A weird question about Lee dies and lube

BondoBob

New member
So I started working with my new press and Lee dies today, and got a little sick. Nausea and headache. I get that way from solvents sometimes. I became chemically sensitive from painting cars in my youth. Who knew? That's why I clean my guns outside or by a window. Hoppes does it too. The Lee dies in particular seem heavily lubed with something nasty.

Anyway, would there be any harm in soaking those dies in Dawn and re-lubing them with something less toxic? Or, just running them dry?

I realize this is an odd question, but I'm actually serious. solvents mess me up sometimes.

Thanks,
 
You can probably wash with dawn and HOT water and hit them with a air dryer and be ok. just make sure you get them dried off good. if its a rifle set you will need to use case sizing lube of some kind. if its handgun and carbide you wont need lube, but if its non carbide you might. lots of guys use lanolin and other natural case lube concoctions.
 
They won’t rust immediately from water contact. Just dry after. Mine do rust in garage environment though even in CA desert so I keep a light CLP on them all the time. You probably want something on it for that.


Andrew - Lancaster, CA
NRA Life Member, CRPA member, Calguns.net contributor, CGF / SAF / FPC / CCRKBA / GOA / NAGR / NRA-ILA contributor, USCCA member - Support your defenders!
 
The Lee dies have some residual machining/cuttiing oil. Pretty inert and nearly odor free. If you are going to clean them with an aqueous solution, it's best to disassemble them so that you can properly dry them and relube them with something you can tolerate. Otherwise rust will form. YMMV
 
I always disassemble and clean any new dies with a de-greaser, regular dawn would do as long as you dry them quickly.
I typically use brake kleen but that doesn't sound so great for you.
When I flush them out it is common to see some small chips from the machining process on the paper towel I drain on to. I am guessing the cutting oil coolant from machining does not agree with you.
 
As far as "natural" goes, there's always Ballistol, which is a decent rust preventive but I like that it's not petroleum based, it's plant based and turns into a gel-like consistency when left in a thin layer on your work piece. It smells like dogs though, but is supposedly non-toxic.
 
Thanks for all the great replies. I do believe it's the machine cutting oil. I have encountered that before on a replacement engine part once. Had to wait for it to burn off several weeks. It's pretty toxic stuff for those that are sensitized to it. Sounds like Dawn is safe. I'm going to try that first. I already did it to my universal de-capper, worked pretty well.

I'm interested in the lanolin based lubes, any brand names come to mind? I struck out google searching it. I may try ballistol or go with wd-40 which isn't so harsh on my lungs.
 
If it’s the remaining machine cutting fluid it’s probably not a petreoleum based oil and actually something like this cutting fluid. Which means you probably won’t like Ballistol. I used to get soaked in water soluble cutting fluid when I interned in a machine shop... makes your skin stink. Never comes out of clothes.

https://www.mrochemicalsupply.com/mobile/product.aspx?ProductCode=lb5000-1gal

I use this mixed in denatured alcohol in a little aluminum spray bottle.

Home Health Liquid Lanolin, 4 Ounce https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0014AWF0S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_WGMrtpFMw9KDH


Andrew - Lancaster, CA
NRA Life Member, CRPA member, Calguns.net contributor, CGF / SAF / FPC / CCRKBA / GOA / NAGR / NRA-ILA contributor, USCCA member - Support your defenders!
 
BondoBob said:
I'm interested in the lanolin based lubes, any brand names come to mind? I struck out google searching it. I may try ballistol or go with wd-40 which isn't so harsh on my lungs.
WD-40 is not a lubricant or a preservative/rust preventer. It is a water displacer. It's mostly kerosene, mixed with paraffin. Left in place, it dries to a gummy, varnish-like resideue. Not what I want in my reloading dies.

Gunzilla is a non-toxic cleaner that I believe may also have some rust preventive characteristics, but it's not a lube.
 
I ordered the Lanolin, looks promising. Would regular all purpose grease work. Lime the kind in an auto shop? I dont have much problem with that particularly the synthetics. Id be using it on the ram too I suppose.
 
