I've been annealing my brass via the salt bath method for about a year now, so I thought I'd post some results for those contemplating starting to anneal their brass but have not decided what equipment to buy.
I purchased my kit from a supplier in Canada. http://ballisticrecreations.ca/salt_home/salt-bath-annealing-kit-rev/
I added a low cost multi-meter to monitor the temps (about 1000 F) and found a Lee lead pot melter on sale. I think my total investment was around $150.00 including extra salt media.
PRO.
1 First and foremost, it's CHEAP and effective. The only expendables are salt and water (no, you don't mix the two in the pot), and start up costs are reasonable.
2 You absolutely KNOW the temp of the media you are using to anneal your brass, so over heating and ruining the brass is simply not possible. I have left brass in the bath for 5 minutes trying to soften the case head. It got a little discolored, but apparently did not soften. Hardness was pretty consistent with virgin brass according to my test method (not scientific and quantifiable, but nonetheless workable). Therefore the consistency of the anneal is quite good using this method.
3 It's quick. Really quick. I typically use 4 to 5 seconds of soak time and because the baffle plate has two holes, I can place one in the bath and while its cooking, take another case out and place it in the second hole. By counting continuously I place the second case at count 4 and remove the first case and drop it in the nearby water bucket at count 5. Then grab another case and place it at count 4 again and repeat. So every 5 seconds I am cycling a case in and out. That's 12 per minute.
4 Knocking the primer out before annealing is essential. Seriously essential! I had some FTF cases that I pulled down and forgot to segregate from the rest. Fortunately the primer blew after I pulled it out of the bath. I was using a steel pan to capture the annealed brass at that time and the force of the primer explosion flattened the case wall of an adjacent case. It also stopped my heart for a few seconds...LOL. So now I drop them in a bucket of water, both to wash off salt residue, but also just in case I get stupid again. But no further prior action is required such as sizing.
5 Warnings about 1000 degree salt and water not mixing are a bit overblown using this particular method. I've had cases that I SS pin tumbled and rinsed, but that even after blowing out with compressed air and drying in a hot box, still had some water inside. When it hit the hot salt, it sizzled a bit and that was it. Nothing more. I wouldn't pull a case out of a bucket of water and go directly into the sale bath just to test this scenario, but reasonable care keeps things pretty safe.
6 Consistency. This is where paying attention to soak time and media temperature becomes a little more important. As it turns out, shiny, polished brass does not turn bluish as readily as dull brass. So if a visible anneal is preferred as a consistency measure, go with unpolished brass and notice how far down the case the tint travels. My pot cools as I am processing brass, particularly large brass. So I will either stop and wait for it to come back up to temp, or simply add a second or two the the soak time and judge the anneal time by the color after it hits the water. I typically SS tumble afterwards to clean out all salt as well as powder and primer residue. But this removes the nice anneal coloration.
CONS:
1 Although the Lee melter pot is reasonably priced, it clearly was not designed for use around corrosive salt as it's largely made of aluminum. When I replace mine, I'll use hi temp paint to coat the outside surfaces that get exposed to the salt. The other thing that failed early was the temp controller. When new, it held temps at 1000 F pretty consistently. But after a few uses, it began to wander a lot. So now I baby it, frequently unplugging it as temps go above 1100, or cycling the temp knob to get it to turn on again when temps go below 900. There's probably a much more expensive and better melting pot out there, but I continue to nurse mine along and it's doing the job so I'll keep using it for now.
2 You don't want to leave the salt in the pot in storage. It will draw moisture from the air and become wet. That will cause it to smoke considerably while heating up, and transport salt into the air of the environment you're using it. So have an air evacuation plan in place such as using it outside or in the garage with a fan blowing across the pot. Unless you don't mind rusting every tool you own along with your delicate measuring instruments. I put the cooled puck back in the jar the media came from (Ballistic Recreations) and that seems to work fine.
3 For those who prefer dirty, powder residue incrusted necks, this method will affect your neck tension. Some adjustments to the process will have to be made. Although by itself, the salt will not clean residue off the inside of the necks, it will have some affect, especially if you use a water rinse, so plan ahead. A separate neck lube step may be necessary prior to bullet seating.
4 Working around any very hot, 1000 degree liquid is quite dangerous, and the salt pot at working temperature looks completely benign, nothing like the blowtorch method of annealing. There are no visible warning signs of extreme heat such as smoke or the roar of a torch flame to warn of a of a serious burn hazard. The only giveaway is the meter registering 1000 F. So I clamp my pot down to my table saw so I can't trip over the electrical cord and cause a spill, and I wrap the electrical cord around the table several time too. I also warn anyone coming into my work zone to stay clear. For a very visual example of just how hot the salt is, I dip a wooden paint stir stick into the hot salt. It IMMEDIATELY catches fire on contact with the salt. Quite impressive to the casual bystander.
I'll wrap this up now. Hopefully this has been informative and helpful to anyone contemplating getting into annealing. Comments and questions are appreciated and expected. So fire away!
