Brass polishing...I am confused

[IWAC]

I use a vibratory tumbler, and have heard that fellows use a cap full of Mother's Mag Polish added to their media for a brilliant shine. Amazon carries a tin of Mother's Polish, most likely a wax, and Walmart seems to be the store of choice for what may be a liquid, which seems to be a better choice.
I do have Turtle Wax Chrome Polish and Rust Remover. Does anyone have experience with it, and would it be a substitute for Mother's, if it doesn't contain Ammonia?
What say, reloading Gurus? Which; neither, or a third product?
Thanks

 

[drband]

Turtle Wax chrome polish works well on brass cases. Won’t hurt to try it for sure.

 

[chickasaw_hunter]

I have used Lizard Litter from Pet's Mart, with a cap full of NU 2000 car polish for years with good results. Lizard litter is much cheaper than the commercial walnut and corn cob stuff and it doesn't get stuck in the primer pocket.

 

[gudaki]

Nufinish works well.

 

[Rule3]

Your Turtle Wax Chrome should work just as well As any of the other space age formulas out there!

Use a couple of cap fulls and a cap full of of mineral spirits (pain thinner) as a solvent to liquefy it more. Put it in NEW media, let it vibrate for 5-10 minutes before you put your brass in. Tumble for 2 hours and get you cheap sunglasses out! For that brilliant shine!

https://media.qualitydist.net/turtlewax/msds/turt-t280ra.pdf

https://www1.mscdirect.com/MSDS/MSDS00028/50973239-20200311.PDF

https://www.princessauto.com/file/general/9061946_sds_en_01_10_21_2020.pdf

 

[mdi]

Personally I don't use any polish for tumbling my brass. I don't need any abrasive/rouge/etc. for cleaning and glossy, mirror finished cases are OK, but I don't have a special need. I have used Turtle Liquid Auto Wax in my media mainly (only?) to leave a very light wax film on my clean brass for retarding tarnish. I grabbed a bottle of Turtle wax a few years ago 'cause it was handy and a capful (a squirt) now and then makes the bottle last a long time. I'm not "anti-glossy brass" but I don't think it's necessary enough to give it a second thought...

Brass tumbling is a very popular topic and most threads will provide a large variety of recipes and methods. I just tumble (rotary) in corn cob blast media, squirt a bit of Turtle wax in every once in a while and I'm fine. But shiny brass does have one important thing going for it; it's easier to find shiny cases in the dirt, rocks, etc. of unimproved ranges...

 

[Mk-211]

https://iosso.com/products/case-cleaner-case-cleaner-kit/

1 minute in, rinse, 10 minutes in the oven on low. Reloading again within 15 minutes, easy peasy.

If you want it super shiny, 30 minutes in corncob with a cap full of Nufinish.

Or get one of the tumbers that use metal pins, dash of dish soap and some lemmi shine. Looks better than factory new.

 

[Hikingman]

OP, where's the confusion? What did you pour in to make them shiny before? Many of us add something whether liquid wax or other- shake well before pouring. In my case, no more than a capful of Nufinish from the big box store. In the beginning and for over 10 years, used Flitz 'liquid' polish (not the paste formula).

 

[.45Coltguy]

Walnut media and a couple squirts of Turtle Wax Spray and cases come out looking good; not too shiney, just good and clean.

 

[rfwobbly]

People are getting the polishing media mixed up with the auto polish. Two different things; two different jobs. The tumbling media scrubs the brass to impart a shine, the polish simply helps retain the shine.

• Almost any abrasive media will polish brass. The only difference is the time it takes. Corn cob was originally chosen because it was already being used in industrial polishing and readily available. Corn cob is also widely used as a pet litter and typically easier to find at local pet supply sources.
• The enemy of polished brass is oxygen, since it's the oxides that turn the brass dull. What the polish does is to seal out the oxygen, thus making the "shine" last longer. Wax was originally used, but there's no wax... even in products like Turtle Wax. Modern polishes work by forming a polymer coating over the entire surface of the brass. The polymer that forms on each case has no holes, breaks, or edges. In this way the oxygen molecule is excluded from the brass, and very little deterioration takes place. Almost any polish will last a week. The better polishes will last much longer.
.

 

[lightman]

I'm not sure what the Turtle Wax Chrome Polish is but you want a liquid polish to mix with your Corncob or Walnut media. Several of the reloading companies offer a liquid polish but any liquid automotive or household polish will work. Nufinish is a favorite, Mothers is another, but there are several. Most reloaders try to avoid any polish that contains Ammonia.

