This never happened before!

[Blackwater]

Cast some .44's yestiddy, an' when I got through, added more metal to the pot to have it ready to just plug in, turn on high and be ready for the next session. I sometimes melt COWW's right in the Lee Magnum Melter I use. I like dipping. After the new WW's were melted, I spooned off the clips and all that rose to the top, got the surface clean, and noted the surface of the melt had very fine vein-like patterns all over it. Had the melter on "high," and left it to melt, and when I returned, temp had risen to 935 degrees according to my Lyman gauge. Turned it down and noted the color turned a very golden hue, and at a brief point, it turned bright blue. I take this to men there's SOMETHING in the mix that I haven't encounered before. The skin with veins over the surface is like that ultra thin covering between the shell and "meat" of a boiled egg - very thin. I've spooned off much of it, but there remains a small but easily visible layer still.

Can anyone tell me what I'm dealing with here? Thanks for any help/info/tips/ solutions. Haven't tried to cast with this melt yet, so can't offer info on whether it'll fill out, etc. I'm just perplexed, and a little concerned about what's going on in the pot.

[williamwaco]

You are dealing with melted lead.

The color changes are normal.

[44man]

Do NOT put WW's in your pot. Smelt at 600* and make ingots, anything that floats at 600, toss out.
Cast iron pot and thermometer outside . Your pot gets too hot and fluxing can alloy zinc in.
You can clean pretty good if you bring your casting pot to 600* and skim junk off the top WITHOUT FLUXING. If you see oatmeal at 600* it is zinc.
You can flux in aluminum too. Antimony will flux in at 600* even though it melts at 1167*.

[triggerhappy243]

THIS BRINGS ME TO A QUESTION i HAVE NOT SEEN YET. IF THE OATMEAL LOOKING STUFF SURFACES AND YOU SKIM IT OFF, AREN'T YOU REMOVING THE ZINC... IN FACT?

[Blackwater]

Thanks, 44man. I knew better. I just didn't do better. I've got a ton of lead to smelt, and just never got my round tuit, so .... it was the only game available. Hard for me to keep nice, fresh smelted lead around. The bullets came out pretty good in spite of my improvised method. Got to get on that smelting now. Thank goodness there wasn't any contaminants!

[leftiye]

THIS BRINGS ME TO A QUESTION i HAVE NOT SEEN YET. IF THE OATMEAL LOOKING STUFF SURFACES AND YOU SKIM IT OFF, AREN'T YOU REMOVING THE ZINC... IN FACT?

Probly. But there's other thangs in there too. I bought some linotype from a guy and when I smelted it I lost 45 lbs of 100 lbs to oatmeal. Spooned the stuff out, and while the mass was still hot, molten linotype was running out of it. I'm pretty sure there wasn't 45% (lbs out of 100) zinc in there. Zerk called me a liar and wouldn't refund my money.

[Wayne Smith]

With those colors you probably have a mix closer to pure than you are used to as well. You might check hardness if you have some pencils.

[44man]

Might lose some tin but it seems the best way to get zinc out. At least it has made my lead usable.
Easiest to clean was some pure lead that got zinc in somehow, It was cable sheathing and should have been clean but I was getting a rain gutter look. It cleaned up good.
I never keep stick on's since the last time I melted a batch, the whole pot was oatmeal.