Good Shooting.
I purchased my kit from a supplier in Canada. http://ballisticrecreations.ca/salt_home/salt-bath-annealing-kit-rev/
I added a low cost multi-meter to monitor the temps (about 1000 F) and found a Lee lead pot melter on sale. I think my total investment was around $150.00 including extra salt media.
PRO.
1 First and foremost, it's CHEAP and effective. The only expendables are salt and water (no, you don't mix the two in the pot), and start up costs are reasonable.
2 You absolutely KNOW the temp of the media you are using to anneal your brass, so over heating and ruining the brass is simply not possible. I have left brass in the bath for 5 minutes trying to soften the case head. It got a little discolored, but apparently did not soften. Hardness was pretty consistent with virgin brass according to my test method (not scientific and quantifiable, but nonetheless workable). Therefore the consistency of the anneal is quite good using this method.
3 It's quick. Really quick. I typically use 4 to 5 seconds of soak time and because the baffle plate has two holes, I can place one in the bath and while its cooking, take another case out and place it in the second hole. By counting continuously I place the second case at count 4 and remove the first case and drop it in the nearby water bucket at count 5. Then grab another case and place it at count 4 again and repeat. So every 5 seconds I am cycling a case in and out. That's 12 per minute.
4 Knocking the primer out before annealing is essential. Seriously essential! I had some FTF cases that I pulled down and forgot to segregate from the rest. Fortunately the primer blew after I pulled it out of the bath. I was using a steel pan to capture the annealed brass at that time and the force of the primer explosion flattened the case wall of an adjacent case. It also stopped my heart for a few seconds...LOL. So now I drop them in a bucket of water, both to wash off salt residue, but also just in case I get stupid again. But no further prior action is required such as sizing.
5 Warnings about 1000 degree salt and water not mixing are a bit overblown using this particular method. I've had cases that I SS pin tumbled and rinsed, but that even after blowing out with compressed air and drying in a hot box, still had some water inside. When it hit the hot salt, it sizzled a bit and that was it. Nothing more. I wouldn't pull a case out of a bucket of water and go directly into the sale bath just to test this scenario, but reasonable care keeps things pretty safe.
6 Consistency. This is where paying attention to soak time and media temperature becomes a little more important. As it turns out, shiny, polished brass does not turn bluish as readily as dull brass. So if a visible anneal is preferred as a consistency measure, go with unpolished brass and notice how far down the case the tint travels. My pot cools as I am processing brass, particularly large brass. So I will either stop and wait for it to come back up to temp, or simply add a second or two the the soak time and judge the anneal time by the color after it hits the water. I typically SS tumble afterwards to clean out all salt as well as powder and primer residue. But this removes the nice anneal coloration.
CONS:
1 Although the Lee melter pot is reasonably priced, it clearly was not designed for use around corrosive salt as it's largely made of aluminum. When I replace mine, I'll use hi temp paint to coat the outside surfaces that get exposed to the salt. The other thing that failed early was the temp controller. When new, it held temps at 1000 F pretty consistently. But after a few uses, it began to wander a lot. So now I baby it, frequently unplugging it as temps go above 1100, or cycling the temp knob to get it to turn on again when temps go below 900. There's probably a much more expensive and better melting pot out there, but I continue to nurse mine along and it's doing the job so I'll keep using it for now.
2 You don't want to leave the salt in the pot in storage. It will draw moisture from the air and become wet. That will cause it to smoke considerably while heating up, and transport salt into the air of the environment you're using it. So have an air evacuation plan in place such as using it outside or in the garage with a fan blowing across the pot. Unless you don't mind rusting every tool you own along with your delicate measuring instruments. I put the cooled puck back in the jar the media came from (Ballistic Recreations) and that seems to work fine.
3 For those who prefer dirty, powder residue incrusted necks, this method will affect your neck tension. Some adjustments to the process will have to be made. Although by itself, the salt will not clean residue off the inside of the necks, it will have some affect, especially if you use a water rinse, so plan ahead. A separate neck lube step may be necessary prior to bullet seating.
4 Working around any very hot, 1000 degree liquid is quite dangerous, and the salt pot at working temperature looks completely benign, nothing like the blowtorch method of annealing. There are no visible warning signs of extreme heat such as smoke or the roar of a torch flame to warn of a of a serious burn hazard. The only giveaway is the meter registering 1000 F. So I clamp my pot down to my table saw so I can't trip over the electrical cord and cause a spill, and I wrap the electrical cord around the table several time too. I also warn anyone coming into my work zone to stay clear. For a very visual example of just how hot the salt is, I dip a wooden paint stir stick into the hot salt. It IMMEDIATELY catches fire on contact with the salt. Quite impressive to the casual bystander.
I'll wrap this up now. Hopefully this has been informative and helpful to anyone contemplating getting into annealing. Comments and questions are appreciated and expected. So fire away!
Good Shooting.
