What do you use to smoke the mold with?

[Rooster]

A separate thread has me wondering what others use to smoke their mold(s). Flame/smoke source, methodology and helpful hints would be great. I use an old gun sight carbide flame do-hickey. It works fine until I run out of carbide, but a one pound can has lasted me, well, a long time. Next.

[44woody]

Rooster just use a wood kitchen match to smoke the moulds with :castmine: 44Woody

[Halfbreed]

I have a large candle with a long wick, it smokes good, and will last a long time also. I use a long bic grill lighter for it.
John

[lovedogs]

Seems to me there are many opinions and methods on this. I've read some on the subject and am still undecided and confused. I've tried mould release sprays and found they weren't a good thing. In a conversation with a friend who is one of Saecos engineers he said they were an absolute "no-no". The thickness of the stuff and the possibility of a build-up can cause out-of-round bullets and, eventually, damaged moulds.

I've tried heavy smoking with a wood match and found that to be in the same category as the drop-out sprays... too much of a good thing.

Using a thin smoking with a wood match has worked some but it seems hard to get it the same each time.

Now I'm having my best luck with what may be an unconventional method. After cleaning and degreasing the mould I smoke it heavily with a wood match. Then I wipe it as clean as I can with a Q-Tip. Then I smoke it again and repeat the Q-Tip cleaning. Then I warm it evenly with a handheld propane torch until the vent grooves "weep" and then are dried up. At this point you can see the mould dry and become well-heated. I don't know for sure what this does but have surmised that it fills the pores of the steel with some small amount of carbon from the matches and the propane flame. Whatever it does, the bullets seem to start dropping out sooner and they turn out better than anything else I've tried. If anyone has a better method I'm willing to listen to it and try it.

[Char-Gar]

I have been using NEI Mold-Prep for about twenty years with complete satisfaction.

[35remington]

Some matches I've encountered are coated with paraffin as a form of waterproofing and accelerant for the flame to get/keep it burning. Avoid these, as they coat the cavity with wax.

Make sure they're wood only.

No mould releases for me, with the exception of the core pin on the Lee slug mould. With this, I can cast using wheelweights just fine, but keep it out of the cavity.

[BruceB]

Matches and candles will frequently leave a greasy sort of residue in the cavities, which I intensely dislike due to its effect on my bullets. The coating is also often much too thick for my tastes.

I use a long-necked butane "barbecue lighter", which allows me to place the flame and soot exactly where I want it, without burning my fingers as I do with a pocket-size butane lighter.

The soot from butane is very fine and dry, and it works extremely well for me. The long lighters are available at any place with barbecuing supplies....I got mine from WalMart for $3.95 for a pair of them.

Sometimes, I use graphite spray-on lube from NAPA, costing about $4 for a BIG can. A fast, light shpritz of this stuff in the cavities, on the underside of the sprue plate and on the mould top also works well. Good for primer-feeding systems, too.

[Mr. Reaper]

Bees Wax candle

[Blammer]

cigarette lighter.

[35remington]

Guys, stay away from the wax.

[Bret4207]

A Dr Grabow with a really big bowl and titanium stem.

[HORNET]

I usually get best and most consistant results by thouroughly cleaning the mold first, then pre-heating it, then smoking it with a butane lighter ( I agree with the long-neck version). Hold the mold high enough so the cavity is just barely above the yellow tip on the flame. Even a coating too thin to be readily visible works very well indeed, even on recalcitrant steel blocks.

[UweJ]

Like BruceB I use a long neck butane lighter , but make sure only the tip of the flame touches the mold, then you get a nice even coating in the mould. Please stay away from candles cause they bring wax back in the mould and you sure dont want that.
Uwe

[Ben]

Ditto ........on the long neck butane lighter.

Ben

[axman]

I've used paper & wood matches but the best so far has been the long bbq lighters. A nice even coat works nicely.

[DanM]

I use a propane torch with the vent holes taped shut. Makes a yellow flame that deposits a very fine smooth soot and also heats the mold some.

[flyingstick]

The long Wood Matches!

[kodiak1]

I use Acetylene Smoke on real stubburn Moulds but I always try Plain old SoapStone that welders use. Work it into all of the dips and hollows and it seems to work the best for me. I also do the underside of the sprue plate and the top of the mould then go to casting.
Ken.

