Brass coming out gold instead of yellow...

[daved20319]

Or maybe reddish gold? Anyway, I'm using the Frankford Arsenal Rotary Tumbler, my cleaning formula is a teaspoon each of Dawn and Armorall Wash/Wax, plus a scant 1/4 teaspoon Lemishine. Drum full of water, plus a couple hands full of pins. Run for 2 hours, dump, rinse, then a half hour with just clean water. Dump, rinse again, then into my old dehydrator overnight to dry. Brass is decapped prior to cleaning. It comes out nice and clean, but it's usually not the typical yellow brass color, more golden or old brass. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong, or could it just be my water? It's well water, so no chlorine, but I had it tested a few years back, it's very clean, but the magnesium was a little high IIRC. Later.

Dave

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[Xmark1]

Or maybe reddish gold? Anyway, I'm using the Frankford Arsenal Rotary Tumbler, my cleaning formula is a teaspoon each of Dawn and Armorall Wash/Wax, plus a scant 1/4 teaspoon Lemishine. Drum full of water, plus a couple hands full of pins. Run for 2 hours, dump, rinse, then a half hour with just clean water. Dump, rinse again, then into my old dehydrator overnight to dry. Brass is decapped prior to cleaning. It comes out nice and clean, but it's usually not the typical yellow brass color, more golden or old brass. Any ideas what I'm doing wrong, or could it just be my water? It's well water, so no chlorine, but I had it tested a few years back, it's very clean, but the magnesium was a little high IIRC. Later.

Dave

pictures?

 

[RVTECH]

and Armorall Wash/Wax,

Drop that and stick with the Dawn & Lemishine or just use real lemon juice as I do and your brass will come out like this.

The Armor All probably has some waxy, oily stuff in it that is not allowing you to get bright, shiny and dry brass.

 

[aksu747]

Drop that and stick with the Dawn & Lemishine or just use real lemon juice as I do and you brass will look like this.

View attachment 1224576

That looks better than some factory brass I've seen.

 

[RVTECH]

Also air dry - no humidifier or oven drying.

 

[Xmark1]

Dawn (1/2 to 1 teaspoon), Lemishine (1/2 to 1 teaspoon), hot water, one hour tumble with lots of pins.
Only fill water about 3/4 full.
Simple rinse & airdry.
These were covered with mud & muck and sat in five-gallon buckets partially filled with water for about eight months before polishing.

 

[HighlandLofts]

I use the whole five pounds of pins.
Hot tap water.
I/4 to a 1/2 teaspoon Lemi-shine
A cap of ArmorAll Wash n Wax
A small squirt of Dawn
Run an hour, drain & rinse.
Fill with new hot water & cap full of ArmorAll Wash n Wax. Run for 15 minutes. Rince h hang on my drying racks.

If they are not where you want them after the hour of run time rince and retumble another hour with new HOT WATER and new Lemi-shine, ArmorAll, & Dawn.

Don't run the brass A full two hours in the disgusting black contaminated water. One hour, Rinse & retumble another hour.

 

[P7M13]

In my experience, the reddish tinge is from getting too warm during the heated dry phase.

 

[ARFrog]

The rose gold coloring is caused by either too much Lemishine or too long of a wash period with a proper amount of Lemishine. Either way the acidic content of the water etches the brass and takes away zinc thereby removing the shiny surface.

Here are other threads talking about the same situation:

Any idea why Iâm suddenly getting rose gold colored cases after tumbling and drying?. - Calguns.net

Any idea why Iâm suddenly getting rose gold colored cases after tumbling and drying?. Ammo and Reloading

www.calguns.net

Brass discoloration - Calguns.net

Brass discoloration Ammo and Reloading

www.calguns.net

 

[Certaindeaf]

Monkeyshine is way better than Lemishine.







Lol

 

[P7M13]

Monkeyshine is way better than Lemishine.







Lol

Moonshine. They'll all look stellar, and every woman like a supermodel.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Moonshine. They'll all look stellar, and every woman like a supermodel.

Lol, shine on you crazy diamond.

 

[bionic knees]

in my old rock tumbler, I use oatmeal, minute rice, and a bit of dried polishing compound. blow them off and wipe with a dry cloth and they are good to go. I have to be careful to check the flash hole for pieces of rice. lol! works quite well

 

[Lazyfaire]

I use a Frankford tumbler also, with pins. Drop the brass into the tumbler and fill 3/4 full of water. (I live in Texas and ALL water down here is warm!! )
I only use about an ounce or less of the Frankford brass cleaner and about a cup and a half of the pins.
Run the tumbler for 2-3 hours.
Roll the brass in the drain roller and bucket and carefully lay them all out on a towel. I use the magnet to lift any leftover pins and
then dump the brass onto an old baking pan and into the oven for 30-40 minutes at 200 degrees.
Dump them back onto a clean dry towel and let cool.
Separate by caliber and bag em up. Clean and very shiny.
When all done with the brass I put the pins on the tray and dry them out also before I bag them back up. Its a process but it works and they look great.

 

[BrandonQuixote]

Rose-gold appearance comes from leeching out the zinc. Too much citric acid. Lemishine is FINE, but I started using Brass Juice two-ish years ago and never looked back. Best looking brass ive ever had and NO PINS REQUIRED. Definitely gets you BRIGHT yellow brass, not that dull looking kind- if that matters.

BRASS JUICE CASE WASH

No Stainless Steel Media Required Designed for use with sonic cleaner and rotary tumblers Removes fouling, tarnish and oxidation from brass cases Cleans cases inside and out including primer pockets Made in the USA Brass Juice Case Wash is formulated to remove carbon buildup, tarnish and...

www.thereloadingstation.com

Didn't have good luck with their case lube though.

 

[Caveman Jim]

Put 5# SS pins and brass (do not put in more than 5/8-3/4), fill 3/4 with warm water.
In the palm of your hand shake out a out a dime size pile of Lemi-Shine (I never use a measurer), 2 squirts of Dawn and 3) 35mm plastic canisters of car wash/wax.
Tumble for 1 hour, pull and rinse a few to see if they're at desired appearance, if not tumble another hour.

 

[Koda]

I recently had some pink brass and threw them away. How quickly does the dezincification weaken the case? Will the neck split when firing?

 

[BrandonQuixote]

I recently had some pink brass and threw them away. How quickly does the dezincification weaken the case? Will the neck split when firing?

Never had an issue. I shot them, ran them again and they seem to come out golden again.

 

[ARFrog]

Rose gold vs new



Both shoot fine.

I too use car wash/wax as follows:

- Franford Arsenal Platinum tumbler with S/S pins about 80% full of warm water

- a 9mm case full of Lemoshine with about 3 squirts of Dawn for about 20-30 minutes. Dump dirty water, refill with warm water and add a cap full or two of car wash with wax for another 20-30 minutes.

Results are "mavalus darling!"

 

[BrandonQuixote]

Mine were literally pink. A re-wash with brass juice and they're bright shiny perfection: