Brass Cleaning - My solution

[travellerw]

I have just started to reload and as such I do not have a tumbler/vibrator. So I have been looking for other ways to make my brass nice and clean.

I wanted to share my discovery in case someone else is in the same boat.

I had read on some sites that a Vinegar and Lemon juice solution would work. I tried this, but was not satisfied as it left the brass tarnished. I suspected that the acids in the Vinegar or Lemon juice we not completely rinsing away and tarnishing the brass.

So in an effort to stop that, I dumped the brass in a water and Lye solution after the acid soak. I immediately noticed that the brass was coming out very clean.

After some digging on the net, I discovered that a hot lye bath is used to clean brass on an industrial level.

So armed with that information, I boiled some water, added some lye and dumped in my brass. 5 minutes later, clean brass.

So there you go, anyone looking to clean brass without a tumbler, try it, it really works.

 

[Keller]

Did it clean the carbon out from inside or just shine up the outside?

 

[travellerw]

Carbon is gone from the inside..

After 6 minutes, I stick a spoon in and stir everything around. The water turns super black when I do that. Then I drain and rinse well.

After the wash, I leave them spread out on a towel to dry overnight, or stick them in an convection oven at 200F for 15 minutes.

I'm using 1 Table Spoon of Lye to 3 liters of water.

 

[zippy_the_wonder_chimp]

hmmm

Sounds good- I may have to try that.

I've been using Simple Green in boiled water-
nothing amazing but a non chemical method
that makes my kitchen smell nicer than usual, heh.

 

[redddogg69]

Try using a salad spinner ($15 bucks at local kitchen store) it dries the brass in about 3 min.

 

[masonicshooter]

where did you purchase the lye? i've noticed It's very difficult to find and was told by an employee of a store that they quit carrying it because It's being used to manufacture street drugs.

 

[travellerw]

I purchased mine about 3 years ago at Home Hardware. I'm pretty sure they still carry it.

I think you just have to look around for it. Lots of people use it to manufacture BioDiesel. Sometimes it will have another name (Drain Cleaner) but when you look at the ingredients it will say 99% lye.

I'm going to try the salad spinner trick now.

 

[tjsudbury]

I purchased mine about 3 years ago at Home Hardware. I'm pretty sure they still carry it.

I think you just have to look around for it. Lots of people use it to manufacture BioDiesel. Sometimes it will have another name (Drain Cleaner) but when you look at the ingredients it will say 99% lye.

I'm going to try the salad spinner trick now.

Thats where I got the lye I use in my drains at home. Haven't tried it for cleaning brass yet, but certainly worth a try.

 

[Mystic Precision]

Do you leave it boiling on the stove or just into water that is hot from boiling?

Sounds like a great idea and would save huge time and effort BUT boiling on the stove would not get me any points with the boss.

Maybe on the BBQ.

Jerry

 

[redddogg69]

Here is some 38 special I put through the salad spinner after a trip through the ultra sonic.

 

[travellerw]

I simply use a kettle to boil some water and then pour it over the brass (in a plastic ziplock container) then add the Lye. I read somewhere you should always add lye to water and not the other way around (don't remember why). Then mix.

I'm going to increase the soak time to 10 minutes with a stirring at 5 min. I noticed about %25 of the brass still has a small amount of black soot inside at the bottom. Probably not a huge deal but I like to be perfect. The extra 5 min should take care of that.

 

[PerversPépère]

If you're reluctant to use lye because of the very skin-corrosive properties, try a hot water solution of TSP (Tri Sodium Phosphate).
It is very effective.
PP.

 

[masonicshooter]

If you're reluctant to use lye because of the very skin-corrosive properties, try a hot water solution of TSP (Tri Sodium Phosphate).
It is very effective.
PP.

i tried tsp in the past and it wasn't very effective, this lye solution sounds far superior. i would just be careful where you dump the water as i'd assume it to be contaminated with lead from the spent primers.

 

[travellerw]

Maybe we could play around with mixing lye and TSP. We might come up with a less corrosive mixture that works just as well.

Is there any issues mixing Lye and TSP?

 

[travellerw]

Wow.. I didn't even think about the lead thing.. I totally forgot that primers contain lead.

Its a pretty small amount and most of it is shot out of the barrel so there probably isn't much left in the water. Still something to think about.

Not sure if it would be considered unsafe to dump down the drain.

Here is the link to the CCI MSDS sheet on spent primers. It says that lead absorption through the skin in highly unlikely.
http://glarp.atk.com/2008/msds/525_Small_Pistol_Comp.pdf

 

[OEM]

I wonder if we deprime first, then drop into this solution, if it will clean the primer pockets just like the SS media does?

Does anything in the lye attack brass? I know that ammonia is not good for brass...

 

[masonicshooter]

Wow.. I didn't even think about the lead thing.. I totally forgot that primers contain lead.

Its a pretty small amount and most of it is shot out of the barrel so there probably isn't much left in the water. Still something to think about.

Not sure if it would be considered unsafe to dump down the drain.

Here is the link to the CCI MSDS sheet on spent primers. It says that lead absorption through the skin in highly unlikely.
http://glarp.atk.com/2008/msds/525_Small_Pistol_Comp.pdf

probably best to avoid the kitchen sink.

 

[travellerw]

I thought about de-priming first, but lots of people like to wash first so the crap in the casing doesn't damage your dies.

I did some research and it shows that lye is used to clean brass in some industrial processes, so I assume its safe. It certainly doesn't seem to hurt it to my eyes.

I will probably just dump the water down the toilet from now on.

 

[tjsudbury]

I thought about de-priming first, but lots of people like to wash first so the crap in the casing doesn't damage your dies.
I did some research and it shows that lye is used to clean brass in some industrial processes, so I assume its safe. It certainly doesn't seem to hurt it to my eyes.

I will probably just dump the water down the toilet from now on.

To solve this problem, I deprime all my cases with a Lee decapping die, perminantly mounted on a cheap Lee reloader press.

 

[masonicshooter]

I thought about de-priming first, but lots of people like to wash first so the crap in the casing doesn't damage your dies.

I did some research and it shows that lye is used to clean brass in some industrial processes, so I assume its safe. It certainly doesn't seem to hurt it to my eyes.

I will probably just dump the water down the toilet from now on.

if lye was harmful to brass, i'd assume jerry would have said so.