The Lemon Juice alternative

[Wreck-n-Crew]

There are many fans of Lemi Shine for brass cleaning. I am one as well. For those that are curios as to how well it works there is a way to see the same results without buying the product. Essentially Lemon juice is a great brass cleaner that also removes tarnishing. Doesn't matter how dirty or tarnished the brass, lemon juice or LEmi Shine really makes old brass look like new.

I know this is not news to many but FWIW I felt it worth sharing.
This photo does not do justice to how well this brass came out:
The brass literally looks brand new. I used about 15-20 drops of lemon juice to 2-3 drops of dish liquid (off brand...doesn't matter) for 200-250 9mm brass in a small tumbler from Harbor Freight : http://www.harborfreight.com/3-lb-rotary-rock-tumbler-67631.html. Tumbled for 35 min, rinse, repeat. Some of the brass was heavily tarnished (almost black).

Now I have not compared the actual cost difference to using Lemi Shine but my goal was a temporary solution to being out of Lemi Shine. For fans of Lemi Shine, you now have an alternative If you get in a pinch and for those who want to try Lemi Shine, just try a lemon! same results.

Note: for heavy tarnish longer tumble or soak time may be necessary to get like-new brass results. 1-2 hrs. FME YMMV.

 

[dunno556]

Nice, I haven't run out of Lemi Shine yet.
But I always keep a few lemons on hand for making "flavored" water without all the additives. So I should always be good to go

 

[jr_watkins]

Alas, a new use for that lemon tree that yielded ~400 lemons last year!
Thanks, good to know.

 

[ironworkerwill]

I have also used distilled white vinegar. It works as good as lemon juice for me. I use about 1/2 gal bowl 3/4 full of hot tap water and 1/4 cup of vinegar. Roll it around for a few minutes and neutralize the acid with baking soda and its really clean. I never owned a tumbler or ultrasonic device.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

The only question I have is why you didn't deprime before cleaning your brass. If you have to soak it down to get this shine you should have deprimed so the primer pockets would also be this clean.

With the primers left in the shells they will hold water and lemon juice and the acid will continue to work on the brass.

I do use lemi-shine but haven't tried lemon juice yet, maybe because I can't stand lemons.

But your process looks like it has a lot of potential if lemon juice is really cheap. It would have to be to get me to try it. I don't know how it could be as cheap as lemi-shine though. If you live in Florida your all set.

I'm only raggin on you for not de-priming your shells before throwing them in the solution. That's all. Sorry about that.

 

[Wreck-n-Crew]

The only question I have is why you didn't deprime before cleaning your brass. If you have to soak it down to get this shine you should have deprimed so the primer pockets would also be this clean.

Some people don't worry about primer pockets...but I usually do. That was a test batch and I de-primed the rest of them before cleaning. Before this I was using crushed red walnut with the lube from Lyman. De-prime them before tumbling would clog the primer pockets using that stuff.

I have used Lemi Shine before but switched to the red walnut. To me the Lemi Shine is better at least for cutting down tumbling time on badly tarnished brass.

Just need some more Nu-Finish now to Lube them!

 

[gonoles_1980]

I tumble twice, once in old corn cob media (I use the used dryer sheet to help clean it), I then lube and deprime. Then I tumble again with brass polish and cleaner media. Several questions come to mind.

1. Can I put the lemon juice with the corn cob media, or is the solely for soaking only?
2. If I can put it with the media, which tumble should I use? The older media for the first cleaning, or the cleaner media with the brass polish?

 

[Wreck-n-Crew]

Can I put the lemon juice with the corn cob media, or is the solely for soaking only?

Its for wet Wash/clean and can be used with steel pins with even faster clean times. But not with dry media. Now it can be used as a pre soak so long as you dry before tumbling with cob or walnut type dry media.

If I can put it with the media, which tumble should I use? The older media for the first cleaning, or the cleaner media with the brass polish?

Since you cant use it in the cob you can do the alternative overnight soak prior to tumbling with dry media and lube and only tumble once with clean media and lube. cuts down tumble time.

 

[Rule3]

Pure powdered citric acid is a lot cheaper than lemon juice unless of course you have a lemon tree

 

[gahunter12]

What's the best way to dry the cases? I have considered doing this for my cases, but didn't know how long it takes to dry the brass, and the best option for drying brass. For my .40s&w, and 9mm cases I could care less if they look better than new since I clean them in large bulk, and never come home with my cases from matches.

On the other hand I really like for my bottle neck cases to be super shiny!

 

[V-fib]

drying the cases

good idea on the lemon juice.

to dry the cases I spread them out in a large aluminum roasting pan in the sun all day. Agitate them once in awhile. they get pretty hot. then I dump them into one of those mesh bags like you get onions in and hang them outside in the wind (agitate once in awhile) to make sure they are completely dry. In the winter I dry them in the oven on low heat till dry. I may try them in my dehydrator.

V-fib

 

[gahunter12]

Thanks V-fib

 

[Wreck-n-Crew]

Pure powdered citric acid is a lot cheaper than lemon juice unless of course you have a lemon tree

Lemon juice is an alternative, I still suggest Lemi-Shine.

Note on Oven drying: set on low heat like warm or 180 degrees. Another alternative is to spread them out in front of a fan....too much heat will tarnish the brass.

 

[Rule3]

Almost 100 years ago my Mother and her Mother used Lemon Juice and salt to clean copper bottom pans. We used it to clean pennies.

The miracles of science

 

[Kidslash]

The lemi shine is good stuff. I am moving away from SS tumbling though. Its more of a hassle then its worth to me. First having to deprime the cases then wet cleaning then rinsing them off then waiting for them to dry.

I went from doing all my brass cleaning with SS pins and a tumbler to only rifle brass and now to just the good old vibratory cleaner with some brasso polish for 4 hours.

To each his own.

 

[GBExpat]

Kidslash, the ammonia in the Brasso makes it a poor choice for cleaning brass cartridge cases.

 

[rogn]

Citric acid is still probably the best and easiest, especially on really dirty brass. Check out the discussion on citric acid on the castboolits site.

 

[GBExpat]

Citric Acid solution is also a great rust-removal soak.

 

[MI2600]

One question: Don't you get your die dirty by decapping before cleaning?

I have a batch of 223 (15-20) currently in the Remi Shine solution. After 2-3 hours, the outsides appear to be shiny, however it doesn't appear to working on the insides.

 

[Rule3]

Oh Heck just put a packet of Kool Aid in the solution. It is Citric acid.

If you use a Dillon then you MUST use the BLUE kind