1 Table spoon of Cream of Tartar
up to 120 minutes in tumbler
rinse soap off in sink
Shake Dry in towel vigorously
Bottle neck cases are dried on plastic pegboard drilled out to neck size
Pistol Cases are dried standing up on paper plate
Results are brass that shines like a diamond in a goatsazz and spotless primer pockets

[kevin c]

F.A.R.T., three quarters full of pistol brass. Cold outside tap water almost up to the neck of the container. A tablespoon of Armor All Wash and Wax, a teaspoon and a half of citric acid, NO pins. 90 minutes, several water rinses, several turns in the separator to get the majority of the water out of the cases, a quick towel dry and out in the sun to completely air dry. Bright and sparkly, outside, and clean enough inside.

I do this at my club (hence the lack of hot water on the range, otherwise I might be able to use less citric acid and car wash mix)). The ninety minute run is long enough to let me get in some practice while cleaning the brass, short enough that I can get the drying done before I leave, and, if I'm industrious enough to start early, I even have time to use my club's automated brass sizing machine.

[kmw1954]

Don't have a wet tumble but I hand shake in a plastic jar with hot water, soap, Lemishine for about .5hr to 1hr while I cruise the forums or watch TV. Rinse with hot water, towel dry then place in old toaster oven for 30min at 200*, leave them in until cool to touch then run them for another 30/45min in dry tumbler with cobb and Cabela's additive. Clean, dry and presentable.

[Mr_Sheesh]

kevin c - You could drag a Coleman stove there to heat the water, just an idea. Heat makes the Citric work better and faster; Or a small hot water pot would do also.

[Gunners Mate]

kevin c - You could drag a Coleman stove there to heat the water, just an idea. Heat makes the Citric work better and faster; Or a small hot water pot would do also.

Thermos with hot water

[lostpilotz]

I'll have to try using a wash/wax car wash soap in the harbor freight tumbler. I've been dry tumbling mine after wet tumbling in order to get the water spots off fron when they dry.

[greenjoytj]

RCBS tumbler, 50 pistol size cases, 5 pounds of SS pins, 1 litre of water, 25 ml Cascade dish washing machine detergent powder, 5 ml TSP, 5 ml Lemi-shine. Tumble 90 min and check them sometimes I change the water at 90 min. If I add auto wax it’s Simonize wash and wax added by soaking during the rinse. Adding too much citric acid and soaking the cases too long in the acid will make them turn a pinkish colour. I remove the primers and scrape clean the primer pockets prior to tumbling.

[sniper]

I haven't used my Lemi Shine yet, but today, I did a load of rifle brass with Citric acid...~2 1/2 tsp, several drops of Dawn liquid detergent in an 8" Lock N Lock bowl. I filled the bowl with hot tap water to almost cover the brass, then followed with some nearly boiling water water...to cover the brass fully. I agitated it for maybe 30 sec.-1 minute, then every couple of minutes...for a total of about 10 minutes soak time. As you can tell, this is not a precision operation, but it got the job done. I then dried the brass in the oven at its lowest temperature...170 degrees for a couple of hours. Done! I like this method! It even took care of the KROIL I soaked the brass in to deactivate the primers before I decapped them.:D Lemi Shine would probably work as well.

[XDROB]

Soaked the primers in what? I had some that were in water for a week. They all fired!! First one scared the you know what outa me. [emoji850]

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[squidtamer]

1/4 Tbl Spoon of Lemi Shine
1 Table spoon of Cream of Tartar

So two different kinds of acid? Interesting. Never thought to try tartaric acid before I went to Lemishine. I know a lotta folks use citric and I had trouble finding it until I realized that was Lemi (mostly) is.
How does that work out for ya? Were you using it before Lemi Shine or add it recently or ???

I use about one half casing from a 380 or 9mm of Lemi to the gallon or so when I think I _need_ it. Most newish brass doesn't even really need it unless I see REALLY bad primer pocket scum or have older brass that's been sitting around a while.

[Shawlerbrook]

Hot water, 1 tsp. Lemishine, squirt of Dawn and 30 minutes in the large HF ultrasonic cleaner.

