How do you degrease your dies?

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mac60 and several others posters in this thread use brake cleaner. What was horrible about your experience with it? Please share. Thanks.....Doc

If you aren't used to using it, you might just spray it on your stuff while at the indoor workbench. It really needs to be done in a very well ventilated area because the stuff is made from a whole bunch of very volatile solvents.

Almost as bad as real "Goof Off". Someone in our family once left a pen in their pocket and it drained itself while in the dryer. The walls were splotched with thick gooey blue ink ready to ruin the next load. I spent a couple of hours with a big bottle of Goof Off cleaning that stuff off with a heavy duty fan keeping the air circulating. I'll never forget that stench and shudder every time I use the stuff now.
 
rsrocket1 - "If you aren't used to using it, you might just spray it on your stuff while at the indoor workbench. It really needs to be done in a very well ventilated area because the stuff is made from a whole bunch of very volatile solvents."

I appreciate that you responded, but I already know this. I wanted a response from thorn- to know exactly what happened so that I may avoid some set of circumstances that I didn't know about.....Doc
 
I use rem oil in a spray, it is so thin it is next to water on the lube scale, it cleans and leaves a real light protecting film
 
I guess I'm just missing the whole point of this thread after we got past the "cleaning the factory oil off" of them when they are new in the first few posts.

I have probably 30 sets of dies in the basement in the boxes they came in, or hanging on peg-board over the bench, some from as far back as the 1960's.

I don't do much of anything to them except use them.

I have never had a die rust in my life because I didn't oil it between uses.

Oil is just something else that isn't case lube you have to clean out before you can use them the next time.

rc
 
I use brake cleaner or carb cleaner and a air blower what can I say Iam a mechanic.
 
Brake cleaner if you're stingy
one shot / gun scrubber if you're spendy

If I were storing them for a long time in an unconditioned environment I'd give them a good shot of rust prevent. If they look dirty I clean them, rarely happens as I tumble brass. Dirty range brass will scratch up steel dies and at that point nothing will help them.
 
I'm from the school that believes in picking the right product for the right job. For example, I use CLP / Hoppes to clean and protect my guns... I don't use brake cleaner, oven cleaner, or WD40, and I dont lube my guns with Mobil car oil, Turtlewax, or Crisco.

There were a couple of major issues I had with brake cleaner:

- The smell/fumes were incredibly bad... I felt like I was standing near a gas chamber or something. I did wear gloves, but sometimes spray cans will spatter a bit, and it really irritated my skin. I believe in common sense protection, but afterwards I was wishing i'd worn a hazmat suit.

- While it DID degrease the dies, they also flash-rusted. Within 1-2 mins, there was a very fine coating of rust forming on all the steel parts... which meant using something else (very quickly) to remove the rust (which was a PITA), and then quickly apply a protective product before it flash rusted again.

People can use whatever chemical they prefer... it's really up to the individual. But in my opinion, a can of Hornady OneShot is about $8 and it lasted over a year. It does an excellent job of degreasing dies, and it leaves a very nice lubricated protective coating on dies that dries very well, lasts a long time, and doesn't cause problems in your reloading.

thorn
 
I keep a can of brake or carburator cleaner on my bench. Handy stuff. Of course it smells bad, but use common sense; it only takes a tiny bit on a patch and it evaporates very quickly. And any degreaser is going to have some odor to it.
thorn-, sounds like you had a pretty traumatic experience with brake cleaner. The flash rusting had nothing to do with the brake cleaner. You removed the oil from the die, so it rusted. I see no reason this wouldn't have happened with ANY degreaser.
You probably should use something a little safer and more gentle. The TV commercials say Dawn dishwashing liquid degreases well. Or maybe Palmolive if Dawn is too hard on your hands.:D Kidding.
If you load many cast bullets, especially those lubed with some sort of soft lube, you'll have to degrease your seating die frequently.

35W
 
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thorn - Thank you for sharing your information. I have experienced the same things except for the "flash rusting".

I know that brake cleaner is such a powerful, quick and efficient degreaser and that's why I keep a spray can of Kano Kroil on hand to apply it immediately afterwards. Finally a light wipe with Break Free "Collector" and the dies are stored for about a year until the next mass reloading.
 
I disassemble them and throw them in the solvent tank at work. Then I wash them in alcohol.
 
mine get a toot of Rem-oil then wipe off as much as I can with a rag. The mineral spirits in rem oil cleans them well and leaves behing a VERY light protective film. I wad up a paper towel and run it up into the sizer die cleaning out all the crud and excess rem oil.
 
All my dies are in Lee turret rings. I just take 'em out to the parts washer in the garage and wash 'em with solvent, little brushes, and then blow 'em dry with the air hose.
 
Hoppe's #9 and nylon bristle brushes. Every gun owner probably has them and they work fine. Almost everything i load is cast bullets so i clean my dies often and the #9 gets the job done in a hurry and economically.
 
Yes I will agree brake cleaner is some stinky stuff and will melt plastic take off the nice shinny finish of a stock trash a fishing real (dont ask me how I know)but there is worse. Yes it can raise hell on your hands. Iam not making fun of any one here but after 30 years of wrenchen there is calluses under my finger nails unlike some one that works in a office it just comes with the job. ANY thing for painting a car lacquer thiner mek will remove ALL oil & dirt now we are talking about hasmat.
 
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