Perhaps not entirely related, but I'm considering a brass piston for a tamper. I've been emailing Reg Barber about one, particularly cleaning and polishing the brass. They said to use toothpaste. Now I realize that's for brass. Is there any reason why it wouldn't be advisable for stainless steel?

You don't have to 'polish' stainless as it does corrode past the layer of chromium oxide. You can simply wipe a stainless tamper clean. Over time, it may get scratched, at which time it will require vigorous polishing to remove the chromium oxide and some metal to the scratch depth. A new layer of chromium oxide is then formed, again preventing corrosion.

Brass and copper on the other hand corrode on exposure to moisture in the air. Polishing removes the verdigris and allows the base metal color to shine.

Polishing removes metal & corrosion by the abrasive action of the polish.

SlowRain wrote:Perhaps not entirely related, but I'm considering a brass piston for a tamper. I've been emailing Reg Barber about one, particularly cleaning and polishing the brass. They said to use toothpaste. Now I realize that's for brass. Is there any reason why it wouldn't be advisable for stainless steel?

I hardly ever even wipe off my brass RB piston and it looks as good as the day I bought it. Now I wonder if I take some toothpaste to it if it will look better...

networkcrasher,

How do you like your brass piston? What handle did you go with?

I really like it. I have it in a C-Flat on a Bubinga/Delron handle and it just "crunches" different when you tamp. I'd like to get a bit larger one, exactly the same, but I think it's cheaper to just find some more baskets to give a whirl.