[Twicepop]

I have REALLY hard water (even through the softener) so mine gets a BIG squirt of Dawn and a Generous shake of Lemi-Shine (I don't measure anything). I have 50 Starline .44 Special brass that have been run through the wet/pin method twice and still don't have anything resembling a shine. They had a "funny" stain on them after they were shot the first time, I don't remember what powder/primer combo I used with this bunch, they got mixed with another batch of load trial brass, it was one of three possibilities.

[500Linebaughbuck]

i use 3.7cc of lemishine (its a lee powder dipper), a squirt or two blue dawn/palmolive, 1lb of ss pins and warm water on my harbor freight rock tumbler with a 4" piece of plastic pipe.

[Steve E]

1/4 tsp Lemi Shine
3 drops of Dawn
Tumbler is a 4" x 12" piece of PVC with a cap on one and and a rubber clean out plug on the other.
Fill with cases anywhere from 1/2 to 3/4 of container.
Fill with water to within one inch from top of container.
Tumbler turns at approx. 45 rpm
Tumbler set for 2 hours, everything has always came out clean in that time.
Works for me.

[kevin c]

I just came back to this thread. Y'know, I do keep my range scrap melting rig at the club, a double jet burner Bayou Classic with a propane tank pot that D Crockett says holds three gallons. And the club just bought a small cement mixer. Wow, I could go industrial, do half a five gallon bucket of brass at a time, and in half the time using steaming hot wash solution. Both the concept and the brass will be dazzling! :cool: :cool: :cool:

[lightman]

I just had my first disappointment with wet tumbling. I tumbled some brass that was dark and stained from laying in some leaves. I though a little more LemiShine might be helpful so I used 1-1/2 of a 9mm case rather than the normal single 9mm case. The brass came out clean but no where near as shiney as normal. The addition of more LemiShine was the only different thing that I did to this batch. So I guess that you really need to balance the LemiShing with your water type.

My formula for a Thumlers 15# drum is a cap full of Armorall wash and wax, a 9mm case full of LemiShine and enough water to cover the cases a few inches. 2 hours gets all but the worst cases looking better than new.

[jmort]

Are you using a media like SS pins or whatever????
I use the SS chips, and they are aggressive in their cleaning.
Plain water would work, but I use citric acid, Dawn, and some automotive wash and wax, all in small amounts.
The chips cut the time down to under one hour. I am seeing how short I can go, but I am thinking 20 to 30 minutes. Right now at 45 minutes, way clean. Also, I use distilled water. The water here is not so good. And I have the bottles to fill and shoot.

[Grmps]

2 gal bucket DIY tumbler
2 tsp citric acid
4 squirts dawn
7 # stainless pins
1/2 full of brass
95% full of hot water
I normally go 2-3 hours but -- forgot and went 5

https://i.imgur.com/ekORmYl.png

[HangFireW8]

Purty.

At 3 hours I see noticeable roughening of the mouth, so I am backing it off to 2 hours. This is with a Thumbler's Model B. YMMV.

I just got an $11 timer to run my tumbler. No more "oops forgot" for me. Hmm maybe I need one on my lube heater too...

[243winxb]

None. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?83572-Citric-acid-brass-cleaner

[gnostic]

Where did I go wrong, my brass turned pink?

[doulos]

Ive never tried Lemi-shine. Didnt have any on hand. So I just tossed 2 caps of bottled lemon juice into the Thumblers along with a squirt of Dawn. Tumbled for 2 hrs. The brass came out awesome. Looks brand new inside and out. We are all overthinking this.

[Conditor22]

gnostic, we need more details and a picture would be nice to help you.

I'm thinking you left the brass soaking in lemishine/citric acid to long after it got done tumbling

[lightman]

Where did I go wrong, my brass turned pink?

Pink brass sounds like too much Citric Acid. It takes very little. It depends on your water hardness but a 380 or 9mm case is plenty in a 15# drum. I started a thread a few weeks ago about my brass occasionally coming out dull. I about decided that I left in in the solution too long when it quit tumbling. I now note the start time and empty it pretty quickly when it stops.

