Fluxing your Blend!

I've Been casting around for the perfect boolit for years now (who says lead s bad for you .....I sTiLl Be QuiTe NoRmAll)& when it comes to Fluxing your Pot /Blend it seems to bring out the Alchemist in all Casters :? It strikes me as some Blokes would have you dance around your pot/furnace naked but painted in Pigs Blood & covered in Chicken Feathers on the Full moon muttering Viva Joe Stalin or the Like ! Before you attempt to flux ! Others will tell you Don't worry about Fluxing ! The Manuals say use a peice of Bullet lube the size of a Pea ! (I wonder what happens to you if you use a peice bigger than a Pea?:evil: )

Ok I'm going to throw my $00.02 cents worth in ! Ok first get a bucket of Pigs Blood & 1 chicken [smilie=1: I mean . No seriously I met a chap once who had been involved in the Printing industry for years & more importantly had worked with large volumes of Lino-type ! He asked me one day how I fluxed my lead & I explained to him the process I used .He was quite taken aback that I went to so much trouble ! He pointed out he used to be in charge of ten thousand gallons of lino-type & the methord used to clean /Flux it was a Crusivel of Potatos! Yeah Spuds !!!!!!!!!!!!!! Apparently the Starch in the Humble spud is realised & fluxs the mix to perfection! I hve been using this methord for years now & I have found it to be very effective as you do'nt get the cloud of fumes comming off that you get with other methords ! I use a hunk of spud about 2inches round on a old Barbeque Fork ! Just plunge it in a Stir it round you can get right to the bottom of your Pot & really get the Dross off the bottom & sides !It does tend to Bubble a Bit as you plunge it in ,but you should be wearing Gloves anyway (to say nothing of Eye protection ) I blend & flux in a large pot over a Gas Ring & then ladel the finnish ed product in to small cake trays to form ingots of the desired blend which go into the Furnace as required !

Dave

Hey Dave You fluxing with a peace of raw patato? i,v been using wax. It's about time to cast some more 45's i'll try it

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Originally Posted by Toney

Hey Dave You fluxing with a peace of raw patato? i,v been using wax. It's about time to cast some more 45's i'll try it

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Yeah Mate been using it for years. It's not as messy as Wax Of Lube & it really gets the Muck out of the blend ! You only need a peice about 2inchs round ! I just normaly cut the Spud into 1/4's & use one peice!

Dave

Now we know where to get the potato salad fixings for the DNC luncheon!:-o

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Originally Posted by versifier

Now we know where to get the potato salad fixings for the DNC luncheon!:-o

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Ya want Fries with that?[smilie=1:

D-O-K,
With how much my family casts, we would go though at least 5 bags of potatos a year!!!!!!! What we use is bees wax that is pressed in to coffee cans by hand, and then cut in to small pieces as it is needed. after the wax is in the pot throw in a lit match and the wax does not smoke and the fire does not hurt the pot. My dad uses a old kitchen spoon that is used for getting the soup out of the pot. He will scape the sides of the pot with the spoon, get the junk out, and then scoop it out with the spoon! It works very well, and we got a hole bunch of bees wax for free in montana, so there you go!
DANIEL/BS JR.
P.S. What kind of a pot do you use?

Bull shop I use a Lee 20lbs furnance for casting . I have a Old cast iron saucepan that holds about 40lbs of scrap lead on a lpg (propane) gas ring ,to blend & then I ladle out with (like your dad ) a soup ladel (lovingly stolen from my wife :p )

Dave

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Originally Posted by d-o-k

Bull shop I use a Lee 20lbs furnance for casting . I have a Old cast iron saucepan that holds about 40lbs of scrap lead on a lpg (propane) gas ring ,to blend & then I ladle out with (like your dad ) a soup ladel (lovingly stolen from my wife :p )

Dave

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My dad only uses the "Big Spoon" for the fluxing. for making ingots he uses a Magma 90 pound production pot, and for in the house he uses a RCBS 20 pound pro melt. That is the pot the everyone uses. we have two of the RCBS. one for back up and one for every day use. the reason that we use the RCBS is that we are commercial custom casters, and do small orders, anywhere from 1 to 5000 boolits, for an order.
DANIEL/BS JR.

Gentlemen:

For fluxing the melt use nothing but Olive Oil.

Put it in a squirt oil can and pump it out on top of the melt as required. When it heats up and either smokes or burns it is not objectionable at all, kind of like french-frying potatoes or something.

Good afternoon,
Forrest

Welcome to the site Forrest ! Olive oil ? I've never heard that one before I must give it a try ! That's what I love about this site there's always something new to exchange info on !

Dan I set the Gas ring & pot up out the back & then blend & flux enough lead to keep me going for a time & then use the LEE furnace to cast from ! I doubt that I would ever come close to your Dad's volume of casting:smile: But then again at the rate that my Kids go through ammo for the .310 Cadet these days .I'm starting to wonder [smilie=b:

Dave

I've seen one damp wheelweight cause an explosion of molten lead, I can't picture plunging a piece of raw potato in there.

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Originally Posted by 454PB

I've seen one damp wheelweight cause an explosion of molten lead, I can't picture plunging a piece of raw potato in there.

