Zinc Contamination

[mrbillbus]

A friend gave me a lee bottom pour pot. That is the good news. The bad news is that he had melted unsorted WW and it has zinc from the melt left behind. How do I get it out? Turn it up really high? Scrap, scour, sand? I could add more good alloy to dilute it until it doen't matter but why contaminate more lead?

Bill

[Bill*]

I'd heat it till it melts, pour it off, and refill with good alloy. The tiny remainder after you drain it shouldn't affect anything. BTW....nice friend to give you that!

[Le Loup Solitaire]

Heat up and drain the pot making small ingots of what comes out. Mark them with a "Z" using a felt pen. Then clean the pot by light scraping or using a wire brush.There is no question that zinc contaminates up the alloy and makes for bad bullets. There are several practices used to counteract it; one of them is to add good metal to a limited/controled quantity of alloy (one or two of the ingots you made) that has some zinc in it and dilute it to the point where good bullets can be gotten. Its a slow and painful process, but it can and does work; better than throwing lead away. A lot of fluxing and skimming dross off is also part of the ceremony. It takes patience and persistence (& some cussing). LLS