Dross. What do you do with it?

[BBQJOE]

Seems like there's still a fair amount of lead in it.
Do you reheat it and flux it again?
Take it to the recycler and schlep it off as lead?
Or just throw it away?

[btroj]

I throw it away. Unless it had a huge amount of lead in it I don't think it is worth messing with.

[Tatume]

One friend of mine stores it in steel coffee cans. In the winter he punches a nail hole in the bottom, hangs the can in the fireplace with an ingot mold beneath, and sits by the fire with a whisky on ice and watches the lead drip out.

Fact is, there is a fair amount of lead in there, and it is likely high in tin to boot. Save it up and remelt it, somehow.

[youngda9]

I put it on top of my Wheaties in the morning.

[shooterg]

That coffee can trick is tough with them plastic ones we see around here.....

[bangerjim]

The dross contains some of the worst of the worst. Yes there is tin in there, but also nasty oxides of lead and other contaminants you do not really want to revisit by remelting it!!!!!!

Buying an ingot or two of tin is much safer, if you feel your need more tin.

Throw the dross away.

bangerjim

[ACrowe25]

Good question, I've been wondering the same thing!

From hundreds of lbs of wheel weights a plenty of pot fulls I have a metal coffee can full atm... Looks like I need to figure something out. Worst case... I toss it and I'm in the same place as I am now with no extra lead.

[ShooterAZ]

For me, it's not worth the hassle and I just dispose of it. I wouldn't try to schlep it as lead at my recycler, because I buy lead from him...and He'd probably end up selling it back to me!

[casca]

well, hate to shove what I know is the worse of the worse into some land fill. I got two coffe cans ,full sitting on the floor in the corner of the garage. for now use it as a counter weight for what not. and makes a good door holder open on a windy day.

if a safe and clean way come along to get rid of it will jump on it. But for now I now it is safer in the garage than anywhere else.

casca

[Jim]

Seems like there's still a fair amount of lead in it.
Do you reheat it and flux it again?
Take it to the recycler and schlep it off as lead?
Or just throw it away?

I got a number ten green beans can almost full of it. Wanna' buy it?

[Beagle333]

I been building a small shiny mountain on the side of my casting table with it, a little half-spoonful at a time.... but I don't know what I'm gonna do with it. I thought about mixing it back into the next smelting and see what'll stay. :?

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

When I smelt WW and flux with Candle wax, the dross that remains is light weight and powdery black...that goes in with the Clips and back to the recycler. Now the Lead alloy rich dross I scrap from my Lee melter is saved and smelted with the WW's
Good Luck,
Jon

[LivnDream]

i add to next batch i smelt , most melts back/ fluxes in

[Shiloh]

What doesn't flux back in, gets tossed. As stated above by Bangerjim full of nasty oxides.

SHiloh

[KYCaster]

What to do with dross?

Flux properly and the only thing left in the dross is the ash from the material you used for flux. This will be a very small fraction of the weight of the metal you're working with and can be sent to the landfill without feeling guilty about contaminating the environment. If it makes you feel better, double bag it....quart zip-seal bag inside a gallon zip-seal bag....that's the way the lead abatement contractors do it.

If you're concerned about undesirable metals in your alloy (Zinc, Cadmium, Chromium, etc.) you need to remove the source of that before you start melting. Removing contaminants from bullet alloy is beyond the ability of most hobbyists.

Discarding metalic dross is a waste of valuable metals and changes the composition of your alloy.

Jerry

[MUSTANG]

I remelt with the next large batch of Dirty Scrap Mixed lead and skim off the trash/Dross to get what lead is in there.

I take the residual real trash and mix small amounts into my cement mixer as I fill the cores of a CMU retaining wall that diverts Desert run off water from storms across my property. This "entrains" the worst of the heavy metal contaminated reject. I am far from an environmental wacko; but do believe in protecting my local environment. Prefer not to dump it in the trash or bury it in the back yard.

Mustang

[MaryB]

Worst case use it to cast sinkers and sell them on ebay.

[leadman]

I will remelt it if I am up to it. If not it goes to the recycler and he pays me $.25 per pound for it.

[ku4hx]

I used to do the re-re-re-re-smelting thing to get every last dram of useful metal out. One day it dawned on me I was spending an awful lot of time recovering an awful small amount of useful material. That was maybe 30 years ago. Now it just goes into the recycle bin and I let others deal with it.

[Jumbopanda]

I crush it into a fine powder and snort it.

[shadygrady]

go in the shread pile with all other metals .11 lb good pay for alot of fluff in the shread price

[snaketail]

If you put salt, pepper and butter on it - it taste like salt, pepper and butter, but has an interesting texture.

[jakharath]

After I've gotten all of the leady goodness out it goes to the recycler.

[mpmarty]

Dump in trash then trash goes to the landfill. Someday a prospector will strike a rich vein of lead.

[casca]

any results, kids here snort everything new market ? how's the effects ?

[John Boy]

Seems like there's still a fair amount of lead in it.
Lead in the dross comes from 2 sources:
1. Pot lead not fluxed properly at a high temperature
2. Now, the biggie! Drill holes along the edge of your spoon. Any lead in the dross will drop back into the pot
My tuna fish can collects nothing but black oxidized particles of dross!

[BBQJOE]

Lead in the dross comes from 2 sources:
1. Pot lead not fluxed properly at a high temperature
2. Now, the biggie! Drill holes along the edge of your spoon. Any lead in the dross will drop back into the pot
My tuna fish can collects nothing but black oxidized particles of dross!
Nice!

[BubbaJon]

I remelt with the next large batch of Dirty Scrap Mixed lead and skim off the trash/Dross to get what lead is in there.
Mustang

What he says. I flatten mine with a 5 lb sledge, sift all the non-metallic **** out and toss that. Then remelt with the new WW, flux and flux some more. The dross always gets added to a small dross pot to reclaim what lead is in it.

[BubbaJon]

Lead in the dross comes from 2 sources:
1. Pot lead not fluxed properly at a high temperature
2. Now, the biggie! Drill holes along the edge of your spoon. Any lead in the dross will drop back into the pot
My tuna fish can collects nothing but black oxidized particles of dross!
I use a fine slotted spoon that I sharpened the handle and embedded in a wood handle.

[DeanWinchester]

I save it for winter and put it in a small, heavy steel pot I have. I smelt it at very high temps in the wood burning stove. Te steel pot is usually cherry red. There's really nothing left after I scoop off the ash but near pure lead. It ain't much but it's enough to be worth the effort. I then add those ingots to pot the next time I smelt stick on wheel weights.