[MUSTANG]

Where did I go wrong, my brass turned pink?

As stated above; too long in the cleaner. Acid will attack the sink in the brass, and the pink is micro etching of the surface brass after the zink in the surface layer was reduced. Long term tumbling in media will reduce the pink color; but one would have to polish the case with 000, or 0000 steel wool to get rid of the pink color (removing the micro top layer of the brass).



I also find this happening with range brass I pick up that has become discolored from prolonged exposure such as under the snow for a winter. When cleaned in ultra sound with Lemi-Shine for too long it will turn pink sometimes.

[gnostic]

gnostic, we need more details and a picture would be nice to help you.

I'm thinking you left the brass soaking in lemishine/citric acid to long after it got done tumbling

I wish I knew how to post photos... I soaked the dirty cases in Lemi Shine and Dawn for about an hour, they looked cleaner, but not like the ones in the photo. I re soaked them in tap water and left them in the sun to dry. They dried with a pink cast.

[gnostic]

Thanks for responding... I think Lightman and Mustang have it right, I soaked them in too strong a solution and for too long. I normally clean my brass by tumbling in corn cob that I buy online. Cases cleaned in the corn cob mix, don't seem to last as long as they did when I wiped them off and reloaded them. The cases that turned pink, I ran through the Dillon and they shot fine...

[ioon44]

"I also find this happening with range brass I pick up that has become discolored from prolonged exposure such as under the snow for a winter."

Brass like described will turn pink with citric acid cleaning and brass that is not discolored from prolonged exposure comes out bright and clean after being wet tumbled at the same time, but doesn't matter when loading and shooting.

[T_McD]

I have not used pins as brass on brass seemed to get the job done. I started just using hot water and dawn and that worked great. added some lemishine and could see no difference, especially long term. all my brass that I wet tumbled has tarnished some with time. dawn and water for the win

[Bayou52]

I've been wet tumbling for years with jewelry like results. However, I shoot and reload so often that perfect results just aren't called for.

In the past year or so from my last post to this thread, for my everyday/plinking rounds, I've saved a lot of time and effort by not been wet tumbling them. Instead, I just soak them in accord with the following recipe:

1. After decapping, put the brass on a plastic bucket and add 1 ounce of Persil brand detergent. This stuff is much more intense than Dawn, Tide or any other detergent I've ever used. It is definitely different - even the water feels different once it's mixed in - feels slippery, slick and thicker.

2. Add a spackling/shake of Lemi-Shine and cover everything with hot tap water,

3. Agitate the brass a couple of times while it is soaking. Soak for an hour or so then rinse in cold water.

The brass comes out quite shiney - way good enough for reloading everyday stuff. After the brass is put through a sizing die, it shines even more.

Just FYI -

Bayou52

[Dieselhorses]

All "brass" is not created equal. As I am still working to perfect my homemade, 1HP, variable speed tumbler and an acceptable, ribbed tub for it, I'm still using the dual HF one. At any rate, I size and decap everything before cleaning. Sometimes this involves lube like lanolin/isopropyl alcohol and this leaves a residue. To cut down on the time and possibly having to changing water in tubs, I'll spray the brass down with brake cleaner-just enough to get the majority of lube off. My pins are SS but I cut each and every one (1/4") from 3/32" rods to make around 5 lbs. Out of all the recipes thus far, it stands true about covering brass with water, a few squirts of Dawn and a pinch of LS. One recipe I've found included salt and white vinegar but I didn't see a difference with that. Remember to always check for stuck SS pins after washing/drying! Don't know what kind of effect one would have going down the bore.

[jmort]

A dash of Lemi Shine, a dash of Meguiar's G17748 Ultimate Wash & Wax
30 minutes of rotation with the chips. An hour with pins.

