Spoon/ Ladle clean up

[soldierbilly1]

My ladleing (sp?) spoon is really funky looking right now. All kinds of crud on it, seems like she is gettin' a bit rusty too.

Any slick way of cleaning this spoon up?

thanks.

BTW: Nice idea on the paint stick stirrer for a flux. Works better than anything I have ever tried so far.

bill boy

[.22-10-45]

Hello, soldierbill1. at end of casting session, while still hot. I use a wire hand brush on it. To clean pot, as well as ladels..with empty pot..if hot you might want to heat water to boiling first & fill pot to top..let boil for awhile & all crud will pour out..just be sure ladel/spoons are completly dry before sticking in molten lead!

[geargnasher]

I don't care about my skimmer spoon as long as the pot is clean, but if it really bothers you, you can get the crud off of it by getting it hot (like in your next casting session) and scrub around on it with the tip of your paint stick. That will get most of it, and a wire brush will get most of the rest.

Gear

[stubshaft]

I just add a pea sized nugget of beeswax at the end of my casting sessions and dip my ladle and spoon in it to coat it most of the garbage just falls off.

[cbrick]

soldierbilly1, are you using Marvacrap? If so a wire wheel mounted in a power drill will grind it off. I hate that stuff for many reasons and that is one of them.

Rick

[runfiverun]

if it's the ladle wire brush it and spray it with mold release. this will keep it clean.

[geargnasher]

if it's the ladle wire brush it and spray it with mold release. this will keep it clean.

Hey, there IS a use for aerosol mold release! How about that? Too bad my mould release went in the trash with my Marvakrap a long time ago. :violin:

Gear

[trixter]

My ladleing (sp?) spoon is really funky looking right now. All kinds of crud on it, seems like she is gettin' a bit rusty too.

Any slick way of cleaning this spoon up?

thanks.

BTW: Nice idea on the paint stick stirrer for a flux. Works better than anything I have ever tried so far.

bill boy

Go to the nearest Dollar Tree and get a couple new ones. OOPs I just realized you said 'Ladleing". Sorry, they probably don't have them at Dollar Tree. I bought a couple of S/S spoons there to stir and scoop out the crud, and the lead doesn't stick to them.

[Mr. Farknocker]

Will smoking a clean ladle minimize the crud buildup?

[mikeym1a]

I use a ball of stainless steel wool, and a bit of water. works real well on my big pot, and my ladle.

[williamwaco]

I just add a pea sized nugget of beeswax at the end of my casting sessions and dip my ladle and spoon in it to coat it most of the garbage just falls off.


+1 Beeswax pr paraffin will clean it right up with little or no scrubbing.
Note: It must be right out of the melt for this to work.

[John Boy]

I bought a couple of S/S spoons there to stir and scoop out the crud, and the lead doesn't stick to them. Drill holes along one edge of the spoon. The lead will flow back into the pot. As for the dross sticking to ANY spoon, it's a nature of the beast for casting. I steel brush mine every now and then but it will continue to collect dross - more so if one uses excess bees wax as a flux

For the ladle, use it to stir the flux. The flux will clean the lead sticking to the cast iron of the ladle. Then just tap it on the side of the pot

[blackthorn]

Tapping the ladle on the edge of a cast iron pot may not be the best idea you ever had. Tapping on the edge of a cast pot may result in cracking the cast and pot failure. Try getting the crudded up ladle very hot and plunging it into very cold water. This will often loosen the crud so that it can be peeled off the ladle.

[mdi]

Put the spoon/ladle in the melted lead so it reaches the same temp as the melted lead. Remove the spoon and tap it on the bench. Any lead/stuff left can be wiped off with a towel/rag...

[ku4hx]

I use a stainless steel serving spoon and a 1970s vintage Lyman ladle. When good and hot I just wipe them quickly with a piece of dry heavy cloth. The inside of the ladle I scrape out with an old blade screwdriver; the spout I clean with an old drill bit.

Mostly I want the heavy crud off or out and the hole free flowing ... beauty is for boolits only.

[FAsmus]

Gentlemen;

In all the additions to this thread nobody has mentioned the danger involved with cleaning dross-spoons. (I cast with a turkey-cooker burner and thus the pot never accumulates any problematical dross)

It is my view that the junk that coats our spoons is most probably chock-full of lead oxide ~ you know; the stuff that is poisonous and can be readily metabolized by our bodies?

Don't scrub it off our spoon with a wire brush unless you're outside, it is a windy day and you are definitely UPWIND!

As for a wire-wheel on your bench grinder - within a confined space and no noticeable ventilation ~ forget it!

