Cleaning and Polishing Brass

[drayweb]

I'm in charge of cleaning and polishing the M1909 brass for my honor guard. After each funeral, my captain gives the family a pouch with the nice shiny brass to the families after the flag is presented. Lately I've been having some difficulty getting the brass clean. I de-prime the cases and wash them in hot water with some Birchwood Casey brass cleaner. Then I soak them in my Hornady sonic cleaner and dry them completely. Then I tumble them in my vibrating type brass polisher with corn cob and Lyman brass polish. I did this last step twice, but there was still dirty film left on the cases. I even put a couple of used dryer sheets in with the media when I tumbled it. Should I try Walnut media? I used that before, but it left a red residue on my brass.

 

[Tymurrey]

Cleanest Brass that I’ve ever gotten was with stainless pins. Looks like new or better than new.

 

[Allen]

I am kind of surprised there is a "dirty film" after all those steps since the first you've done is the step needed to remove any grease, etc. Is it from the dryer sheets? They always feel greasy to me.

Maybe you just need some new corn cob media?

On a side note, since you are presenting these to a deceased veteran's family, are you also clear coating the final product with something? I've done this a few times to put the shell casing on the plaque for a deer mount. Just curious as to what you use if you do this step.

 

[Kentucky Windage]

Strange, I’d think the brass would glow in the dark they’d be so shiny with that routine.

- - - Updated - - -

I quit using drier sheets several years ago. There is something in those sheets that I believe is not desirable. I would replace the tumbling media with new media. I buy my media at a pet store for a fraction of the price.

 

[AR-15]

Clean them with steel wool, will look like new when done