Removing Lead Oxide From Minies

[arcticap]

I bought some cast minies and many of them are coated with a stubborn layer of lead oxide.
I thought that there might be a solution/mixture to help dissolve it. When my kids looked online they told me that there was a patent issued for lead oxide removal.
The patent said to spray with water and then brush with an abrasive.
That sounds ingenious doesn't it?
I'm soaking them in some water, but what kind of an abrasive? Baking soda maybe?
I guess that I'll need to use a toothbrush unless someone has a better idea.
If someone has another method that works, then maybe it can be patented too.  

[William Worth]

Melt them down and recast them.

[arcticap]

Because it can damage a bore, is not worth the effort, impossible to remove or all of the above?

[T*O*F]

Have you got a tumbler?

[ol vern]

Why not just lube them up and shoot them?

Don't believe a little lead oxide would have much effect on accuracy.

[Dphariss]

The oxide may well be hard enough to damage the bore.

Dan

[Candle Snuffer]

Have you had any luck removing the oxide as yet, arcticap?

[arcticap]

Thanks for asking but I haven't tried to brush them off yet.
They've been soaking in a jug of water and today I rinsed them off several times.
A lot of very cloudy water was poured off, and when I gave one a quick fingernail test, the hard white oxide seems to have lost some degree of its cement like cohesion.
Many of them were mostly snowy white, and I'm a little more optimistic now.
But there was considerable variation in their grain weights and diameters maybe due in part to the heavy oxide coating.
BTW they're .58's.

[Collector]

Hmmm... A heavy lead oxide coating that is very hard.  Might they be recoveries from a CW 'digger,' because it sounds like they have been in the ground for a pretty long time.  Take them out of the water, let them dry and put them in little window boxes on cotton.  They sell well at CW shows, local museums and on occasion even eBay.   Honestly, the variations in the different types and manufacturers of Minnies is a study unto itself.  Diggers around here find discarded (dropped by CW soldiers who didn't want to carry them) Minnies by the jars full, all the time and they look just like yours, as described.  If they don't have any more historical value, to you, than old lead water pipes, by all means throw them in you casting pot and recycle (don't you just love using those 'green' terms) them into RB of your choice (another word that celebrates our diversity- I'm on a roll here!) Good luck!