made first ingots

[tonysp101]

I made my first ingots last night. I used 14 1/2 lbs scrap lead, 14 lbs old cast .357 boolits, 7 lbs COWW, 4 1/2lbs 50/50 solder. i skimed off all the.black stuff and clips fluxed twice with candle wax. i poured them in a alum. muffen pan they come out with a frosty look and it looks like they have little pin holes on the outside. Is this normal or did i do something wrong.

[jonp]

Thats how mine look. I have found that the paraffin used to seal canning jars works better than candle wax. I had a hard time igniting the candle wax but the paraffin seems to almost ignite itself.
interested to see what others say

[osteodoc08]

Check my math and assumptions as I'm new here, but if you added 4.5# of 50/50 solder, you added 2.25# tin for an overall alloy weight of approximately 38# of which the COWW already have tin and the reclaimed bullets of ? Alloy may or may not have tin. This would put your tin % by weight (just assuming the solder) of 2.25/48 being 4.6% tin, which is fine. More than some typically use, as supposedly 2% is all that's needed. I shoot for about 2-3%personally. Shoot it and find out how she does.

[vernb]

Try sawdust for flux . I use a little candle wax and a lot of sawdust. Stir it in and scrape the bottom. If you flux before skimming you'll be surprised at how clean the clips come out. When I cast I only use sawdust.

[Echo]

I make it about 6.3% added Sn, so this alloy can probably be cut 50/50 with pure Pb and still have really good alloy, maybe better if cut 50/50 w/coww's.

[bretNorCal]

I made my first ingots last night. I used 14 1/2 lbs scrap lead, 14 lbs old cast .357 boolits, 7 lbs COWW, 4 1/2lbs 50/50 solder. i skimed off all the.black stuff and clips fluxed twice with candle wax. i poured them in a alum. muffen pan they come out with a frosty look and it looks like they have little pin holes on the outside. Is this normal or did i do something wrong.

frosty is often caused by being too hot. What temperature were you running it at?

[blikseme300]

Frosty ingots and boolits are not a problem. Sometimes to get proper mold fill-out you need to run higher temperatures. There is no absolute ideal temperature.

The pin holes are probably a reaction to the muffin pan.

[Cherokee]

I would cut that alloy with equil amount of lead, COWW will add antimony and you may already have enough of that.

[Ole]

I always add my tin to the melting furnace, depending on what I'm making. None of my ingots have any solder or other tin added.

Fun stuff, isn't it? :mrgreen: