Mistreated Brass Appearance

M

Marco Califo

New member
This is two photos of the same brass in a container, taken seconds apart, at slightly different angles. If you look closely you will see a 223 empty with a stray 9mm stuck on it in both photos. One with the flash, and the other side taken without the flash.
http://s557.photobucket.com/user/ma...278c_zpsvlrglhkr.jpg.html?state=copy&sp=false

The brass just came out of a vibratory tumble with used Lyman Tuff Nut (rogued) and corn cob media, run for 4 hours. It is not as bright and shiny as I expected. Curiously, with the flash on, the brass looks great. The other side is the exact same brass, no flash, and looks rather dull, mottled, stained. My question here is how do I fix this brass so that it looks shiny without the flash (i.e., remove the mottled stains).

There is backstory to how this brass got this way. It was cleaned in a FA SS pin tumble per directions. It looked great when it came out. I used a strainer over a bucket and removed the pins. The brass was left on a patio behind my house, for several months including periods of rain. It tarnished, so I thought I would fix the tarnish by tumbling in some handy used Lyman Tuff Nut (rouged) and corn cob media. This media worked great last time and was stored indoors.
 
Last edited:
I just tried dipping one in Lemi-shine and RO water, and it does seem to address the issue. Which is good, because I was planning to dip or soak them in same because Unclenick said it would provide a stable, but not polished, finish.
 
Tumbling cases to remove crud and residue is all that's required for reloading. Making them shine like a chrome bumper is a worthless endeavor and gains nothing in the process.
 
"Appearance"

Mobuck:
remove crud and residue is all that's required for reloading
Click to expand...

That is your personal opinion. I used "Appearance" in the title intentionally, and specifically, because my question was NOT "is shiny brass a functional concern?". Your personal opinion about "is shiny brass necessary" does not answer my question.
 
Nevr Dull or Flitz and some elbow grease. I got spots like that once when I did not rinse my cases thoroughly after cleaning. I polished one up with nevr dull just to make sure it was just cosmetic, no pitting was observable with a magnifying glass
 
Last edited:
I agree with Mobuck, besides, case cleaning/polishing is prolly the most talked about but least important part of reloading! And yes, that's my opinion based on 50+ years as a machinist/mechanic working with metal fabrication and finishing, 30+ years of reloading and 12 years of looking in on reloading forums and reloading fads..:eek:

Run the tumbler longer with plain corn cob blast media (14-20) with a drop or two of auto polish and you'll get prettier brass...

Rouge doesn't always give a shiny, virgin looking finish, and the media size and composition determine the finish left on brass...
 
"...not as bright and shiny..." Brass doesn't need to be shiney. It needs to be clean. There's no need to use mixed media or rouge either.
"...It tarnished..." It oxidized. Happens to anything left out in the rain.
 
First I am on your side. I like SHINNY brass! And I don't care what anyone else things about my desire for the shiniest brass I can get. It makes me feel good. Somone looks at my load and its, now there is a guy who takes prides in his work. And it give me a warm fuzzy feeling.

To avoid it get a food dry/dehydrator from Walmart (or the like) low cost and that stops the weathering issue (probably needed a rinse to)

You can re-run it and or just polish longer.

I have an Ultra Vibe 10 and it is superior to the rest of them for effective.
 
" because my question was NOT "is shiny brass a functional concern?". Your personal opinion about "is shiny brass necessary" does not answer my question."

You asked an illogical question so a logical answer is unacceptable?
 
how much brass are you tumbling at a time? looks like you have several different calibers in the mix, some look like they are stacking. try running smaller batches of sorted cases.
 
just a geeky aside but tarnish helps preserve metal. Only the top few molecules tarnish and protect the underlying metal
 
Being an Ardent member of the Shiny Brass Club:

You could also try giving it 12 to 24 of polishing time and see if that helps.
 
I'm assuming that I know what you're talking about, because I've seen it before. But I didn't see the actual photos. PhotoBucket, with their usual greedy stupidity, made me close six in-page pop-ups and watch a 15-second, full screen, unskippable video, at which time yet another ad failed to load ... which made the photo(s) hang and not load.


My thought: Just run it through the FA SS tumbler again, but don't let the brass sit in the rain for several months.
 
I could be wrong but I think he got the bad boy no biscuit part of leaving it out in the weather, rain or not.
 
should have seen my first attempt at building a case dyer. I should have known better but I used galvanized '"rat wire". The brass looked like a checkerboard from corroding the zinc in the wire. I almost freaked until I remembered galvanization is just zinc and brass has the higher nobility.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top