[Tripplebeards]

I use 1/4 tsp of lemi shine and 1 TSP of dish washing liquid and fill tap water to the top in my HF double rock tumbler containers. I tumble for at least 4 hours..sometimes more. My brass comes out like picture perfect shiny gold. I picked up a 25 oz box of Lemon scented Utra Shine from the dollar store to try since I couldnt find lemi shine today. I will see how my brass turns out. I will try a whole Tsp of it since I read it was weaker then Lemi shine. If it looks as nice and shiny it sure beats $4 to $7 for a 12 oz bottle of lemi shine. The white crystals look identical.

https://i.imgur.com/lJI9iT3.jpg

[Tripplebeards]

Here is the results of the dollar store knock off. It didn’t completely clean some of the primer pockets after almost 10 hours of tumbling. One of the brass pieces still has some lightly oxidized spots that weren’t even removed. I checked my brass after 3.5 hours and it looked exactly the same as it does now. I even dumped out all the dirty water at 3.5 hours after I inspected the brass. I then added all new water along with another Tablespoon of dishwashing liquid and teaspoon of the knock off lemi shine and tumbled up till now. The brass has a satin look to it and feels more textured than a nice smooth finish like with using the lemi shine. I’ll spend the extra couple bucks to get nice shiny brass because I’m OCD but if somebody’s looking to save money it definitely works you just won’t get shiny brass and the primer pockets aren’t perfectly cleaned like they always are with lemi shine. It was just a little bit of carbon buildup in chunks in spots in a few of the primer holes. All in all, it still cleans the brass and primer pockets good enough if someone can’t find lemi shine.

https://i.imgur.com/vp1muUG.jpg

[jorg0370]

I'm still tweaking my setup for cleaning brass, but I have sent through over a thousand rounds. I repurposed a free treadmill and some spare parts to tumble a two quart container from the Dollar Tree store.

Using less Lemi-Shine seems to be better than more, and not for too long either. Seems like the brass turns dull if there's too much Lemi-Shine, and pink if it's in there for too long.

The best results I have seen are when I dump in four pounds of stainless steel pins, a tablespoon of Dawn dish soap, a quarter teaspoon of Lime-Shine, 200 cases of dirty decapped brass, and then filled with tap water into the container. Quantities are approximations. I tumble that for at least an hour, maybe two, and then rinse a few times before separating from a pasta collander into a five gallon bucket, and drying. I'll store the mostly dry cases in ziplok bags with a bag of silica gel to remove the last bits of water.

[ubetcha]

I don't really measure. Just fill the ultrasonic with hot water ,throw in the brass, sprinkle some citric acid in ,and a few drops of dawn and run until it looks clean. Tumble in vibrator when the cases are dry until I remember I left the tumbler on or the timer turns it off. I like clean brass going through my dies. Also I find it's easier to spot cracked cases when clean.

[bmortell]

270344

Heres my oldest dirtiest 44 special cases i had, tumbled yesterday in a small tumbler that holds 50 with pins, 1/4 tsp citric acid, drop dawn. Only did about 30 min to be good enough to look good. After i fill and pour water off several times to dilute untill its clear. To seperate i have the tumbler full of water and pull cases out mouth down, pins fall out instantly when submerged and mouth down. I then put them on a towel and roll them back and forth in it. Then mix a squirt of nu finish in my corn cob tumbler, dump the cases in and the tiny bit of water left inside gets absorbed and the outside gets polished and waxed. This step was also short only about 20 min since i was busy, But it can get more reflective with longer times these are more a shiny matte finish

[1hole]

I've been reading a lot of threads on wet tumbling, hoping to fine tune for the best/easiest results. The one common denominator for almost everyone seems to be Lemi-Shine (or citric acid), but the the quantity used to seems to vary a lot.

Curious to hear what you think is the correct amount, and if you think/know there are ill effects or just plain wastage from using too much.

Same for how long you tumble. I'm sure that experience has told you how long is enough to get the maximum shine, and how long is just a waste of electricity/wear on the machine.

This isn't a science and we can't answer your questions the way you wish. We don't know how tarnished your cases are nor do we know what dissolved chemicals may be found in your water. Just use whatever solution strength you like and leave it soaking (or tumbling) until you get the results you want, you'll quickly get your own answers.

