Arm & Hammer Baking Soda Added to Media?

Talking reloading with friend back east and he claims adding this to his walnut media improves brass cleaning by reducing time plus increased brightness? He adds like a tablespoon to it.

Anybody ever hear this or do this? I know baking soda is used to neutralize in liquid media but never heard used in dry media. Just curious.
I use nu-finish car wax just a cap full every third or fourth tumbling makes casing shine better and has worked great for me
 
Lots of it in the USAF too. Just hearing the word Brasso makes me recall the smell of it.
I was in the U.S. Army....couldnt resist a dig at a navy guy using spit and polish on his artillery rounds.....

Guess he was worried about headspace and chambering ease
when the big one comes.....🙂
Made some admiral happy I guess.....probably an AG inspection......
 
I would expect that the walnut shells would pick up the baking soda much like corn cob holds the rouge. Maybe not all of the soda, but a fair amount. Some would fall to the bottom, but not all of it. Perhaps not even most of it. A leap of informed faith would lead me to suspect that baking soda is roughly 1200 grit (being that tooth paste in that range) so it would act a bit like using the polishing rouge used in corn cob.

I wouldn't waste good whiskey on that, just drink it neat as god intended. ;)

Tabasco is likely going to have some acetic acid in it from the vinegar. That might make the brass look good, but I've no idea what it will chemically do to the metal. It does nicely remove rust from steel with a short soaking, and remove steel from the steel if left in way too long. You can probably guess how I know this....... :(

I'd be very wary of using BonAmi etc. as I think those are a coarser grit and I suspect would actually wear down the brass over time.
 
Last edited:
I usually use the Lyman corncob media with the green rouge on it. It cleans well but gets stuck in primer pockets so I have to blow them out with compressed air. Sometimes even push them out with a pin.

Recently I have been trying reptile bedding made from crushed walnut. It's smaller in size than the stuff made for tumblers I have tried in the past. I get very few plugged flash holes with this lizard bedding. I have been using the brass polish on the walnut that came with my Berryman tumbler. I had to add quite a bit of it on multiple occasions to get it to clean well. It may take more because there is more surface area on the smaller pieces of the walnut? It does work great when loaded up with the polish.

When I get closer to changing out the media for clean stuff I may try adding some baking soda. I think the brass polish will help it stick to the media and keep it from ending up on the bottom of the tumbler. Being a mild abrasive I think it will help speed up the cleaning process. Being dirt cheap is also a plus!
 
Last edited:
Top