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Lanolin works as a case lube. Hornady Unique lubricant is an example, IIRC. Lanolin and alcohol work.

For degreasing, the Dawn may work out as most machining operations use water-miscible cutting lubes these days.

Gunzilla is a vegetable-based powder solvent and is a very good rust loosener. It ultimately dries to a film that has some lubrication and corrosion-resistant properties and is known for preventing jamming in AR's cleaned with it for that reason. However, it won't be nearly adequate for case sizing. You'll need your lanoline lube for that. It also isn't truly odor-free, and at some point hydrocarbons are hydrocarbons, whether they are distilled from petroleum (mineral spirits) or plants (turpentine, for example). Plant-based doesn't automatically mean safe, any more than organic does. Poison ivy is a plant and is organic.

After rinsing your Dawn off (I would have done this in an ultrasonic cleaner), I suggest setting the parts in boiling distilled water for a couple of minutes. This will do a couple of things. One is that it will remove minerals that would otherwise cause water spots on your dies. The other is it will heat the parts enough that when you withdraw them from the water and shake the loose drops off, the rest will dry quickly from their own retained heat. This has the effect on bare plain and carbon steel of leaving a micro-thin layer of blue oxide on the steel that offers some short-term corrosion resistance to the surface while you get your rust prevention choices made. If the odor doesn't bother you, waxing it with Johnson's paste wax or applying New Finish or some other water-base automotive wax may prove to be a reasonable substitution for you. The Bore Tech bore cleaning agents, like Bore Tech Eliminator, are all water-based and have very low odor and a very effective corrosion inhibitor such that you can leave them to dry out in a bore without rust occurring. Plus, they are super effective cleaners and might make a good choice for you.
 
BondoBob, let's please make sure first that you've got a carbon monoxide alarm on premises; headache and nausea are prime symptoms of CO poisoning. Just want to make sure it's not something else.

Be safe.
 
Yes, berettaprofessor we have detectors. Thanks for checking.. Unclenick, I'm getting some Bore Tech to try for this. Looks like it will be great for cleaning too.

New question. Any of these solutions suitable for lubing the ram on the Challenger Press too? I might as well keep that lubed with something safer as well.

Thanks again to all the responded.
 
For the press ram a basic automotive grease is hard to beat. Grease is for sliding parts. Lanolin could work for protecting surfaces but will be sticky and not make the work easier, oils all migrate too fast on a vertical surface.


Andrew - Lancaster, CA
NRA Life Member, CRPA member, Calguns.net contributor, CGF / SAF / FPC / CCRKBA / GOA / NAGR / NRA-ILA contributor, USCCA member - Support your defenders!
 
I had thought about canola oil for the dies. But for the the ram I thought it would burn up too quickly from the friction. This has been very informative for me. I'm going to use Bore Tech for gun cleaning instead of Hoppes going forward. Dawn and hot water to cleanse the dies, Hornady Unique Case Lube to protect the dies and bushings for resizing and low VOC white lithium automotive grease for the ram. I think I have a plan now. Thanks so much to all who replied.
 
If the dies are new they should be cleaned before use. I use Hornady One Shot Gun Cleaner and Lube. It Cieans great and leaves a protective coating to inhibit rust.
 
Dawn cleaned dies.

I cleaned the dies by soaking 2 hrs in Dawn with Very Hot water with agitation. Came out great, no more toxic smell. Check out what the Dawn got out of them. They didn't rust as I hit them with compressed air immediately to dry.

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It can be a problem !!!

I may try ballistol or go with wd-40 which isn't so harsh on my lungs.
If you are all that sensitive to solvents and lubes, you will not like either; but heck prove it for yourself. I seldom use WD-40 but do use Ballistol for B/P service. I spray Ballistol, in the field and indoors, sparingly with Q-Tips or swabs. .. ;)

"Outers" makes or made a non-odor lube and it works. I also use a product called "Strong-Arm" that has little or no, order. …. :)

Be Safe !!!
 
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