[Tripplebeards]

I just found the updated lemi shine boost. I experimented with the above cases that I used the $1 store knock off lemi shine on. I cleaned the residue left on the cases from the $1 store tumble with an apple cider vinegar soak....it was the only vinegar I had and after a half hour it did nothing. I threw the cases in with a 1/4 tsp of lemishine this time (forgot it was 1/4 tsp instead of the 1tsp with the knock off I tried) and a TBS of $1 store dish washing liquid. I had some errands to run so I let it tumble from 10:30 am to 5:30pm. The case in front was with 10 hours of the $1 store knock off lemi shine. You can see it already started oxidizing even more after a couple days. That doesn’t happen with the original lemi shine for me ever. You can see oxidation on it as well as tarnish. The original lemi shine beats it hands down. The super shiny Lemi shine cases are in the background. After four hours they normally are just as shiny and primer pockets squeaky clean.

https://i.imgur.com/rbncHoQ.jpg


Here the pic of the $1 store knock off lemi shine from post #75 using 1 tsp of the off brand abs a TSP of dish washing liquid for comparison...

https://i.imgur.com/vp1muUG.jpg


The knock off lemi shine didn’t clean the primer pockets or insides of the cases completely along with leaving some oxidation on the cases. It still works good enough but I like shiny cases and primer pockets and at a 1/4 Tsp a tumble it lasts a long time. It took me 6 years to burn up a 12oz bottle of lemi shine even after polishing garbage barrels full of range brass the last couple of summer with it. I’m sure the new $8, 24 oz bottle will last me a good decade or more.

[Kuffar]

DO NOT RUN YOUR BRASS, AND FORGET IT OVERNIGHT!!! You will have camouflaged brass. Mine turned a nasty green. I ran my tumbler, way late into the evening, watched some TV, and went to bed. In the morning, I realized I had forgotten about my brass. The water looked really dirty, and when I rinsed my brass, it looked pretty ugly. Really clean, but ug-lee. I cannabalized my vibratory tumbler, to use as a brass sorter, so it was loaded ug-lee. Good thing my AR drops spent cases in a pile. They are tough to see in grass.

[CRracer712]

F.A.R.T. ... Figuring out the acronyms around here can be challenging, but I narrowed this down to the franklin tumbler. I bought the franklin tumbler, bigger of the two. Ran a load of 9mm using the included sample of polish. Ran ~400 223 through today using a little dawn and a ~1/4 tsp of lemme shine. Let it run for two hours with the included 5lb SS media. Here it is after drying it in the oven. Probably won't be going back to my corn cobb media..
https://i.postimg.cc/prx1ftJS/IMG-20201112-185107827.jpg

[Conditor22]

Nice, I gave up on vibratory cleaning years ago.

wet with pins gets brass cleaner (including primer pockets) and there is no dust :)

I use my 2 Gallon DIY wet tumbler, 7# pins, 1/2 tsp citric acid, and 1 squirt dawn dish soap. Rinse well immediately after done tumbling, I Dunk them in a tub of water and car wash/wax, rinse lightly, towel dry the brass, and dry the brass in an old food dehydrator.

https://i.imgur.com/STHN4tQ.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/UVB6vZ6.jpg

[MOA]

F.A.R.T and S/S pins (5lbs.), filled with warm water, 1/4 teaspoon of lemi shine and a good squirt of dawn. All load runtime depends on how dirty. I never let cases sit in solution when tumbling is done. BAD FOR BRASS.

https://i.postimg.cc/DZZgqR1t/20150214_080220.jpg (https://postimg.cc/zLsKNttj)

https://i.postimg.cc/FRzKNxQy/20150214_152342.jpg (https://postimg.cc/CBy04k55)

I find this new process of cleaning brass just awesome. I had been tumbling in corncob for 34 years and I'm never going back by choice. THIS brass had been sitting in boxes for 25 years before it was put in the tumbler with pins, Dawn, and lemi shine.