 

[Walkalong]

I have half bottles of various car waxes from trash piles that I haven’t used up yet, plus some Midway polish. Used up the nufinish I got out of a trash pile. Yep, I’m a scrounger.

 

[BushMaster-15]

There's dirty filthy grunge and disgusting cases ,there's Clean cleaner tumbled ultrasonic pin polished and rouge buffed bling .
Not a single chamber has ever failed to fire in MY weapons ,from clean cases nor shot any worse than bling cases .

Have a friend who is anal retentive about bling cases ,IF he spent 1/10 Th. the time perfecting loads ,he would be more impressive at the Range than attempting to produce jewelry brass . Whatever floats your boat and method one uses is OK by Me , I genuinely prefer making cases dirty ,rather than polishing dirty cases clean . Purchasing a #3 frequency commercial Ultrasonic was clearly one of the very best investments I made . From disgusting cases to clean shiny 3.5 min. ,made ME very very happy .

 

[ColtPythonElite]

I use NuFinish because it's cheap and readily available. I would guess any liquid auto polish would work just as well.

 

[LiveLife]

I have half bottles of various car waxes from trash piles that I haven’t used up yet, plus some Midway polish. Used up the nufinish I got out of a trash pile. Yep, I’m a scrounger.

But if they work, life is good ... especially if you got them for free.

 

[Nature Boy]

Any cleaner wax works

 

[Rule3]

There's dirty filthy grunge and disgusting cases ,there's Clean cleaner tumbled ultrasonic pin polished and rouge buffed bling .
Not a single chamber has ever failed to fire in MY weapons ,from clean cases nor shot any worse than bling cases .

Have a friend who is anal retentive about bling cases ,IF he spent 1/10 Th. the time perfecting loads ,he would be more impressive at the Range than attempting to produce jewelry brass . Whatever floats your boat and method one uses is OK by Me , I genuinely prefer making cases dirty ,rather than polishing dirty cases clean . Purchasing a #3 frequency commercial Ultrasonic was clearly one of the very best investments I made . From disgusting cases to clean shiny 3.5 min. ,made ME very very happy .

And what device is this?? At what price? There are lots of Ultrasonic cleaners out there

 

[BushMaster-15]

And what device is this?? At what price? There are lots of Ultrasonic cleaners out there

A Kendal commercial #3 variable frequency transducers ultrasonic cleaner . As with most everything in life ,not all things are equal .

I also custom make MY cleaning solution and it's served Me well for over 3 decades .

https://www.ctgclean.com/application-of-multiple-frequency-ultrasonics

 

[Skeptic13]

I have never liked adding polishing agents to my media. It just gums up my media and I don't need my brass to have a mirror polish. If I did I would wet tumble.

 

[AJC1]

I have never liked adding polishing agents to my media. It just gums up my media and I don't need my brass to have a mirror polish. If I did I would wet tumble.

I know people who wet tumble that polish the finished product, to remove finger prints and add a finish wax barrier for long term protection. That reason seems practical and I can get behind that.

 

[CQB45ACP]

I know people who wet tumble that polish the finished product, to remove finger prints and add a finish wax barrier for long term protection. That reason seems practical and I can get behind that.

You don’t know me, but I’m a post wet tumbler polisher.

 

[doubleh]

I have no need for polished brass, only clean. I do mostly small batches and dump it in a plastic jar with a little lemon juice concentrate, a drop or two of dawn dishwashing soap for a surfactant, and add enough hot water to cover the brass twice over. Give it a good shake and let it set.. If I think about it I will shake it again or maybe twice. After about four hours I dump it and wash the brass in a wire basket, shake well, dump into a steel pan, and let sit outside on a heavy steel table until dry. If the brass is really dingy I will put in my vibratory tumbler with crushed walnut hulls, available as lizard litter at pet stores, and tumble it with a car wax-cleaner depending on what I have available. I learned not to use a steel pan as a drying container the very first use of one as I got to pick up all the brass and pan and re-do it after the wind blew it off the table.

I really, really, dislike using the tumbler. It has one of the most annoying sounds there is to me and it is LOUD. I run an extension cord out and around to the back of my garage and sit the tumbler back there to lessen the noise some.

 

[mljdeckard]

I do lizard cage liner and a cap of Nu Finish. Sometimes it comes out super shiny, sometimes it doesn't. I don't track brand, headstamp, time, age of media, etc. I just want it clean and smooth.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

You don’t know me, but I’m a post wet tumbler polisher.

“Hi, my name is, _______, and I’m a post wet tumbler polisher.”

 

[AJC1]

“Hi, my name is, _______, and I’m a post wet tumbler polisher.”

If one is looking for sexy ammo this is the jam..... I hear