[Ricochet]

I smoke mine with a lighter. But they keep going out.

[sundog]

Menthol, kinda like Kool or Salem. Is that what yer talkin' about?

[Unter]

This neophyte uses a thin stick of lighter wood for the smoking process.

Ricochet, try smoking Mullet, them babies are HARD to keep lit.


John O.

[mtgrs737]

I have been saving popsickle sticks to smoke the mold cavities, anyone use these? If so how do they work for you?

[hanleyfan]

How about using an oil lamp, If you take the glass off the lamp you get the mold right down on the flame.

[Elkins45]

How about using an oil lamp, If you take the glass off the lamp you get the mold right down on the flame.

I would think that would leave an oily residue, which is something we generally try to avoid.

[41 mag fan]

Don't smoke my molds, found my molds don't need smokes, and when I was using this technique, I found my boolits were undersized from it.

[theperfessor]

Guess I'm in the minority, I haven't found a mold yet that a little deburring and mild lapping wouldn't fix, so I don't ever smoke my molds. Lucky me!

[MBTcustom]

How about just spraying the mold out with carb cleaner and run your molds at the correct temperature?
I have tried every form of release agent known to man, and the best of them only worked sometimes. Then I found castboolits and the age of enlightenment began.
I read that smoking is unnecessary and is a horrible way to treat a precision tool. I found through good instruction here, that if I buy a thermometer for my pot, and be careful about preheating my molds and maintaining a consistent casting rhythm I can use these tools and get better results when they are squeaky clean and sharp looking and the right temperature. Smoking the mold is a myth that should be laid to rest right along side "you cant shoot lead in a Glock pistol", it does nothing and has no consistent effect on the castability of the mold. I say this as someone who would argue you under the table 5 years ago that it was the only way to cast, but I can tell you that I have never been able to say that smoking the mold did anything to help the boolits come out of the mold. I might as well have been throwing dirt in the air and doing a boolit dance to appease the evil spirits in the mold. It is superstition, nothing more.
What is much more likely, is that by the time I got around to smoking or resmoking the mold, the alloy temperature had risen to the right level, which of course heated up the mold, which of course was my big fat hairy problem the whole blasted time.
Just do me a favor, get a thermometer for your lead.
Run your alloy at 700 degrees.
Cast with a perfectly clean mold that has been washed with dawn and water and toothbrush, and blasted clean with carburetor cleaner.
Heat the mold by dipping the corner in the molten lead. Don't let up until the lead quits solidifying on contact with the mold.
Cast at a very fast rate until your sprue plate is easily cut, and the boolits are coming out frosty.
Back off the speed of your casting, until your boolits are just a little frosty.
If you do all that, you might have noticed that the boolits are falling out of the mold very easily . How about that!

[fcvan]

Years ago I smoked my molds with book matches. I haven't smoked a mold for 20 years. The last 10 new molds I have purchased were scrubbed in hot water with dawn dish soap and rinsed with very hot water so they air dried quickly. From there I went straight to casting. I preheat my molds on top of the furnace so once the pot is hot the molds are too.

Everything from .22 to .50 cast well filled out boolits that dropped free from the molds. I used to think smoke was absolutely necessary because it works. So does really clean molds. YMMV Frank

[MBTcustom]

You know, this is an old thread 5 years old to be exact. Notice the post count next to all the fellers that are for smoking the molds.
mtgrs737 stands out at 1,700 posts, but he posted the Popsicle thing one month after his join date. It would be interesting to know if he still practices this.

[mdi]

Guess I'm in the minority, I haven't found a mold yet that a little deburring and mild lapping wouldn't fix, so I don't ever smoke my molds. Lucky me!
I don't think yer in the minority Perfessor. I don't use anything on any of my molds. If I have one that sticks, I'll try to find out why. Some have burrs and some just need cleaning. I have used Comet and oil on some of my aluminum molds to smoothe out the cavity, but I quit using anything in my molds years ago. Finding the right combination of melt temperature and mold temperature will help release too...

[MtGun44]

I never smoke a mold, and recommend against it for others. No real benefit.

Bill

[zomby woof]

Matches and candles will frequently leave a greasy sort of residue in the cavities, which I intensely dislike due to its effect on my bullets. The coating is also often much too thick for my tastes.

I use a long-necked butane "barbecue lighter", which allows me to place the flame and soot exactly where I want it, without burning my fingers as I do with a pocket-size butane lighter.

