Drying brass

[BreechFace]

It's the moleculer lead in the priming compound we have to worry about. We can absorb it by breathing the dust.
Wet tumbling with citric acid will chelate the lead , that means it causes the lead to combine with another ion to form an different compound and we can't absorb it.
The doners for chellation are all single proton doners and will combine with the lead to to form a compound we can't absorb.
If you use wet cleaning and use citric acid in your solution, that is the safest way for us and the earth.

Citric acid solution needs to be at 3ph to be the most effective. That's not hard to do. One level teaspoon of Lemi-shine will get you there in 2 liters of water.
This is why I use an ultra sonic cleaner, there is no galvanic plating goes on in there like goes on with cleaning with SS pins, if I get my solution to strong.
See links below.
Skep down to conclusions if you want.
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11368-015-1350-9

According to this article, Citric acid is the only safe way we have to challate the lead from the dust or wet solutions we clean our brass with, and for disposing of it.
Here is another article on it but it is painful to read and understand.
https://juniperpublishers.com/omcij/pdf/OMCIJ.MS.ID.555694.pdf

This lead came out of the ground to start with and wet cleaning your brass with citric acid is the safest way of putting it back in the ground and is what the sewage companies prefer us to use as a disposal method.

If you want to continue dry tumbling your cases, no one is stopping you. Just do it safely, since this is where the molecular lead that can hurt us is going to be concentrated and will be the biggest risk of us inhaling it.

Great post!

 

[lightman]

So normally I have time to wait for my brass to dry laying in front of fan in my basement on a towel.

But..... I need it quicker so I popped this batch in the oven on a pizza tray lined with paper towels at 250 degrees for 30 mins door closed and let them cool in the oven and retrieveed this morning.

They feel dry but are they?

If you deprimed them I would say they are dry. If you left the primers in the cases I would say they are probably dry.

I both wet tumble and dry tumble. I set the timer on my tumbler for 2 hours when wet tumbling. I dry tumble in shifts of 12 hours. My brass is shiner after 2 hours wet tumbling than 12 hours dry tumbling. Some cases won't ever get completely shiney when dry tumbling while they will when wet tumbling. Even when separating the media and having to dry brass wet tumbling is faster for me. I still use both methods.

I use the oven to dry brass in the winter time. 20 to 30 minutes set at less than 200º. I don't see the need to put paper in the oven. I use the Summer Sun to dry in the warmer months. My Wife sewed an old towel into a bag that resembles a pillow case that I dump the wet brass into. A little shake, rattle and roll gets a lot of the water out and speeds the drying process.

I dump the gallon of water from wet tumbling down the drain. I'm not worried about the minor amount of possible toxic stuff that I dump in the sewer after it gets mixed with the sewage from 2800 other people.

I also dump my dry media in the trash after it gets too dirty to work. I don't wear gloves or a mask when handling brass or tumbling media. I do make an effort to not breath any dust from dry media.

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

waste water can certainly be treated for lead. Whether a particular municipality does or not is up to them.

Federal and state regulations tell municipalities what they need to treat for.

I dump the gallon of water from wet tumbling down the drain. I'm not worried about the minor amount of possible toxic stuff that I dump in the sewer after it gets mixed with the sewage from 2800 other people.

The solution to pollution is often as simple as dilution.

 

[Fine Figure of a Man]

I dump the gallon of water from wet tumbling down the drain.

I'm not worried about the minor amount of possible toxic stuff that I dump in the sewer

I also dump my dry media in the trash

I don't wear gloves or a mask

Are you the guy that was selling those fresh and delicious bats last year at the Wuhan market?

 

[packetloss]

It's the moleculer lead in the priming compound we have to worry about. We can absorb it by breathing the dust.
Wet tumbling with citric acid will chelate the lead , that means it causes the lead to combine with another ion to form an different compound and we can't absorb it.

Awesome post. Thanks for the links too, very informative.

 

[JKP]

I put mine in an old toaster oven for 20 minutes at 150 degrees. When they are cool enough to touch they are dry. Look at the primer pocket with a light. If you don't see any moisture in the flash hole they are dry.

 

[Jonesy814]

I set my brass upright in a small cake tin. While washing & rinsing I turn the oven on to 200 degrees. Rinse brass and dump into an old towel. Stand them all up in pan, put in oven and turn OFF oven. When cool enough to take out with your bare hand (40 minutes or so ), they are dry
Been doing it for years. I would definitely say the OPs were dry after 30 minutes at 250

 

[Juiceking]

So normally I have time to wait for my brass to dry laying in front of fan in my basement on a towel.

But..... I need it quicker so I popped this batch in the oven on a pizza tray lined with paper towels at 250 degrees for 30 mins door closed and let them cool in the oven and retrieveed this morning.

They feel dry but are they?

I think oven works fine but it would slightly discolor brass vs letting dry more natural..i do my cleaning in garage and have a turbo propane heater...warms up garage and drys brass looks like new...summer time just put outside