The Firing Line Forums - View Single Post - Car polish and mineral spirits in the tumbler media

Doodlebugger45 · September 16, 2010, 09:59 AM

Now that I've had a tumbler for several months, it's inevitable that I tried some of the suggestions posted here about "extra" things to add to get a shiny case with less tumbling time. Up til now, I just put my brass into the tumbler filled with corn cob media and was satisfied with the results. All the brass got clean fairly quickly, some got nice and shiny in a couple hours, others took a few more hours to get kind of shiny. I had read many suggestions to use Nu-finish car polish as well as suggestions to use mineral spirits. Knowing that all the advice posted here is very wise,

I ventured into the hardware store looking for those magic elixirs. Surprisingly, I did find mineral spirits with no problem (I'd never heard of it before) and it was pretty cheap stuff to boot. They didn't have Nu-Finish car polish (I live in a small town) but they did have some liquid turtle wax polish that Ifigured would be worth trying.

I didn't know exactly how much to use so I poured 2 capfuls of the car polish in and just a little dab (I'm guessing maybe a teaspoon or less) of the mineral spirits in and turned the sucker on. My expectations were modest, but I came back in about an hour or so and I was totally shocked by the results. They were all bright and shiny looking like brand new!

My question now, is if it is necessary to use both mineral spirits AND car pollish? A true scientific experiment would be to try each one separately to see which was giving the best effect separately, but for now I'll just let it be. Do I need to add a wee bit of each for every batch of brass in the future or am I good to go for awhile?

Thanks for all the suggestions regarding the brass tumbling in the past. Sparkly brass sure is pretty. Although, I do tend to drop it more often than the old brownish stuff. They just slip through my fingers sometimes they are so slick.

September 16, 2010, 09:59 AM	#1
Doodlebugger45 Senior Member Join Date: April 15, 2009 Location: Wyoming Posts: 1,717	Car polish and mineral spirits in the tumbler media Now that I've had a tumbler for several months, it's inevitable that I tried some of the suggestions posted here about "extra" things to add to get a shiny case with less tumbling time. Up til now, I just put my brass into the tumbler filled with corn cob media and was satisfied with the results. All the brass got clean fairly quickly, some got nice and shiny in a couple hours, others took a few more hours to get kind of shiny. I had read many suggestions to use Nu-finish car polish as well as suggestions to use mineral spirits. Knowing that all the advice posted here is very wise, I ventured into the hardware store looking for those magic elixirs. Surprisingly, I did find mineral spirits with no problem (I'd never heard of it before) and it was pretty cheap stuff to boot. They didn't have Nu-Finish car polish (I live in a small town) but they did have some liquid turtle wax polish that Ifigured would be worth trying. I didn't know exactly how much to use so I poured 2 capfuls of the car polish in and just a little dab (I'm guessing maybe a teaspoon or less) of the mineral spirits in and turned the sucker on. My expectations were modest, but I came back in about an hour or so and I was totally shocked by the results. They were all bright and shiny looking like brand new! My question now, is if it is necessary to use both mineral spirits AND car pollish? A true scientific experiment would be to try each one separately to see which was giving the best effect separately, but for now I'll just let it be. Do I need to add a wee bit of each for every batch of brass in the future or am I good to go for awhile? Thanks for all the suggestions regarding the brass tumbling in the past. Sparkly brass sure is pretty. Although, I do tend to drop it more often than the old brownish stuff. They just slip through my fingers sometimes they are so slick.