Sawdust?

[TexasGrunt]

I'd like to try some sawdust for fluxing.

Will the pet bedding stuff from Walmart work?

[Grmps]

Go to big a box store ie Lowes / Home depot -- it's free there

[TexasGrunt]

But that "free" sawdust also has a lot of glue and stuff in it from cutting plywood. I'd prefer to avoid that.

[whisler]

Yes, pet bedding works fine.

[Scharfschuetze]

Get very fine sawdust from pine or hardwood if you can. Visit a cabinet maker's shop. I have all the sawdust I need from my table saw out in the garage.

Sometimes if the particles are too large, they'll show up in your bullets. While I haven't noticed any degradation in accuracy, it is kind of unsightly.

RCBS 35-200 with some coarse sawdust bits in it.

[MrWolf]

I use the pet bedding from Walmart. Burn it off and stir in. I do this three times.

[308Jeff]

Go to anyone you know that has a table saw. Reach up under the bottom of the frame and grab a few hands full of the sawdust they never clean up.

[bjordan]

Saw dust from table saws will work, but finer dust is better. Find a friend with a cross cut/power miter/chop saw. Usually more teeth on the blade = finer dust. Chop saws are also mostly used to cut boards to length, hence, usually they are used to cut real wood and not plywood or particle board. Sanding dust from a belt sander catch bag or canister from a random orbit sander work well too.

[TexasGrunt]

I'm going to have my wife pick me up a bag of pet bedding to get started. Once I get rid of foley I'll go out and use my belt sander to create some dust.

[LenH]

Pet bedding from Walmart, it is relatively cheap and works great, always use Aspen. My son keeps reptiles and it is always around.

[mold maker]

Used corn cob and walnut also work. Just don't breath the smoke. It has more than it's share of lead oxide.

[Hardcast416taylor]

Make your own, even with a hand saw (you know which manual powered model I mean) some scrap wood and a saw horse to rest it on. A piece of sheet plastic on the floor and you are in business.Robert

[Phlier]

I'd like to try some sawdust for fluxing.

Will the pet bedding stuff from Walmart work?

As you know, the pet bedding is pretty coarse. I use an old Cuisinart food processor to make it much finer. Either way works, but the finer stuff chars down much quicker and easily makes a nice uniform floating layer to help prevent surface oxidation.

[mdi]

I usually try anything I can think of when doing any casting/reloading stuff as I'm a curious feller. I was in the sporting good dept of a box store and walked past the smoker section and noticed hickory chips for smoking meat. Bought some, tried it, it worked. Some may prefer "fine dust" but I could tell no difference, I just stirred a bit more with the chips. One thing I definitely won't do again is use walnut tumbling media; the smoke is acrid, nasty, choking, even when unused...:twisted:

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Someone smarter than me suggested using sawdust from pine; citing the fluxing properties of the resin in addition to the actual wood.

[country gent]

Ive been working on a bag of cedar bedding wood chips for a couple years now and they are working good. These are bigger size but also thin in cross section so the char down pretty quick. Keeping them stored in a dry enviroment helps them char down quicker. A fine toothed saw blade on a miter saw or table top saw, a medium blade on a band saw ( these are becoming more popular among wood workers due to thiner cuts) Sanding dust from belt or drum sanders, SOme sanders are now set up to replace planers making a lot of sanding dust quickly. As I cast in the garage with the big doors open with the pet bedding I also add a small amount of wax and burn it off to speed charing. Also the stirring is important you want to work the chared bedding thru the lead and the lead thru the charred bedding. I use a flat barbeque spatula and push the charred bedding down thru the lead then back up and pull lead up and thru the bedding with a swirling motion. Scrap sides and bottom of pot and work it thru good, when your done the surface looks like a mirror.

[gwpercle]

I use the stuff from inside the pencil sharpener. It's free !

[nun2kute]

when I was pretending to be a finish carpenter, 80-90% of everything I cut was MDF with white primer on it. Hand/Guard rails were the exception, but even some of the cabinet trim was MDF.

