Cleaning black dust off forgings

[JNewman]

I made a couple of forged bowls for Christmas presents today.  After forging I threw them in the tumbler for an hour and a half.   I wiped the dust off them with rags and alcohol.  I then waxed them with past wax  but when polishing them with white paper towels the paper towels kept coming up dirty.   I put on a couple more coatings of wax but this did not solve the problem, even with a LOT of hand polishing.   I was considering stripping the wax and lacquering them to eliminate the problem.  

 

I thought about how production tumbling setups sometimes use a tumbler filled with sawdust to clean and dry items.  I grabbed a handful of sawdust from under my tablesaw and rubbed the bowls down with the  sawdust.  I did not do much rubbing but the problem was solved.   I grabbed a piece of scrap out of the tumbler and the combination of wax and sawdust cleaned it up rapidly.  

[Glenn]

You do not say what tumbling media you are using.

 

Try old nails along with sand and a cup or so of boiled linseed oil. The nails come out clean and usable. (grin) The project comes out clean and with a light coating of oil.