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Causes it to bubble & spit a bit but it sure cleans the mix ! I had the misfourtune once of seeing the result of a pot of lead that was under a leaky roof when it started raining ! Fortunatly thecowner had come out of the shed to greet me as I arrived & all we heard was the karumph ! He was a lucky boy that day !He was bittern by a Tipan snake two years later & was'nt so lucky I'm a fraid to say !

Dave

Well my friend I owe you one. That is one great solution to the smoke and grope method I have been using. Potatoes eh! Umm guess I will need to steal a fork from the good wife.

Take care from Canada's Great Northwest to all of the Aussies on the board.

Stay Safe

Bob

ps If you ever run into a gal named Judy Edelston (maiden name), out of Adelaide tell her, her Canuck is alive and well!

G'day Bob ! Welcome to the site . A young lady from Adelaide aye? I live about 400kms north of Adelaide & feel that is still too close for comfort ! Got into a world of trouble there once picking up some ammo for a Mate who at that time was a Rabbit shooting Processer .I was picking up about 10,000 rnds of .22 lr plus my own gear & had parked in a loading zone out side the gun store ! I did'nt find it unusual ,the owner did'nt find it out of the ordanary But!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The 2 Cops walking the beat got most upset ![smilie=w:

Dave

:???:I can't even imagine getting something as wet as a potato even near the pot . . . Plunge it into molten lead ??

With me 3 or 4 houses down the street maybe.

I had 10 pounds of a 20 pound melt all over the walls, ceiling, bench, floor, me, all from one cold damp sprue.

I sure don't know everything but I can't see this as a wise experiment.

Rick

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Originally Posted by cbrick

:???:I can't even imagine getting something as wet as a potato even near the pot . . . Plunge it into molten lead ??

With me 3 or 4 houses down the street maybe.

I had 10 pounds of a 20 pound melt all over the walls, ceiling, bench, floor, me, all from one cold damp sprue.

I sure don't know everything but I can't see this as a wise experiment.

Rick

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Cbrick,
Wecome to the forum!!!
As I sayed in my first post, my famly would go though about +5 bags of pototos in a year.
DELBERT/BS JR.

The thing I like about these posts is that everyone is entitled to a opion . I use the potato methord & have done for years . But5 as I pointed out in my first post Fluxing is one of those things that causes much discussion :-D

Dave

Welcome to the guide Rick

Hey Rick, It sure is a learning experience when the tinsel fairy comes to decorate your shop, isn't it? With me it was a piece of linotype I was smelting into ingots. I got a blob an inch in diameter smackdab in the middle of the left lens of my glasses. My youngest heard the boom and came running to see if I was OK. She took one look around - and it was EVERYWHERE, on my clothes the walls, the ceiling, the floor, the wood lathe, etc. - And she yells out "Mommy come see! The tinsel fairy has been in Daddy's shop and it's so beautiful!" All I got was a bad burn on my trigger finger three days before deer season opened, and the lesson of a lifetime. Safety glasses, long sleeves and pants, and check every gd piece before I toss it in the pot!

Hey Rick, It sure is a learning experience when the tinsel fairy comes to decorate your shop, isn't it? With me it was a piece of linotype I was smelting into ingots. I got a blob an inch in diameter smackdab in the middle of the left lens of my glasses. My youngest heard the boom and came running to see if I was OK. She took one look around - and it was EVERYWHERE, on my clothes the walls, the ceiling, the floor, the wood lathe, etc. - And she yells out "Mommy come see! The tinsel fairy has been in Daddy's shop and it's so beautiful!" All I got was a bad burn on my trigger finger three days before deer season opened, and the lesson of a lifetime. Safety glasses, long sleeves and pants, and check every gd piece before I toss it in the pot!

Hey Rick, It sure is a learning experience when the tinsel fairy comes to decorate your shop, isn't it? With me it was a piece of linotype I was smelting into ingots. I got a blob an inch in diameter smackdab in the middle of the left lens of my glasses. My youngest heard the boom and came running to see if I was OK. She took one look around - and it was EVERYWHERE, on my clothes the walls, the ceiling, the floor, the wood lathe, etc. - And she yells out "Mommy come see! The tinsel fairy has been in Daddy's shop and it's so beautiful!" All I got was a bad burn on my trigger finger three days before deer season opened, and the lesson of a lifetime. Safety glasses, long sleeves and pants, and check every gd piece before I toss it in the pot!

Well I tried the potatoe method yesterday and darned if it doesn't work. Owe one on d o k. I dried them off a bit with a paper towel first. Will continue to use this method from now on.

Well I'm off to the range. Temp is 3C and it isn't raining!

Stay Safe

Bob

Yeah I must admit I was a little hesitent when I first heard of it But the Cove who told me was used to fluxing 10,000 gals of it at a time in the printing industry ! I was also able to get a large amount of really good lino type from him ! I cryed the day the News paper he worked for changed from sterio type to the more moden methords of printing & sold the lino-type of to a scrap dealer that wanted the earth for it :cry: !If I'd known they were selling it I would of invested in a ton of it for my own use !

Dave