[Big Boomer]

There is a "forestry products" outfit near where I live here in southern Ky. that largely uses not really large pine and oak trees for making treated fence posts. In order to make the posts as straight as possible, they take the bark off the posts and true them up somewhat before treating them with the preservative. They sell the bark and chips of the pine and oak that is in the mix for mulch by the truckload. I stopped by one day and asked if they would sell me a 5-plus gallon plastic bucket of the chips. The lady in the office laughed at me for wanting so small an amount and wanted to know the use I had in mind. I told her that I made lead castings and the pine and oak cleaned up the lead nicely. She said in that case I could go out back and help myself for free. Only downside is that there are sometimes pieces of bark but I use even that when smelting. When casting boolits, I pick that stuff out and toss it out the yard but none of it is large - a couple of inches at most in length. It seems to work nicely for me and the only cost is the 10 miles or less to drive over and the effort to shovel it into the bucket. Big Boomer

[Budzilla 19]

Have portable sawmill in our family so sawdust is no problem! I love the pine stuff! Smells like a campfire and who doesn't love that smell? Tried oak and pecan before but pine is the best in my opinion! Good luck whatever way you go! Don't think I would fool with the big box stores stuff, might be some bad mojo in that dust!

[Orchard6]

I've used wood pellets for pellet stoves before and it seemed to work ok.

[Boogieman]

I use the saw dust from what ever I'm cutting for firewood .Just put a old tarp under the log and fire up the chain saw.

[PaulG67]

I've used wood pellets for pellet stoves before and it seemed to work ok.

I use them also as I heat with pellets, but anyone can get a 40 lb bag at a big box store for maybe 7-8 $ and it will last a very long time.

[Love Life]

I use the sawdust from a fresh cut Douglas-Fir.

[JimB..]

I use handplanes for some jobs. Think the very thin shavings (like easy to see through) from the finishing plane or scraper would work? I'd use the table saw, but lord only knows what's in there.

[Love Life]

The shavings will work just fine.

[Greebe]

I make plenty if my own sawdust in my shop, but never thought to use it as flux. Always just used paraffin. What does the sawdust do better or different.?

[Digital Dan]

Softwood contains resins in sufficient portion to act as a proper flux agent and facilitate putting oxidized components such as tin back in solution with the lead. In my experience it matters little if it is dust or leavings from table saws, planers or routers. I generally use waste from the planer or table saw.

http://www.lasc.us/FryxellFluxing.htm

Read the full article, or his specific commentary on sawdust here:


Sawdust is another material that has been used as a flux for bullet metal, and it has the advantages of both the previous classes of bullet fluxes (it has often been employed in conjunction with oil, but all that does is make fluxing smokier and smellier). Sawdust is also a sacrificial reductant that reduces tin, thereby returning it to the melt (again, reduction is the opposite of oxidation). It also has many building blocks (lignin's, tannins, gallates, etc.) that bind to oxidized metals. Lead, tin and antimony are fairly easy to reduce back to the metallic state, others are not so easy.

[Walstr]

#5 actually getting "sawdust" into his mold? Hmmm, seems unlikely, be mayhaps because he didn't wait 'till it smoldered down into carbon. It's the carbon that really does the 'fluxing' work I understand. This is a good time to 'smoke' your mold; mucho nice smoke available.

The grain size IMHO is irrelevant, again, it converts (cokes) to carbon. Maybe I'm missing these issues because i'm using a bottom pour pot. Well, just like armpits, most of us have one or two opinions, eh. You gots your answer pard, now go a smeltin'.

[ROCKET]

I use the stuff from inside the pencil sharpener. It's free !

What a cool idea [emoji106]

[308Jeff]

There is a "forestry products" outfit near where I live here in southern Ky. that largely uses not really large pine and oak trees for making treated fence posts. In order to make the posts as straight as possible, they take the bark off the posts and true them up somewhat before treating them with the preservative. They sell the bark and chips of the pine and oak that is in the mix for mulch by the truckload. I stopped by one day and asked if they would sell me a 5-plus gallon plastic bucket of the chips. The lady in the office laughed at me for wanting so small an amount and wanted to know the use I had in mind. I told her that I made lead castings and the pine and oak cleaned up the lead nicely. She said in that case I could go out back and help myself for free. Only downside is that there are sometimes pieces of bark but I use even that when smelting. When casting boolits, I pick that stuff out and toss it out the yard but none of it is large - a couple of inches at most in length. It seems to work nicely for me and the only cost is the 10 miles or less to drive over and the effort to shovel it into the bucket. Big Boomer

Where at in Southern Kentucky? I grew up in Casey County.184637

[oscarflytyer]

sawdust works. I have used it and have some for future use. But I have found that a simple wooden paint stir stick is the easiest and best. Stir until is starts to char. Adds the carbon required and very easy to use. All I really use nowdays.

