Does pencil shavings contain zinc ???

[HardColt]

Hi! Just finished melting two muffin trays of lead strips. Used this same lead strips before in my casting and had no problems. Tonight, I was skimming the dross off and had saved a ziplock bag of pencil wood shavings and decided to flux with it. To shorten the details, I scattered about two spoonfuls of pencil shavings on the molten lead and waited for the wood shavings to char. Mixed the charred shavings and skimmed all of it out of my smelting pot. Noticed that there was a tint of blue in the lead and tried my best to skim it out of the pot. It was a futile effort, just started scooping laddleful of molten lead into the muffin mold to finish my smelting process. When the muffin ingots cooled down and out of the muffin pan, some ingots have a tint of blue on top, I scrapped it off with a steak knife and underneath it, is that silvery color of lead appeared.
I usually use candles to flux my lead back stateside but wanted to experiment. I am not sure because most of the pencil shavings I used came from a blue wooden Steadler #2 pencil. I just don't know if the paint they use to coat the pencil have zinc? Another lesson learned overseas.:[smilie=b:

[Reload3006]

I wouldn't think they do there is no telling but my best bet would be graphite. The blue color is just a temperature thing probably tin in the alloy.

[runfiverun]

the blue indicates pure lead.
pure lead will have blue purple goldish swirls on top of the aloy
tin is gold.
zinc is silver oatmeal.
antimony is grey frothy.

you got everything right and ain't ever seen it before... :lol:

[geargnasher]

What Runfiverun said. There's a "sticky" in the alloy sub-forum that discusses the hues of pure or near-pure lead both molten and cooled.

Gear

[DLCTEX]

Yep, pure lead. No way zinc in the pencil shavings. Even if the pencil paint contained zinc it is inconceivable to me that you would ever know it was there in the alloy.

[MtGun44]

Pencil shavings would have carbon (graphite) and a clay binder.

Bill

[Shiloh]

Pencil shavings would have carbon (graphite) and a clay binder.

Bill

Graphite and a starch binder?? I supposed it could be clay. No zinc.

Shiloh

[HardColt]

Well, I was just surprised because I have never used this fluxing process before and was just assuming that the paint on the wooden pencil (mostly blue Steadler) had zinc on it sort of bled through the lead ingot. I have used these same lead strips before and I know it was always bright silvery metal until last night.I threw the ziplock bag of pencil shavings because I have different pencil wood shavings in it and don't want see my lead ingots in psychedelic hues like a trip back to Woodstock memory lane. Nice learning experience tho.:cbpour: