I can't get my brass shiny anymore

Cut up dryer sheets. Put in tumbler. Should be good to go.

Also add some NuCar polish or some kind of brass polish. I will add that I tumble for up to 3 hours and this is after I ultrasonic clean first. I like my brass to look better than new.

Now the wet tumblers will chime in and that's ok. It's all it was you have.

I use the same media, and a dryer sheet makes all the difference. It gathers / collects the dust.

Since your media is probably pretty dusty, you might have to change the dryer sheets out a couple of times during the initial session to get control of the situation. After that, always toss one in with each new tumble session, and it won't get that bad again.

And to extend the life of your media, make sure your brass is almost completely free of any lube. I get countless sessions from my media by removing all the lube before hand.

GS

When you changed the media several times, did you clean out the tumbler, too? It'd odd that new media doesn't at least get you back to where you started. Do you live in a dry climate? Maybe the media has dried out and is creating dust.

I'm not sure how Tuff Nut media responds to water. I use corn cob. What I do is lower a strainer of brass into a bucket of water. Swish around really good to get rid of powder and dust. Then lift them out and shake out the excess water before putting them into the tumbler. It takes about 45 minutes for the cases to dry, depending on how much water I introduce and the ambient temperature and humidity. By that time, the cases are clean and shiny. This reduces the dust on the cases. After loading a hundred cases, my fingers used to turn black. But that's no more.

Make sure they are USED dryer sheets, they work very well controlling the dust and they clean up the media too.

I know this sounds crazy but I got this idea from RCMODEL and have used it with unbelievable results. Just put a couple of teaspoons full of mineral spirits in your media before you tumble. Skip the waxes and polish and everything else and stick with the mineral spirits alone. You will be shocked.

Dryer sheets are a good idea for cleaning up dirty media but I have given this up as well. I bought a huge bag of walnut lizard bedding off of amazon for around $20 and, even changing my media fairly regularly, have enough to last for years... if not decades. People complain that it is dustier but it looks exactly like tumbling media to me. If it is dusty just let it sit in your tumbler outside with the lid open for 20 minutes each time you replace the media and the dust disappears.

If your using too much polish it will leave a dull film too.

I just add some 2" square paper towel of cleaning patches to my tumbler.

The dryer sheets work. My dryer sheets come out of my tumbler a dirty brown after a couple hours.

I use a mixture of 2/3 untreated walnut media mixed with 1/3 lyman tufnut
red media & drip in 10-12 drops ( or more) of Franklin brass polish from Midway.
Brass comes out clean without any coat of dust or red mess.

I'm thinking about going back to rice for media. Seemed to last indefinitely. Can't remember if it shined it up as well, but I don't think I tried with mineral spirits which does seem to add a shine factor.

Schwing said:

I know this sounds crazy but I got this idea from RCMODEL and have used it with unbelievable results. Just put a couple of teaspoons full of mineral spirits in your media before you tumble. Skip the waxes and polish and everything else and stick with the mineral spirits alone. You will be shocked.

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THIS^^^^^

I can't get my brass shiny anymore

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That's awful man. This calls for an intervention!

Q: What media do you recommend for cleaning cases?
A: Treated corncob is recommended for normal use, the Tufnut is recommended for extremely fouled cases as it is more abrasive. Please note that the Tufnut may leave a rouge residue on the cases. This will not cause any harm to the gun or cases.

Lyman FAQs: http://www.lymanproducts.com/lyman/faqs/tumblers_faq.php

Thanks for adding the "used dryer sheets" AA, I forgot to mention that.

I've tried different types of polish, but I always come back to just plain treated Tuf Nut and a USED dryer sheet. And when I'm just knocking off range debris and grit prior to resizing, I use corn cob.

I don't get all crazy about sparkling brass like I did years ago. As long as it's clean and free of any lube residue, and shinny enough for me to spot problem areas, deep pits, small splits and such, I'm good to go.

GS

You're simply low on elbow grease. Just add some.

Sorry. It's one of those days.

I do my brass twice. Once I do it in old media using the dryer sheets for a several hours. I then deprime and size, then I clean again, with newer media and the brass polish you can get from mid-way.

I think you better send that bad unshiny brass to me and I will dispose of it properly.

Thank to everybody for that dryer sheet tip . I am going to give that a try next batch .

0to60 said:

Ok, so I added a dryer sheet that I cut up into small squares. Same deal. I will say this though, using fresh Tuffnut, some Turbo Brite and the dryer sheets, the brass isn't shiny but MAN is it slick. The cases go through the dies as if they were lubed.

I'll try the mineral spirits if I can remember to get some next time I'm at the store. Will regular ol' turpentine do?

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As far as I know, turpentine is different. Not sure but I would not try that. Mineral spirits will be in a plastc jug in the paint dept--many times labeled simply: PAINT THINNER.
It is used to thin oil-base paint. Laquer thinner is totally different-don't get that.
My best results are with plain walnut or corn cob media with a couple capfulls of min spirits. No polish or any of that other stuff. After the tumbler runs about 15 minutes, you can look at the media and it will be uniformly darker in color and slightly damp, not wet. Depending on how you want your brass to look you can run it an hour or overnight, whatever.

Mineral spirits

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I went looking for mineral spirits, I had to ask for naphtha, varsol and mineral spirits, then there is white gas and Coleman fuel. The best deal I could find was 5 gallons at $65.00

With a coupon I could have purchases 6-I quart cans for $46.00 plus shipping.

F. Guffey

Turpentine comes from trees like pines, mineral spirits from hydro carbons. in many circles the two are not compatible.

You find it in the point section at Lowes or Home Depot.

If you're ready for something that will save you money and is less harmful to breathe, I'd highly recommend wet tumbling. Stainless steel media is easier to work with in my opinion. A drizzle of dish soap and slightly less than a 1/4 teaspoon of lemi shine per batch, and my brass shines like a mirror when I open the drum.

Guy, you're using tuffnut. It's a walnut media and won't get the brass and shiny clean as cob. If you're in the Midwest, call a grain elevator and buy a 50 pound sack of it for $5--THEN use the car polish or dryer sheets or mineral spirits or whatever you like.

I've used walnut on really really tough brass, especially 223 to get that darker shoulder off of it (I don't like it). To shine the brass up, however, ya need to go softer!

Dan