I was just curious if brass could be cleaned in a sodium hydroxide solution or if it would weaken the cases beyond the ability to use them?
There is a commercially available liquid brass cleaner, but I don't know what chemical it uses. Bought a bag a couple of years ago and then didn't ever use it. Moved, and it's somewhere in a box. If I find it, I'll post what info is on the bag. CB
All depends on how strong it is. Sodium Hydroxide's street name is caustic soda. It can get pretty stout. It's a base and it's the main ingredient in that purple degrease stuff like Castrol Super Clean. I don't think it has an effect on brass like ammonia which is bad news to brass. I'd try a small amount of brass to make sure it doesn't come out black or something.
That liquid brass cleaner stuff like Birchwood Casey is phosphoric acid based IIRC and will turn your brass pink. But it does clean it fairly well. Just don't leave it in too long or your wife/GF will nab it from you.
That liquid brass cleaner stuff like Birchwood Casey is phosphoric acid based IIRC and will turn your brass pink. But it does clean it fairly well. Just don't leave it in too long or your wife/GF will nab it from you.
I suppose it would be useful if the brass were soaked in bacon grease.
In general, liquid cleaners are messy, slow, and effective for only limited contaminants. And the brass looks ugly when you're done.
With the exception of needing hot water wash for caked-on dried dirt, plain old walnut shell and a tumbler remove the most common contaminants and leave a little shine to boot.
In general, liquid cleaners are messy, slow, and effective for only limited contaminants. And the brass looks ugly when you're done.
With the exception of needing hot water wash for caked-on dried dirt, plain old walnut shell and a tumbler remove the most common contaminants and leave a little shine to boot.
The only reason i asked is I have a wash tank in my office that is designed to dissolve a support material on ABS prototypes and I was just curious is washing them in it would do any harm. I am currently being to cheap to buy a tumbler and am cleaning brass by hand/drill and steel wool.
You're what!!?!???!
Buy a tumbler! When you clean a couple hundred in 2-3 hours and all you do is just dump them in and pick them out, you'll be glad you did.
Just a thought, how much is your time worth?
Buy a tumbler! When you clean a couple hundred in 2-3 hours and all you do is just dump them in and pick them out, you'll be glad you did.
Just a thought, how much is your time worth?
MidSouth Shooters has a decent tumbler for $39. Petsmart has lizard litter cheap.
Hi,
For fun, I went nuts trying to find the best methods of cleaning brass a couple of years ago. I tried just about everything I could think of. Wet ceramic, ultrasonic, chemical, etc. In the end I found that while there are methods that will get brass spotless on the inside and the outside, it takes a level or work to do it that really has no tangible benefit.
If you want spotless cases, ultrasonic works very well. The only problem is that the solutions that clean the best also tend to leach the copper out of the brass which turns them greenish. You really have to limit the time you allow the cleaning agent or chemical to do its work. With ultrasonic you need a powerful unit, or have to do a small number of brass at one time so you don't damped the ultrasonic energy too much (which then takes longer to clean, allowing the chemicals longer to leach).
I went back to using a vibratory tumber with corn cob media. I spray the media with a 50/50 mix of nufinish car wax and mineral spirits to keep it moist enough to keep the dust down, add a nice polish shine, and decent polishing speed. I probably run brass for 2-4 hours in it and it turns out very shiny on the outside. This will not get the inside spotless or even touch the primer pocket.
Good luck,
Alan
For fun, I went nuts trying to find the best methods of cleaning brass a couple of years ago. I tried just about everything I could think of. Wet ceramic, ultrasonic, chemical, etc. In the end I found that while there are methods that will get brass spotless on the inside and the outside, it takes a level or work to do it that really has no tangible benefit.
If you want spotless cases, ultrasonic works very well. The only problem is that the solutions that clean the best also tend to leach the copper out of the brass which turns them greenish. You really have to limit the time you allow the cleaning agent or chemical to do its work. With ultrasonic you need a powerful unit, or have to do a small number of brass at one time so you don't damped the ultrasonic energy too much (which then takes longer to clean, allowing the chemicals longer to leach).
I went back to using a vibratory tumber with corn cob media. I spray the media with a 50/50 mix of nufinish car wax and mineral spirits to keep it moist enough to keep the dust down, add a nice polish shine, and decent polishing speed. I probably run brass for 2-4 hours in it and it turns out very shiny on the outside. This will not get the inside spotless or even touch the primer pocket.
Good luck,
Alan
