grey shot. Dirty looking silver. HELP

[ruth]

HELP Please
The shot in the barrel polisher has gone grey, If I tumble the shot on its own it seem ok but when I put silver in and tumble the silver comes out black and the water is very dirty looking.  What have I dine and what can I do?

Ruth

[mizgeorge]

It sounds like you have a bit of a breakdown in your barrel Ruth.

You might find this helpful: http://www.cooltools.us/v/vspfiles/images/tumblercontamination.pdf

As a general rule you need to be very careful about what tumbling medium you use. I know some people do OK with mild dishwashing liquid, but it needs to be absolutely free of any additives, especially antibac, fragrance or colours as these are often the cause of the problem.

[ruth]

Thanks George but I have only ever used the medium supplied with the barrel. I have tumbled copper and wondered if this has caused the problem?

Ruth

[mizgeorge]

It's not likely to be the copper - in fact, you can tumble copper and silver together without any problems.

Is it a rubber barrel? If so, the flat coca cola trick really does work

[ruth]

 I will start with the cola plan and work my way through the other ideas. I thought the problem was with the shot. I didn't give any thought to it being the barrel. So glad I asked.

Ruth