When my spoon gets fouled I heat it cherry red with my blow-torch (remaining up-wind). This dries out all the old flux and makes the junk cake quite fragile. Then, outside, in the wind, upwind, I scrape it off with a edged tool.

Good afternoon,
Forrest

[truckjohn]

x2 on the lead issues... I dont like wire wheeling, wire brushing, any Water contact (That and the Tinsel Fairy visits..) or any of the like because of that...

I just wait till it's good and hot and bang it on something solid... Most crud falls off... Remaining crud is not really what I care too much about...

[Beagle333]

I just wait till it's good and hot and bang it on something solid... Most crud falls off... Yep, this works fine. It'll clean my Lyman ladle back down to nice shiny new metal.

**NOTE!!- you are banging off red hot (700+ degree) stuff, which is mostly droplets of liquid metal with a little sand/dross/rust mixed in. Wear a glove and long sleeves and don't look at it while you're bangin'! ;-)

[BAGTIC]

I use stainless steel spoons obtained at the Salvation Army store. One solid, one perforated. The perforated one is real handy when melting wheel weights and other things with lots of trash as it lets the lead run through. Also good for stirring the pot and scraping the crud off the side walls underneath the lead level. Once that is gone and I am dealing with just the powdery stuff the edge is fine for skimming.

[gwpercle]

I have a Lyman cast iron ladle, the kind with the little spout on the side, when stuff starts adhering I submerge it in pot of molten lead and when it's good and hot wipe the outside and the spout with heavy rough cloth , like burlap- wipe quickly. Then at end of a casting sesson , get it good and hot again and gently tap the round body, not the spout ,on my wood bench top. most of the crud falls off and out of the insides. Might do it twice if a lot of crud has gathered in the inside of the ladle.
Wiping the spout is the easiest and quickest way to keep the spout clean. But the Lyman design doesn't let you wipe out the insides easily so I do the heat and gentle tap. If you have a Lee open ladle the heat and wipe should clean the outside and inside.

Gary

[FAsmus]

Gentlemen;

At first the thread addressed pots and skimming spoons ~ OK.

When it comes to ladle cleaning it's comparably easy stuff; All a fellow has to do when a flux is needed is to simply do the initial stirring with the ladle. This will clean off all exterior crud. For the unwanted material inside simply tap the rod portion of the handle gently against the heat-shield of your alloy pot (typically the 10-pound version as heated with a propane burner) - this will cause the loosened crud to fall off into the alloy where, in sequence, you'll be using your spoon to remove the impurities anyway.

Good morning,
Forrest

[Harter66]

So what about the tan to goldish ,I presumed was sulfer stuff,that builds up enough every 100-150# on my laddle and pot. It doesn't flak,sluff or flux off ,in fact the fluxing seems to make it almost ceramic except that a wire brush breaks it up in the pot,but its much harder and stickier on the stainless spoon.

[country gent]

I used to put my ladle and spoon spatula in a bag take them into work and run them thru the sand blaster at work at lunch time. It was an enclosed/cabnient model and did a great job.

[FAsmus]

Harter;

That golden stuff on your tools and pots is (so far as I know) pretty much straight lead oxide. This is the material that our bodies mobilizable easily - metallic lead (as we know) may remain in the body for years with little or no harmful affects. ~ Lead oxide goes right into the mix of our flesh and bone, where it does no good at all.

Like I mentioned before: The tools which need cleaning should be cleaned by scraping or (if you really have to) brushing outside in a strong wind with you remaining well upwind!

We have to be careful about this stuff! Error on the side of never breathing any of that dust as it is removed from our tools/pots.

Good morning,
Forrest

PS - Those nice colors you mention? Well - why do you think paint manufacturers used lead (as in lead oxide) for their products?

[masscaster]

The best treatment i've found over the years is Old Oil.
Old Motor Oil is easy enough to get, and works the best.

You need 2 leak proof pails.
Prior to using your ingot moulds, ladles, or skimmers, simply put them in a pail and coat them the Old Oil. Let them set and soak.
Pull them out and let the excess drip off onto a full newspaper.
When you fire up your smelter, turn it on low and burn off the excess oil, usually face down.
Let them cool for a bit and tap them with a leather\wood mallet.
Really bad ones will need a couple of treatments.

I use 2 pails, one to soak in and one with a window screen to drip the excess off.
Either way works.
My ingot moulds and Ladles have a nice patina, and i keep them soaking after thier cool for every other use.
Also, this will help keep the lead\dross from sticking to them.

masscaster