[Grmps]

Never had problem with the sawdust from the big box stores. Once it's chared I use a potato masher for quick thorough fluxing.

[Roy Acuffff]

I got mine at Tractor Supply, Pine at $5+ in 25 pound package.

roy

[Morgan61]

I just run a board through my edge planer & collect the wood chips.

[jmort]

I get the notion of making your own, or worse yet using "dust" with non-wood products mixed in for free. Pencils are not all wood in many cases. A large amount of pine shavings aka pet bedding costs next to nothing and is a prime contender for best product for fluxing. This is one corner I would not cut. But if you like your man-made wood product, you can keep your man-made wood product

[mdi]

I've been known to simplify fluxing even more; I just stir with a paint stick, slowly...[smilie=1:

[Leadmelter]

I use pine pet bedding. I bought a bag two years ago and barely put a dent in it. No sense in wasting time with unknown products.
Leadmelter
MI

[Phlier]

sawdust works. I have used it and have some for future use. But I have found that a simple wooden paint stir stick is the easiest and best. Stir until is starts to char. Adds the carbon required and very easy to use. All I really use nowdays.


I've been known to simplify fluxing even more; I just stir with a paint stick, slowly...[smilie=1:

Great ideas. Going to grab a few dozen paint sticks next trip to Home Despot.

Maybe throw a layer of fresh sawdust on the top of the melt after fluxing with the paint stir stick to prevent surface oxidation.

[mdi]

At my local hardware store I found some "shims", not knowing what they are called. Rough finished (looks like scrap) tapered slats of wood. 1 1/2" wide and 12" long and taper from 3/8' to a sharp end. They came in a bundle of about a dozen and work quite well for stirring molten lead. The rough finish chars easily and contributes to fluxing...

[Green Ghost]

I haven't used pet bedding from Walmart. I just wanted to remind everyone that fresh cut wood contains water. Please let it char completely before stirring it in. It could make for a less painful casting session.

Jerry

[retread]

I haven't used pet bedding from Walmart. I just wanted to remind everyone that fresh cut wood contains water. Please let it char completely before stirring it in. It could make for a less painful casting session.

Jerry

Jerry is right. Don't ask me how I know.

[lightman]

Green Ghost made a good point. To work the way we want it to it needs to char anyway. I'm about out of the sawdust that I had saved and I see a trip to Tractor Supply or Walmart for some pine pet bedding. When I was working I was always around a job site and it was easy to put a box under the saw horses whenever the carpenters were cutting untreated studs or rafters. I know its cheap but we, as casters, are also scroungers!

[w5pv]

Walnut lizard bedding works fine,it is walnut and also can be used to polish your brass.

[EMC45]

Paint stir sticks. Free and they are dry and you can also use them to scrape the sides of the pot which hastens the fluxing action of the stick itself.

[Grmps]

Paint stir sticks. Free and they are dry and you can also use them to scrape the sides of the pot which hastens the fluxing action of the stick itself.

A paint stick I used sputtered and popped when I stuck it in the pot. Always use caution when putting anything into the hot lead. Most of you have read about and some of you experienced (unforgettably) what a damp ingot (moisture) will do to when introduced into a pot of hot lead. talk to anyone who has had a pot of lead "blow up" on them and see it they are not using more safety precautions. Wood can also absorb moisture and have pitch pockets. We all get lax and complacent after doing a possibly hazardous task for a period of time with no adverse incidents.

[TexasGrunt]

I used the Cedar shavings from Walmart and they worked awesome.

[WRideout]

I find myself wondering if shredder paper from the office would work as well as sawdust. We have lots at work.

Wayne

[rockshooter]

Agree with GRMPS- I grabbed a paint stick off my garage shelf- a couple of stirs and I now have lead on the 10 ft ceiling in the garage. They have to be dry and it can be hard to tell.
Loren

[abunaitoo]

Been using sawdust for a long time.
It's free, it works, and I cheap.
I make target frames to sell at the Gun show.
We have to provide our own frames at the range.
So I almost always have saw dust around.
I normally use the cheap, untreated, wood.
Once they didn't have any of the untreated, so I had to use treated.
Smoke when fluxing is not good.
Made me a little sick. Hope I didn't poison myself.