barnfrog
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Not meaning to sound snotty, but what is the benefit of steaming? The water will still evaporate at temps below below the boiling point.
Baking My Wet Tumbled Brass
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AJC1
Member
It's a way to get it done faster and more complete. Water cannot stay in liquid form at ambient pressure above boiling.
barnfrog
Member
I'm not sure the brass gets any drier at higher temperatures, but if one is in a hurry they could "poop up the heat." That's an expression my wife's family uses, which makes me a little nervous because I don't really like the word "poop" being used in any context having to do with cooking.
You got that right! For that matter, probably not many here have ever seen a dime store. Anyway, I'm with Barnfrog (huh?). You don't really have to get your brass to boiling temp to dry it, although I admit hotter is better up to the point you start annealing it. If you use a blow dryer on your hair, you aren't actually heating your scalp to 212F. Likewise, if you lay your brass in the sun for an afternoon (at least here in California in the summer) it will get plenty dry by dinner time. YMMV
Tim
GeoDudeFlorida
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What's cool is taking cold dry brass outside and watching it bead up with water as the ambient humidity condenses on it.
AJC1
Member
That's a fact. In San Diego you can set brass in the sun for a few hours and its dry. In the winter setting it outside here just means frozen wet brass. I intend to get it as dry as possible.
Yes, you've got me on that one. That's why I qualified my statement by mentioning California. In parts of the country where it's humid in summer, all bets are off.
Tim
Type of oven may make a difference. I use gas, which vents the oven chamber. Not sure, but I believe electric ovens are less 'drafty'
I also use AAW&W. Brass may not be harmed up to 300+ degrees, but something (AAW&W & 30+ minutes @ 250 perhaps?) made one of my batch's turn 'goldish'
I also use AAW&W. Brass may not be harmed up to 300+ degrees, but something (AAW&W & 30+ minutes @ 250 perhaps?) made one of my batch's turn 'goldish'
GeoDudeFlorida
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LOL!!! It's just as humid in the winter around here.
The air's got enough salt in it not to freeze even when the ambient air is cold enough. That's why when we get snow, it don't stick. It has to be below zero for it to snow when you live between two big bodies of water. Where I'm at now, at 70F water condenses - the "dew point" - but where I grew up on the East Coast it was more like 65F. Depends on where you are in the state and whether you're close to the Gulf or the Atlantic. I thought parts of Cali were as tropical as us here in the South? Never been there - well, drove through Bakersfield once on accident cause I got lost and tequila was involved - but I was kinda under the impression parts of Cali were more "wet"? Probably wrong.
In general, the more south you go in CA the warmer and dryer it gets, right up until the point you're in desert. Up north, where it actually gets cold in winter, there is usually more precipitation but (in my experience) one never gets the humid-air feel in summer.
Tim
Blue68f100
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Just setting a fan to blow on the brass will dry it out pretty fast at low temps, < 115F. Air movement makes a big difference on how fast it drys as wells as the RHumidity.
runner3264
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I use a food dehydrator. it has 4 levels and can dry hundreds of rounds of any caliber. I dry for 30-45 minutes. Works great!
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