PDA

View Full Version : Melting lube



Glen
03-21-2007, 01:22 PM
Like many of you, I make my own lube (I like 50/50 beeswax/moly grease). Initially, I had a little aluminum pot that I picked up at a garage sale for a quarter and I would melt the stuff on the stove and pour it into my lube-sizer. This would generate some smoke and generally elicit a few choice comments from The Better Half.

Then Chargar told me about putting lube in a jar and melting it in the microwave. Much faster, easier and best of all NO SMOKE! I used an old mayonaise jar (bad choice), and melted the lube in the microwave for a couple of years. And then, without warning, one time while I was heating up the lube the jar broke. Having a quart of melted bullet lube in the family microwave makes a mess that you don't want to even think about. Once again, The Better Half was not pleased.

So I shifted gears and put my lube into canning jars, thinking that they are tempered glass and made to be boiled, etc. This has worked pretty well for several years now, but I did have one jar crack on me (I suspect the jar was defective).

A friend of mine recently came up with an even better idea -- he went down to the grocery store and bought one of those thick-walled Pyrex measuring cups that are made explicitly for microwave use ($2-3). Its already got the handle and the pour spout in place, making it easy to pour the lube into the lube-sizer. And in between "melts", you can just leave the lube in the measuring cup and cover it with aluminum foil.

Dale53
03-21-2007, 01:36 PM
I've been using a Pyrex "cup" (large capacity) for many years to use when I melt my own lube. It is pretty dern convenient - has convenient measurements on the sides. However, I prefer using it as a double boiler so that there is no chance that I'll overheat my lube (put a spacer in the bottom of a sauce pan so that the Pyrex cup does not sit on the bottom, then I sit the cup into the water). This "double boiler" guarantees that the lube will never be hotter than 212 degrees unless you let the pan boil dry. If lube is overheated, it can be seriously damaged...
Dale53

txbirdman
03-21-2007, 01:49 PM
The guy who started me casting bullets use to use an old coffee perculator he picked up somewhere to melt his lube. He just plugged it in and when it heated up he'd pour the lube in the lubrisizer like filling a coffee cup. He'd then just place it back in the refrigerator where he kept his powder in his shop.

Lloyd Smale
03-21-2007, 02:12 PM
a fry daddy works too. or just keep it in metal coffee cans and heat them on a hot plate or over your turkey fryer.

Ricochet
03-21-2007, 02:24 PM
If you keep your eyes open as you drive around town, you'll often see perfectly good working microwaves put out to the curb because the lady of the house wanted a new one. I have one of those in my basement. Cheap is great. Free's better. Keeps me out of trouble.

Sundogg1911
03-21-2007, 02:59 PM
I was using a pyrex measuring cup on a little electric coffee warmer.
It never gets hot enough to have it ignite, and I can set it right next to the sizers.
I should start experamenting with lube again, but I usually use hard lubes (Magma blue in the Stars and Rooster red in the Lyman) I've never been able to make a home made version that I liked as well. I usually only use the softer lubes if i'm going to load them up right away. :Fire:
I think I get better results from the soft lube, but they end up getting covered with woodburning stove dust, [smilie=1: and that can't be good for the barrel.

lovedogs
03-21-2007, 06:17 PM
My method is even easier and no mess at all. I buy mine from Glenn Larsen and let him deal with all that stuff. If it's too stiff when I want to use it I borrow my dog's hair dryer/blow dryer and blow hot air at the base of the sizer for two minutes and I'm sizing bullets.

buck1
03-21-2007, 06:38 PM
Now thats just CHEETING now! LOL

And thanks for the heads up on the jars breaking, Thats how I have been doing it.....................Buck

\
The guy who started me casting bullets use to use an old coffee perculator he picked up somewhere to melt his lube. He just plugged it in and when it heated up he'd pour the lube in the lubrisizer like filling a coffee cup. He'd then just place it back in the refrigerator where he kept his powder in his shop.

TAWILDCATT
03-22-2007, 04:46 PM
I melt mine in an electric deep fat fryer,got in yard sale for $2.00 has thermostart to adjust heat.use ladle to dip.:Fire: