Smorgasbord of Flux

[ColColt]

It's sort of funny the items I've read about that are used for fluxing. I had never heard of pine knots, sawdust, or resin used as a flux before. Seems everything from Granny's powder puff to Marvelux and horse**** has been used at one time or another. I used a charcoal looking powder many moons ago that looked like granules of black powder called Leadex and it always seemed to work good. anyone else used this before?

http://www.dixiegunworks.com/pdf_datasheet.php?products_id=8094

[oscarflytyer]

Try a wood paint stir stick. Saw that as a recommnedation - it works great. Best advantage is that it can scrape the bottom and edges of the pot.

[waksupi]

I've still got a container or two of that Dixie flux around that I have had for nearly 40 years. Want to buy it?

[-06]

Oscar, that is a gread idea-thanks and will try it right away.

[LUCKYDAWG13]

I've still got a container or two of that Dixie flux around that I have had for nearly 40 years. Want to buy it?

i got some of that left too

[BulletFactory]

how do you know when you are done?

[Bret4207]

You have to learn when you're done by experience. The cleaner your alloy is to start with the sooner you''ll be done. For me, using my alloy in my pot with my methods I stir/scrape for about a minute or 90 seconds. Then I take a look, skim the crud, maybe stir another 45 seconds, skim again. If I'm getting lots of oxide looking dust I try to get it reduced back in by getting it under the mix with the carbon from the stick. I don't spend much time at that. All my dross gets saved and cleaned at a later date when I have the inclination to do it.

The stick method is much more effective IMO because you are getting the flux under and into the mix. It's not sitting on top flaming away. BP users can seal the top of the mix which cuts oxidation. Ladle users tend to keep their mix moving a lot more which cuts the accumulation of oxides, but also tend to give a more uniform alloy, not sure that's the right description, but it sort of fits.

[ColColt]

I've still got a container or two of that Dixie flux around that I have had for nearly 40 years. Want to buy it?


i got some of that left too
Today 04:25 AM

I take it this is not a highly sought after flux. Why? It was one of the first fluxes I used and brought the gunk to the top-not that I was a flux guru back then but it beat beeswax.

[Olevern]

Anybody still using Marvelux? I still have some, don't know if it is still available, but hope so as I like it.

[mpmarty]

Hate marvelux. Terrible stuff. Rusts everything that gets near it. I flux with pure beeswax in the winter and paint stick in the summer. If I use beeswax in the summer I get attacked by a swarm of bees.

[Olevern]

Hate marvelux. Terrible stuff. Rusts everything that gets near it. I flux with pure beeswax in the winter and paint stick in the summer. If I use beeswax in the summer I get attacked by a swarm of bees.

I never connected the rust i get with my cast iron pots and RCBS furnace to the flux I was using. However, I do get a significant amount of rust if the pots are not used regularly. Perhaps need to look at another flux. Thanks for the insight.