Why does my brass tarnish more than new brass?

[Clint007]

Quick question: I wet tumble with SS pins. My brass comes out bright gold, similar to my new unfired Starline brass. Over a few days to weeks the used but cleaned brass darkens. I assume this is tarnish. The new stuff stays bright.  I've tried variations of mild waxes but the used cleaned brass still tarnishes.

I don't care that the brass is dark. It works fine. I'm more curious as to why the new brass stays bright...

Clint

[ReloaderFred]

You've stripped the brass down to bare metal, and there's nothing left to protect it from the air and moisture, which causes it to tarnish.  If you dry tumble it in corncob and one of the car waxes after wet tumbling, that will give it a protective coat and keep it from tarnishing much longer.  Some swear by Nu-Finish, but really any of the liquid car waxes will do the job.  The more wax content in the liquid, the better.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[1SOW]

What Fred said^^^^^^^.

A little Nu-Finish (1/2 capfull per 400 cases to start? then 1/4 capfull every two or three loads) in corncob keeps mine looking new for more than a year in storage.  Also cases also feed into the dies with less effort.    YMMV

[M1A4ME]

I started putting nu-finish in my polishing vibratory cleaner last year. 

The brass on the left is from the same brand/model (I have two of them) but with no wax in the media.  The brass on the right is from the one with wax in the media.

You can see how much brighter/shinier the brass is with car wax in the media.  That's straight out of the cleaners but the brass on the right stays shinier/brighter than without the wax.

Looks like I forgot to add the picture....

[jeep45238]

I use armor all  wash and wax as soap when wet tumbling.  Cleans great, leaves a thin waxy film, no tarnishing.


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[Clint007]

Thank you. I only wet tumble now, no more dry tumbling.   Hated the dust, plus the lead issue. 
I actually USE Armour All Wash&Wax as my detergent in the wet tumbler, along with a tsp of Lemonshine. But I rinse the brass in cold water well afterwards. I actually use the large dillon separator basket, filled with water, to separate the SS pins from the brass. Works well, but I expect that removes any residual wash and wax that might have prevented the tarnishing.

C

[Peacetilence]

A final rise in lukewarm water w/ some Ivory dish soap in it keep my cases "fresh" a lot longer. Some One Shot after drying seems to work too.

[Clint007]

I wonder if a warm water rinse in the separator with a small amount of NuFinish would also work?

C

[Moken]

I use the Lyman Turbo cleaner in my wet pin tumbler. Seems to work very well. I did k=notice when trying to use some of the dish washing liquids they tarnished afterword, An I always rinse and dry intermediately after tumbling.

[Joustin]

I use nufinish with walnut to keep it looking good. Fresh media will alleviate lead concerns, use some mineral spirits and dust won?t be an issue either


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