You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
Mistreated Brass Appearance
- Thread starter Marco Califo
- Start date
JeepHammer
Moderator
Chemical cleaners attack brass. Period.
Some evaporate and don't have to be removed or neutralized, some do.
Residue from evaporation will usually activate when moisture is introduced back to it.
Chemical cleaners are chemically 'Reactive' (go figure!) with the base metal or alloys, sometimes attacking the corrosion first or more efficiently than the base metals.
Notice in the image above of the pistol cases how pitted the 'Clean' brass is?
This is the result of the acid used attacking the base brass alloy...
Reactive agents MUST be nutralize or removed, no matter how weak the concentration you use.
Guys using too much 'Lemi-Shine' find this out quickly! It changes the color of the brass, and brass not flushed through (or a base used to nutralize the acid) find out Lemi-Shine WILL attack/corrode brass.
'Rouge' is an abrasive, commonly meaning, it's harder than the material it's being used on.
Abrasives of any kind leave small scratches,
Scratch size depends on the size of abrasive.
'Rouge' is usually a very fine abrasive in a binder, like wax.
Scratches determine how 'Smooth' or 'Shiny' the material 'Looks' since scratches refract light away from the eye, all color being reflected light back to the eye.
Less light gets reflected back to the eye, brass looks 'Duller'.
Polish medias are commonly SOFTER than the material being worked.
They DO NOT scratch the base material, but can be harder than the corrosion on the surface of that material.
Walnut shell (in particular English walnut shell) is just under the hardness threshold required to remove brass, can't scratch brass, but harder than corrosion coming from brass (common oxidation, some chemical corrosion can be as hard, or harder than the brass itself).
You can leave brass rattle around in walnut shell endlessly (some of us have) and the base brass alloy will still be a 'Case' when you get back to it, it doesn't turn into powder in the bottom of the tumbler like it would with an actual abrasive.
I forgot cases rattling before, rattled days, once two weeks, and the brass was REALLY clean, but still fine to use (and my media was past dust, it was a fine powder after two weeks).
Coatings.
What people commonly refer to as 'Polish' is actually a Coating, like a wax.
Coatings fill in fine scratches & have a higher light reflective index than the actual brass.
The higher reflective index makes coating appear 'More Shiny' than the base brass actually is.
(Clear coats on automotive paints is an example)
Some evaporate and don't have to be removed or neutralized, some do.
Residue from evaporation will usually activate when moisture is introduced back to it.
Chemical cleaners are chemically 'Reactive' (go figure!) with the base metal or alloys, sometimes attacking the corrosion first or more efficiently than the base metals.
Notice in the image above of the pistol cases how pitted the 'Clean' brass is?
This is the result of the acid used attacking the base brass alloy...
Reactive agents MUST be nutralize or removed, no matter how weak the concentration you use.
Guys using too much 'Lemi-Shine' find this out quickly! It changes the color of the brass, and brass not flushed through (or a base used to nutralize the acid) find out Lemi-Shine WILL attack/corrode brass.
'Rouge' is an abrasive, commonly meaning, it's harder than the material it's being used on.
Abrasives of any kind leave small scratches,
Scratch size depends on the size of abrasive.
'Rouge' is usually a very fine abrasive in a binder, like wax.
Scratches determine how 'Smooth' or 'Shiny' the material 'Looks' since scratches refract light away from the eye, all color being reflected light back to the eye.
Less light gets reflected back to the eye, brass looks 'Duller'.
Polish medias are commonly SOFTER than the material being worked.
They DO NOT scratch the base material, but can be harder than the corrosion on the surface of that material.
Walnut shell (in particular English walnut shell) is just under the hardness threshold required to remove brass, can't scratch brass, but harder than corrosion coming from brass (common oxidation, some chemical corrosion can be as hard, or harder than the brass itself).
You can leave brass rattle around in walnut shell endlessly (some of us have) and the base brass alloy will still be a 'Case' when you get back to it, it doesn't turn into powder in the bottom of the tumbler like it would with an actual abrasive.
I forgot cases rattling before, rattled days, once two weeks, and the brass was REALLY clean, but still fine to use (and my media was past dust, it was a fine powder after two weeks).
Coatings.
What people commonly refer to as 'Polish' is actually a Coating, like a wax.
Coatings fill in fine scratches & have a higher light reflective index than the actual brass.
The higher reflective index makes coating appear 'More Shiny' than the base brass actually is.
(Clear coats on automotive paints is an example)
Chemical cleaners attack brass. Period.
That is what I said. I said I started out with a potion that reduced the time to less than 2 minutes with 2 rinses in boiling water. When finished the cases turned black, we called it 'pickling' because it was a method for storing cases. And then? Because vinegar was safer and slower I went to vinegar and nothing; I continue to rinse in boiling water and only clean the worst of cases 'once' in vinegar.
F. Guffey
Guffey, I probably didn't say that as clearly as I should have, the things that I was writing about were just the bullets, and god knows how long ago that was. It was described as just a light tin plate, nothing heavy, probably just to prevent some corrosion. It may be that they were also cupro underneath, there's a lot of that information that I don't remember, and it was just a short paragraph.
I had forgotten about the cupro streaking, I remember reading that sometimes the things were so badly fouled that the gun would blow.
Another thing that I read, really kind of ridiculous, a guy was going on about lead bullets being unsafe. Adding tin to lead makes solder, right? beeswax and resin are used as flux, right? Well, he thought that every time a gun was fired with a tin alloy bullet, that Solder and flux would plate to the bore. I don't think that it worked that way.
Does anyone remember the zinc harvey bullet? the history of this stuff is amazing.
http://hawkbullets.com/prot-x-bore.html
I had forgotten about the cupro streaking, I remember reading that sometimes the things were so badly fouled that the gun would blow.
Another thing that I read, really kind of ridiculous, a guy was going on about lead bullets being unsafe. Adding tin to lead makes solder, right? beeswax and resin are used as flux, right? Well, he thought that every time a gun was fired with a tin alloy bullet, that Solder and flux would plate to the bore. I don't think that it worked that way.
Does anyone remember the zinc harvey bullet? the history of this stuff is amazing.
http://hawkbullets.com/prot-x-bore.html