[gkainz]

I’ve tumbled 2000 9mm and 2000 5.56 milsurp brass (1000 pieces per batch) in the last couple of weeks with my new Franklin Arsenal (large one).

Hottest tap water I have, 2 squirts of Dawn, 1/4 teaspoon Lemishine and NO steel pins, run for 90 minutes as my first test.

It’s been so dang hot here (I know - all relative but high 90s is too hot for me. Low teens for humidity makes it tolerable) After rinsing, I just dump the brass out on a towel in the driveway. Drys up without spots really quickly.

Results are satisfactory for me to probably never need to try the pins, but we will see. So far I’m happy.

Before:
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210731/8ae50cb63ed05a56c2a29c5fc365f65b.jpg

After
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20210731/d68528037db7a6bb2d5212717df0fb6e.jpg

[tankgunner59]

I like to use 1/4 teaspoon and a good squirt of dawn dish soap and very hot tap water in a HF rock tumbler container and tumble them for 30 minutes. Then I dry tumble in a Lyman rotary tumbler in walnut shell media with a capful each of mineral spirits and nufinish car wax. They all come out clean and shiny like those pictured above.

[Super Sneaky Steve]

Over the last few weeks I tested everything. I used Lemi Shine, Simple Green, Wax and Wash and many others.

We have a clear winner folks! Toss out your Lemi Shine and pick up some Lemon Juice!

A few cap fulls with some dawn and it works like magic. Sometimes I get good results with Lemi Shine and other times not. Lemon Juice seems to be much less finicky with how much you use or how long you tumble.

My camera sucks and this is a bad picture but trust me. This is what you want. It's cheap and works the best.

http://i.imgur.com/3cOHR96.jpg (https://imgur.com/3cOHR96)

[Super Sneaky Steve]

Here's some extra interesting information. The media I used was 5/32 chrome steel balls. And they reacted differently.

The Lemi Shine made them a dull grey and with some rust spots.

The Simple Green made them look like new with a high luster.

The Lemon Juice kept them shiny but turned some of them a rose color.

So there's different chemistry going on here. The Simple Green is a little bit basic around pH 9. If you want to clean and restore your media try tumbling your steel with one cup per gallon of SG. It should also cut any lanolin that has built up. It did get my brass pretty clean too, but it wasn't as good as the Lemon Juice.

[2A-Jay]

I use a 3.4 CC lee Dipper of Lemishine per gallon of hot water in my rotory tumblerwith 1/2 pound of SS-Pins and tumble for1 hour.\.

[georgerkahn]

In communicating with friends made on this forum residing in other parts of the continent, it seems to me a "number one" factor in effectiveness of Lem'n Shine, Dawn, Wash 'n Wax, etc...-- is the WATER which it is added to! Waaay back, for kicks and giggles, I bought and tried a 99-cent gallon of distilled water from Wally-world. It made a significant difference in the results of my wet tumbling, and I have never changed! A friend residing about 20 miles distance has "sulfur water" in his well. Albeit it really smells bad, they drink the stuff :( -- and using it to tumble brass colours it all rose-ish.
Just a thought re another factor in determining "best" to tumble brass...
geo

[Super Sneaky Steve]

In communicating with friends made on this forum residing in other parts of the continent, it seems to me a "number one" factor in effectiveness of Lem'n Shine, Dawn, Wash 'n Wax, etc...-- is the WATER which it is added to! Waaay back, for kicks and giggles, I bought and tried a 99-cent gallon of distilled water from Wally-world. It made a significant difference in the results of my wet tumbling, and I have never changed! A friend residing about 20 miles distance has "sulfur water" in his well. Albeit it really smells bad, they drink the stuff :( -- and using it to tumble brass colours it all rose-ish.
Just a thought re another factor in determining "best" to tumble brass...
geo

This is a great point. A lot of us grumble about buying water. But it's $0.89 at Meijer right now. If you took a look in any of our basements or sheds you'd find thousands and thousands of dollars worth of dies, moulds, tools and equipment, yet we complain about something that costs less than a senior coffee at McDonalds.

[jason367]

a 45 acp case of lemishine will do it. Too much no good.