Citric Acid vs LimeShine

Units trip me up - tsp vs tbs and grains versus grams... but the original post about citric acid brass cleaner on the cast boolits forum https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?83572-Citric-acid-brass-cleaner spells it out -he says "2 teaspoons per quart of water".

Lemi Shine booster is pretty much ALL citric acid. So the amount should be the same as straight citric acid.

It is not "critical"

I bought citric acid by the pound at Duda Diesel thinking it was cheaper. Actually Lem Shine Booster at Wally Mart is less.

I do not even wet tumble but have experimented with about every type of acid for washing brass.
Acetic, Citric, phosphoric, hydrochloric Sulfamic etc etc.

. just measure 7 fluid ounces of the powder out (1 cup minus two level tablespoons), and add that to a gallon of water

Click to expand...

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/cleaning-brass-using-citric-acid.708100/page-2

I been using 3 1/2 tablespoons of citrus, 2 drops of Dawn Ultra, in 1 quart hot tap water. Shake for 1 minute in a plastic container. Let sit 1 hour, shake 1 minute. Rinse 2 times. Dry over/on my furnace at 110 degrees for a day or 2.

The answer lies in calculating the strength of each material and using an equal portion. If your lazy like me you use the same amount as a trial and adjust a little at a time for desired result. Honestly my best results occurred with much smaller batches and more water volume.

If you use too much your brass will get discolored, kind of a lite pink coloring on the brass.
If you get it put it back in the tumbler with just water & tumble for 1/2 hr, it will go away.

Blue68f100 said:

The data sheets for Lime Shine does not give it's concentration. I also figured it had some surfactants too. The reason I asked. I will try the same amount I have been using and see what happens.

Click to expand...

https://lemishine.com/products/dish-detergent-booster

Same as on the bottle I have. Ingredients, Citric acid. Period.

Blue68f100 said:

The data sheets for Lime Shine does not give it's concentration. I also figured it had some surfactants too. The reason I asked. I will try the same amount I have been using and see what happens.

Click to expand...

Trial here seems reasonable considering the worst case is more tumbling time.

Lemi-Shine is pretty much all Citric Acid like @Rule3 said.
I think Lemi-Shine does have a surfactant of some kind in it, something to lesson surface tension of the water. Trade secret and not listed.

I use Lemi-Shine in my Ultra-Sonic at about Two full teaspoons per liter and that gets the Ph of the water down to about 2.8 Ph.

The way your cleaning your brass, I can see why your using as much as you are.

But your ratio should be 1-1 so use the same amount your were using before.

I switched to 100% lemon juice, can't get much more citric than that. 1/2 oz liquid, squirt of Dawn and hot water for 3 hours.

Bill

Try using Automobile wash and wax...works well for me.

The amount you need is determined by the hardness of your water. Some areas use more citric acid, some less to get the same results. If you see pink brass back off about 10-15% and try again.

airfoil said:

Try using Automobile wash and wax...works well for me.

Click to expand...

Tried this with range pickups, no good. May be better after the major grunge is gone.

I thought lemonshine was citric acid with some lemon smell added to it.
Yeah with citric acid based cleaner less is more.

I use auto wash and wax and citric acid. (The acid is only like $16 for 10lbs from Amazon)
I usually whatever wash and wax is on sale, tried a few flavors and they all seem about the same, I usually end up with Turtle brand.
Be generous with the wash and wax, I don't measure I just give it a dollop out of the bottle. (couple oz)
How much acid depends on your water PH, higher PH water = more acid.
For my Lyman tumbler I used to toss in between a 9mm and .45 case full.
Now I take it out of the bag and put a small amount in an old spice jar and just shake some in to the lid. I stopped measuring exactly a while back.
To much is bad but there is wiggle room.
One you get an idea about how being off a little won't hurt.