The soot from butane is very fine and dry, and it works extremely well for me. The long lighters are available at any place with barbecuing supplies....I got mine from WalMart for $3.95 for a pair of them.


I first started smoking with a wooden kitchen match. I brought my mold into work and inspected it under a very high power microscope. The debris that was left in the mold looked like what I would describe as creosote. It was a black chunky gunk. It looked real bad under high power (everything does). I now only use a butane lighter. I've gotten into the habit of giving my molds a complete cleaning when I finish a casting session.

[David Bachelder]

I do not smoke my molds. I have never seen a need for it. Most of my molds are the cheap LEE molds and if I spend the time to get them to temp, nothing sticks to them (by the way, I like the LEE molds).

My other mold is a Lyman, snd nothing sticks to it either.

[Leadmelter]

I tried to smoke my molds but I could keep them lit!
Gerry

[res45]

I smoked a few of my old molds when I first started casting but I don't anymore. Nowadays I just preheat the mold on my hot plate and cast away.

[ku4hx]

I smoked a two cavity Lee 45 RN mold about 30 years ago with a wooden kitchen match. Made absolutely no difference so I didn't do it again.

[MikeS]

I thought about smoking a mould, but I decided it would be better to cast boolits with it. For smoking I stick to Pall Malls.

The only time I've used a mould release type of thing is with a hollow point mould that had a really large HP, I sprayed the pins with a graphite spray which helped the boolits drop off of the pins.

[wallenba]

I use those stout round toothpicks you can get in the supermarket. I snap the points off, then light them with the stove burner. With the mold upside down and closed, I raise it into the cavity until the flame is snuffed from lack of oxygen. Then let the smoke waft up into it. I don't use a toothpick that looks like it has dote or redheart though, it might be too oily.

I should add that, I too, have stopped smoking them. I stopped about a year ago. as I don't think it has made any difference in my molds.

[FergusonTO35]

I find that smoking usually doesn't make a difference one way or another but when I do I use a butane lighter. I find that keeping contamination out of the cavities is most important.

[Rooster]

I've changed too.

[Shiloh]

BBQ grill and fireplace lighter. Adjustable flame lets me concentrate it a bit more.

Shiloh

[Bret4207]

Another zommbie thread rises from the grave!

No smoke, no magic snake oil sprays, nothing but metal in my cavities.

[Rusty Shackleford]

a match.... when i feel like it. usually just check for alignment and go to town

[Floydster]

Have been casting for over fifty years, what is this mold smoking you are talking about???

Floydster

[mpmarty]

I never put anything into or onto my molds other than molten lead alloy.

[MBTcustom]

Have been casting for over fifty years, what is this mold smoking you are talking about???
Mold smoking is the heathen act of coating the cavities of a boolit mold with a layer of carbon and praying that the spirit of the mold releases the boolits more easily. This is usually accomplished by burning something that produces soot as it burns, and passing the soot trail under the cavities so that it is evenly deposited thereon.
The theory/superstition is that it acts like PAM cooking spray to allow the boolits to not "stick" in the cavities. The truth is that when the mold is the correct temperature, when the boolits cool and turn from liquid to solid inside the mold, the difference in the rate of contraction between the mold material and the boolit material is optimized to the point that the boolit is actually a couple thousandths of an inch under the size of the cavity that made it, thus allowing the boolit to fall free of the mold like a new foal from its mothers womb. When the mold is too cool, the difference between the two metals is not enough to make this possible and the boolit will remain stuck to one side of the mold blocks, and will only release when it cools to a point that the shrinkage allows it to turn loose. The only time this does not work as advertised is when the mold is cut off center, in which case the boolit is actually having to make it through a slight "choke" in the cavity before it is free and the heat of the mold would have to be so great that frosty boolits are the only product that will successfully drop(see late model Lyman molds). Another unique instance is when there are burrs or whiskers of metal that prevent the boolit from dropping free because of some physical entrapment (see Lee molds of any vintage).
Other than those two provisos, a properly heated mold will never need a layer of carbon to allow the boolits to drop like rain, and in the presence of these two problems, a layer of carbon will not overcome the mechanical limitations that have been machined into the mold from the factory.

[geargnasher]

Anybody comes near any of my moulds with a match or lighter they're gonna get slapped up side of the head.

Gear