How do you maintain and make sure that your metal dice are clean and safe?

[DragonMF]

I have always had this problem with the metal dice.. they get dirty from hand sweat overtime and they also get chipped a lot.

I hate it when I buy a good metal set and they chip like 6 months down the line. Sometimes even sooner if the dice set is poor quality.

So how do you maintain them?

[Derpldorf]

what kind of metal are they? Steel is different from copper which is different from brass and so on. Painted or unpainted? What size? Solid or hollow?

Also how are you using them?

[DragonMF]

what kind of metal are they? Steel is different from copper which is different from brass and so on. Painted or unpainted? What size? Solid or hollow?

Also how are you using them?

Yes.. thosr are important questions..

I have dice from steel, copper and some zinc alloy.

I use them by rolling them on the wooden table covered with a thin cloth. They still get chipped thou..

Cleaning part is the most complicated for me because I don't want to mess up their coloring or to get them to oxidize..

I read here metal dice care (https://hobbyinspired.com/metal-dice-care/) that you can use soap to clean them and that you should quickly rinse them with the water. Wouldn't that cause oxidation?!

I have this dice set which is a few years old and it is from copper. I love that one the most but there is so much residue on it and I would like it if I could restore it to the way it was. Apart from cleaning it I am also thinking of getting a soft tray because it also had its corners chipped..

Other sets of mine are not as filthy but I would like to prevent them getting filthy and chipped.

Thanks again for your questions and hopefully I gave you an insight into what I have on my mind.. :)

[Ninja_Prawn]

Regardless of what your dice are made of, they will surely be able to chip each other - if you're rolling a fistful of d6s, they'll clatter off each other and get scratched up. That's basically unavoidable, as far as I can tell. Best to embrace it! Battle-scarred dice are probably luckier. :smallcool:

Zinc especially is very soft. You'll never be able to stop that from accumulating damage.

As for cleaning, well, yes most metals will corrode if you leave them exposed to air and water. The key is to dry them thoroughly. Steel rusts very slowly when it's dry. You can also clean them with vinegar, if regular soap isn't cutting it. Also don't let them get salty. Salt accelerates corrosion dramatically.

Trying to keep copper from corroding is a fool's errand, though. The best way to care for copper is to deliberately patinate it - a good patina is stable and will prevent the core of the metal from corroding.

If you desperately want to restore the shine to corroded metal, you'll need to clean/polish it abrasively to grind the surface layer off. That's the only way. It's a temporary fix though, as you'll just be exposing new metal to corrosion and eventually compromising the shape of the dice.

At the end of the day, if you want something that will stay shiny, you should use gold, brass or stainless steel. Copper just isn't a good material for this sort of thing.

[Crgaston]

Vinegar and salt will make your copper dice shiny again.

[DragonMF]

Regardless of what your dice are made of, they will surely be able to chip each other - if you're rolling a fistful of d6s, they'll clatter off each other and get scratched up. That's basically unavoidable, as far as I can tell. Best to embrace it! Battle-scarred dice are probably luckier. :smallcool:

Zinc especially is very soft. You'll never be able to stop that from accumulating damage.

As for cleaning, well, yes most metals will corrode if you leave them exposed to air and water. The key is to dry them thoroughly. Steel rusts very slowly when it's dry. You can also clean them with vinegar, if regular soap isn't cutting it. Also don't let them get salty. Salt accelerates corrosion dramatically.

Trying to keep copper from corroding is a fool's errand, though. The best way to care for copper is to deliberately patinate it - a good patina is stable and will prevent the core of the metal from corroding.

If you desperately want to restore the shine to corroded metal, you'll need to clean/polish it abrasively to grind the surface layer off. That's the only way. It's a temporary fix though, as you'll just be exposing new metal to corrosion and eventually compromising the shape of the dice.

At the end of the day, if you want something that will stay shiny, you should use gold, brass or stainless steel. Copper just isn't a good material for this sort of thing.

Unfortunately you are right.. its impossible not to have them scratch or corrode at some level..
Thank you for your deep insight.

I do agree thay battle scared dice have more weight to them in an emotional sense. Since they hold so many memories I guess they can also hold scars from all the battles that were done by them.

Also thanks for the corrosion part. That helped me research it easier on the web :)

Maybe I will get some brass dice because gold is out of the question that would be too expensive and stainless steel is not really appealing to me :)

[N810]

Bronze is very corrosion resistant as well.

[Talsin]

You might be able to find some Tungsten Carbide dice... Not an expensive metal normally, and very tough. They could chip though, I guess...

[Ninja_Prawn]

Bronze is very corrosion resistant as well.

Not as shiny as brass though! :smallwink:

On a personal note, all of my metal dice are steel. I've not noticed any corrosion but, then again, I don't use them all that often. I think they're also coated in some kind of lacquer or enamel that protects them. So that could be another option, to get dice that are coated in something.

The main problem I've found is that they leave dents in the table!

[Nagog]

The main problem I've found is that they leave dents in the table!



I use them by rolling them on the wooden table covered with a thin cloth. They still get chipped thou..


I'd recommend picking up a rolling tray, or depending on the maker of the metal dice, they may have come in a padded box that also works as a padded rolling tray (DieHard metal dice have a small padded case lid I use as a small dice rolling tray). That should help prevent your table/dice from denting/chipping, respectively. Also, if they came in a case, I'd recommend keeping them in said case when not in use, as they typically have padded slots for each one to prevent them from rattling around too much.

[iTreeby]

At least for d6s, there are some inexpensive aluminum dice that should work well, it is a light metal that forms its own oxide layer so they shouldn't bang themselves up too bad. I haven't found a full set of them that isn't a hundred bucks though.

[Nagog]

At least for d6s, there are some inexpensive aluminum dice that should work well, it is a light metal that forms its own oxide layer so they shouldn't bang themselves up too bad. I haven't found a full set of them that isn't a hundred bucks though.

DieHard metal dice sets are typically $30-$50, are you meaning full sets of d6?

[KorvinStarmast]

You might be able to find some Tungsten Carbide dice... Not an expensive metal normally, and very tough. They could chip though, I guess... I would so get a set of those. Are there any for sale that you are aware of? (My guess is that they'd be kinda pricey, and a bit heavy). The process by which tungsten carbide is applied to tools isn't cheap.

These folks (https://www.norsefoundry.com/products/16mm-norse-foundry-tungsten-polyhedral-dice-set) charge 500 dollars for a set of Tungsten dice.

[Dork_Forge]

For shining up copper, ketchup works well, just rub some on leave it a couple minutes and rub it off (you can rinse under water and dry well if needed afterwards).

For maintaining steel based dice you can try EDCi, it's meant for knives but it's a very good rust inhibitor in general: https://aegissolutionsusa.com/products.php

[Imbalance]

Ask this guy:

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?50601-Got-any-Dice-Questions