Nu Finish Recipe

Whatever ratio you decide on, just make sure you add the NuFinish to the media and give it enough time to disperse and mix into the media well before you add the cases.

I don't add any mineral sprites for tumbling.

I do add mineral sprites to dried out Alox bullet lube, but not to tumbler media.

John is correct. NuFinish works well in any dry media by itself. Any liquid car wax will do the same, it's just that NuFinish has the best ratings. Once the media has been previously dosed 2 or 3 times, adding a teaspoonful with the next batch of brass in a standard-sized tumbler (like a Dillon 750) is all it takes.

Grady Service said:

I have searched old threads but been unsuccessful in finding the recipe for adding Nu finish to your tumbling media.

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This is what I do for Berry's 400 vibratory tumbler with 1000 9mm capacity bowl.

• Fill the bowl with fine grit walnut media from Harbor Freight to about 1"-1.5" below the rim
• Add 2 capfuls of Nu Finish polish and run the tumbler while stirring the media to distribute the polish faster
• Once I do not see any clumps, I continue running the tumbler while I go get the brass
• I add 600-800 9mm cases and stop adding brass when the fast tumbling action starts to slow as slowing down the tumbling action slows cleaning/polishing action
• Remove brass after 20-30 minutes for clean with lightly polished cases and 1 hour for highly polished cases
• I will tend to keep media on the "dry" side with polish and add a capful only if polishing action slows down which is one capful every several batches

Grady Service said:

I think I saw it was a cap full of Nu Finish and x-amount of mineral spirts, but not sure.

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When the media gets dirty, some reloaders will use mineral spirits to clean up the media to extend the life of media.

Walnut media cut edges are very hard and really don't wear against brass surface rather gets dirty/grimy over time with use.

Like many, I use used dryer sheet cut up to trap dirt/grime and to extend the life of media and it works well. I do not use mineral spirits. Without dryer sheet pieces, new bowlful of fine grit walnut will last a year, perhaps 6 months with heavy use. With use of dryer sheet pieces, you can extend the life of media over a year.

Doing a normal batch in my Frankford Arsenal tumbler the bowl is about 3/4 full of walnut. When new I’ll add about 2 capfuls of nufinish and let it run about 15 minutes then break up any clumps that are left. Add in an appropriate amount of brass and one cut up USED dryer sheet and let it run at least 90 minutes to 2 hours. About every 5th batch I’ll drizzle maybe a capful more polish, let it run for a bit, and add brass.

I only add mineral spirits to the bottle of Nu Finish when it starts to thicken up. I shoot for the consistency of half and half. The mineral spirits acts more as a carrier to disperse the polish. Tumble with the top off to allow the mineral spirits to flash especially if you added too much.

Your media will load up quicker when using mineral spirits. Don't add too much of the mixture as you will get a wet mess.

I use a large wood glue syringe to add straight Nu Finish or the mineral spirits mixture while the tumbler is running. This prevents clumping.

eta
I use 20/40 corncob most of the time as my brass rarely need more aggressing cleaning action.

Grady Service said:

Thanks everyone. Glad I asked I would have gone down the wrong path. Appreciate all the advice.

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+1 on running your tumbler with NuFinish before adding brass. BTW, you'll never make that mistake twice.

Bwana John said:

Whatever ratio you decide on, just make sure you add the NuFinish to the media and give it enough time to disperse and mix into the media well before you add the cases.

I don't add any mineral sprites for tumbling.

I do add mineral sprites to dried out Alox bullet lube, but not to tumbler media.

Click to expand...

Same here, no mineral spirits. I use a 50/50 of corn cob and walnut and simply add a capful and let it run for a few before adding brass

when I remember i add a capful of NuFinish and a capful of mineral spirits. run it for at least 15 minutes before adding brass. I only add more every 4-5 batches, or when the brass doesn't get a slick "polished' finish. FWIW brass tumbled this way stays bright for a long time in storage, and goes into sizing dies easier.

In short, DON'T add NuFinish to your brass.

Shorter still, don't add Mineral Spirits to your brass (unless you intend to both load and fire it in short order).

.

If you intend to process your brass and then immediately reload it and then shoot it, pretty much all the advice regarding processing brass on this site is irrelevant.

Grady Service said:

I have searched old threads but been unsuccessful in finding the recipe for adding Nu finish to your tumbling media. I think I saw it was a cap full of Nu Finish and x-amount of mineral spirts, but not sure. Can someone let me know what they found to be the best formula?

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You should NOT, in my opinion, EVER add something like NuFinish to your tumbling media - at least until you FULLY understand the interaction between the chemistry and mechanical action of the tumbling.

I run 2 large Dillon's when I dry tumble and I add a cap full of Nu-Finish, evenly dribbled around the top of the media and a cap full of mineral spirits, applied the same way. Then I put the lid on and run it for about 15 minutes before adding brass to it. I use ground corncob as my media.

George P said:

Same here, no mineral spirits. I use a 50/50 of corn cob and walnut and simply add a capful and let it run for a few before adding brass

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I do the exact same thing along with adding a once used fabric softener sheet cut into small squares. The fabric sheets do help.

I don't use any additive in my media, adding polish only dulls the cutting edge of the media.

On a slightly related topic, a good way to keep your media from getting dirty and keep carbon and primer residue out of the air is to deprime your brass then soak it in a Lemishine solution for an hour. I use 1/4 teaspoon to 1 pint of hot water. You will be surprised at how well the brass cleans up and how much residue has been removed just by soaking. That residue would normally be in the media. Media lasts a LOT longer.

hdwhit said:

You should NOT, in my opinion, EVER add something like NuFinish to your tumbling media - at least until you FULLY understand the interaction between the chemistry and mechanical action of the tumbling.

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Well then back up what you are saying and try enlightening us...carpet bombing is not the way to do it

I recently found another use for a harbor freight cement mixer that i had sitting in my garage for years from another project i had done. I was tumbling with a lyman 1200 adding in a little polish, i found it to be ok but for capacity it was an all day affair. Now i put the brass in the mixer with some water, lemishine, and dawn(or car wash/wax) for about 30-1h, let it dry then throw it back in the mixer with some lizard litter from petsmart for abou 2 hours. Im happy with the results for such littler effort.