JPW/LLA research step one.

[USARO4]

A couple of casters mentioned mixing JPW with LLA in the JPW thread. Riccochet suggested, jokingly I think, cordovan shoe polish to give it a nice color. Hmmm, that got me to thinking. What if I mix 2 parts JPW, 1 part LLA, and 1 part Crayola Crayon? Maybe I'll get the benefits of JPW and LLA, and the crayon will stiffen the mixture allowing it to dry faster and be less messy in bullet seating dies. The neat color is just a bonus, custom colored bullets! I chose blue. I melted the ingredients together and tumble lubed the bullets, a mix of Lee TL designs I've been casting. After 24 hours of drying time the mix seems to be setting up much faster than JPW or LLA. In my experience JPW normally takes about 2 days to dry and LLA 3 to 4 days depending on the thickness of the application. They have a nice bluish sheen to them. The next step is to load some and report the results. This is why I love this hobby, this is more fun than my first chemistry set! Step 2 results will follow when completed. Regards, Teddy.

[35remington]

US, two days, three days, to dry? Can't explain why because I don't know how you apply it, but I get both to dry a lot faster than that. Overnite is easily adequate for JPW, and usually works for LLA unless I dump them into too much of a pile and they don't ventilate well.

[Whitespider]

USAR04,
I’m not trying to highjack your thread, but I’m also “experimenting” and thought I’d jump in here. We can compare results and mistakes.

I mixed 1 can JPW, 1 lb. Beeswax and 1 bottle LLA. I heated it for some time to cook out the solvents. I ended up with a light gold/brown color, sort of looks like it came from a baby’s diaper.

I’m using it as a pan lube, first pan is cooling as I type. Doing some 155gr, .40 cal SWC, and next plan to push them through a Lee .401 sizing die. Hope to get them loaded and shot tomorrow.

If the mix is too soft I was thinking I could add some candle wax, but maybe Crayon would make it interesting. What color would goes well with Baby Crap Brown?:-?

[jcadwell]

I usually thin the LLA with a bit of mineral spirits and apply liberally to the bullets. They then get put on a cookie sheet with a fan blowing on them. The fan will dry them in an hour or two. Roll them once or twice during that hour.

I only use the mineral spirits to make the LLA easier to get out of the bottle. The stuff is just really thick otherwise. I don't use it to speed up drying. I get the same drying time using straight LLA.

I haven't had much luck with straight JPW, although the fan makes them dry quickly too.

[wiljen]

but maybe Crayon would make it interesting. What color would goes well with Baby Crap Brown?:-?

I'd go with split pea soup green, just seems like a natural.


On a more serious note, I've been playing with cutting Alox with different solvents to change the drying time with some interesting results.

1.) 606-55HF dries rapidly if uncut
2.) If you cut it with different things, you get very different rates of drying,
3.) setting it out in the sun to dry is a bad idea, the heat melts the wax component.
4.) It is reusable - I've been using straight alox as a dip lube and placing them on a board to dry. After they are mostly dry, I move them to another board and scrape the rings of alox from the first one into a small container to save. Gentle heat and a little solvent added will return those scrapings to the brown glop we know and love.


Good Solvents:
Paint Thinner - The old standard and still a good one.
Lacquer Thinner - faster drying than paint thinner but at an added cost.
Acetone - Faster yet, but precipitates the wax component if you use too much.

Bad Solvents:
MEK - Methyl Ethyl Ketone - precipitates something from the mix - creates a grainy mess.

90% Isopropanol - attracts water and doesn't dry well. Seems to replace itself with water as it evaporates.

[Whitespider]

Well, my “experiment” didn’t turn out the way I wanted. Should have let some cool in a pan and checked it before I added bullets. The mix of JPW, LLA and beeswax ended up the consistency of refrigerated peanut butter (and looks like it also). Wow, is that stuff gooey.

I wanted to be able to remove the lube “cake” from the pan and push the bullets out. I tried putting it in the freezer, and that did make it stiff, but the lube is stuck tight to the pan.

I did manage to get the bullets cut out and sized. But what a mess, I’ve got “peanut butter” all over everything. I’m gonna’ wait and see if it dries or hardens on the bullets over night.

I would have thought it would’ve cooled harder with the solvents “cooked” out. Maybe I didn’t heat it long enough to remove the solvents? I don’t want to add paraffin because I don’t want to degrade the lube quality.

Any thoughts?:confused:

[USARO4]

35remington, I think my long drying time for LLA and JPW is due to my location here in hot and humid Tennessee. I apply it in a very thin coat when tumble lubing. I want it real dry to avoid it gumming up my seating dies. I learned this the hard way when I first started using LLA. I put it on to thick and my bullets would start seating deeper and deeper during a reloading session. I would have to remove the die from the press and dig the alox out with a screwdriver tip. Whitespider I don't have any experience with pan lubing, but I can highly recommend tumble lubing. Your mix sounds like it might work with that technique.

[Whitespider]

I don't have any experience with pan lubing, but I can highly recommend tumble lubing. Your mix sounds like it might work with that technique.

I checked the bullets this AM, the lube was considerably stiffer. There is also some shrinkage of the lube in the lube groove. This confirmed my belief that the solvents were not “cooked” out yet.

So, I “cooked” the mix some more. The level in the pan dropped about an inch during the “cooking”. Poured some in a cake pan and let it cool, it’s much stiffer now. But there is no hope of the lube cake releasing from the pan, it sticks like glue. I guess I’ll have to make a “cookie” cutter, and try using it as a dip and/or tumble lube.