Hello,

I was playing with different methods of shining brass.

Wet tumbling, I used 2 cups water and added one tablespoon lime juice.

This is the result:



I hope this helps someone!

Regards,

Josh

Hah! Excellent timing. I didn't have Lemishine so pulled out lime juice to try out- hadn't tried it yet.
Looks like the acidity was the ticket. Thanks for sharing!

Yep, citric acid removes the chlorine in the water. Chlorine is what gives you water spots.

Cool thank you for the tip. I will try this next time plus it's always a bonus to have fresh limes on hand for ceviche, salsa, and guacamole :)

Makes sense.
I remember in the Navy the cooks would use the huge packs of lemon Kool Aid to scrub the cook tops.

We called it bug juice, and any flavor/color was used as an acidic cleaner. Forgot about that until you mentioned it.

Anyone who's been out to sea in the USN had a love / hate relationship with bug juice. For my ship, it meant the milk had run out although some guys preferred it. To me it was always just nasty Kool-Aid.

Not exactly. Ascorbic acid will. Water spots are not caused by directly by the tiny amount of chlorine in water but rather by mineral deposits.

Learn something new every day!

I learned that citric acid, available in bulk on Amazon and elsewhere, as well as small amounts in canning departments of Walmart and others, is the secret ingredient in Lemishine and other cleaners marketed for brass. I don't add the powder to my vibratory tumbler, but I'll eventually get around to it. Works wonders in my ultrasonic on that nasty 30-06 brass I had plenty of.

What is cool is using car wash soap in the mix, or rather any of a couple varieties with wax, the brass stays shiny for at least a few years. I thought it would be nice if it lasted a year or so, but I have brass that I washed a couple winters back and it's still shiny. I do use Lemishine because the gave me TWO containers when I bought my tumbler. Last me forever!

Back in the 80s Brownell's published a recipe: Lemon juice, degreaser and dishwasher detergent.
All liquids. In our shop we have sub'd citric acid crystals and laundry detergent...still use degreaser.

To avoid water spots you can displace the water with alcohol, acetone or distilled water.
The latter is much safer and less expensive.
You can also tumble dry the cases and include a terry towel which wipes off water and absorbs it.

If you really want 'jewelry,' wash the brass for 20 minutes with soap and water, rinse once, THEN do the
acid/degreaser/soap menu.

If you deprime first, your primer pockets will come out clean, too. (Looks like you did.)

On my best days, my rifle brass is clean enough I can lube it, process it, then wash it just ONCE!

I love it when Larry speaks.

So is this all for looks? Does it make any difference for the life of the brass or barrel?

Frankly I like to have clean brass. Shine is just a bonus. Clean lightly waxed consistent brass is better for dies and eliminates concern of any factor impacting powder and loads.

We drank a lot of bug juice. Mess cranks used to add slices of fresh fruit, not too bad.

For some reason the carbonator for the soda machine on the LST didn't work for about 3-4 months.
C02 tank gauge said it had pressure, C02 went to the tank that rocked back and forth but the soda was still flat.
I transferred back stateside while we were in Okinawa so don't know if they ever got that thing fixed.