Flux question

[KirkD]

Tomorrow, I hope to cast my first bullets and I realize I don't know about flux. What household item can I use for flux? Does candle wax work? How much and when?

Thanks for any help you can give me.

[skeet1]

I have used candle wax however there are better things such as bullet lube. You don't need to use that much, a piece the size of a large pea will do. After you get your alloy up to temp just drop it in the top of the pot and stir with your dipper. If you want to cut down on the smoke light the fumes with a match and continue to stir after it quits smoking skim off the slag that has come to the surface. Hope you enjoy this fascinating hobby.

Skeet1

[Sprue]

I use an old scented candle. Kinda makes the process smell good.
It doesn't take much. I dime size piece or less. Be prepared for the fluxing to burst into flames. I keep a lighter near by so if it only smokes I light it. That keeps the smoke to a minimum.

Here is a link you might take a look at. Go down to Section #7. Interesting read and reference.

All You need to know (http://www.n-ssa.org/NORTHWEST/Casting%20Bullets.htm)

Have fun!

[runfiverun]

almost anything carbon based will work some guys use oil ,sawdust, wax [stinky and smokey]
marvelux, i have tried coal dust even.
a pine stick that has a bit of resin still in will work you gotta be careful with this one if it is too wet, like water.

[Cap'n Morgan]

Believe it or not, but raw potatoes work fine for fluxing!

I read this in our national hunting magazine. They had visited a shot shell manufacturer (Nike in Hungary, I believe) and noticed how potatoes was added to the melted lead in their shot making machines.

I tried it myself a couple of times when smelting larger batches into ingots. I was *extremely* careful the first time, after all, raw potatoes are 85% water(!) and we all know how water and melted lead mix!! - but nothing dramatic happened. The water is slowly boiled out of the potatoes. You can even dunk them under the surface of the melt, and watch the melt bubble happily, but it doesn't sputter. The impurities tend to cling to the potatoes, turning them black in the process.

As a bonus the smell is actually quite pleasant. kind of makes you hungry, though:-D

[Boerrancher]

Yesterday I was smelting some range lead and didn't like the way my wax flux was working, so I went to the chicken coop and grabbed a hand full of cracked corn. After stirring it in the dross, I got to sit and smell the smell of freshly made pop corn. The down side was it went from the nice freshly made pop corn smell to that of burnt microwave popcorn, not so pleasant. I will say that it did work well as a flux. I do not advise using cracked corn as a flux indoors though, as your lady may not like the smoke and smell.

Best wishes from the Boer Ranch,

Joe

[Junior1942]

I haven't fluxed at all in twenty years or so. Many thousands of cast bullets later, it hasn't made the slightest difference.

[RP]

Well some flux with oil wax and wood notice one dont flux at all I love to flux I think everone loves to flux, Heck fluxing is fun sometimes productive sometimes not. But when Iam out in the yard smelting 300lbs of lead from the range that has shotgun wads sticks rocks jackets a few casing adding some transmission fluid to it and having a cloud of smoke rise up into the air then burst into flames with a flick of a match is just plan COOL and let everone in the area know. Like a smoke signal its just plain magicial

[timkelley]

I use sawdust and a pine or fir stick from my shop. Pine smells really good.:-D

[GabbyM]

Cooking oil works well. Crisco or White lard, the kind with no salt. Armour white lard is one of my favorites. Keeps the smelting pot looking nice and black like a cast iron skillet. I've some of that Franklin flux. It's pretty much messy waste of money.

Anymore I light it off before stirring. Since when it suddenly burst into flames I'll flinch and splash lead if I'm holding a spoon in the melt.

If smoke is a problem you can get creative with vent solutions. You can make a nifty vent hood with some aluminum roof flashing , cloths dryer vent duct and a pop rivet gun. Then if you're lucky you'll have a window to run duct work to. For a temp solution. I've uses boxes from Miller Light and tape to fashion up a hood attached to the window. Cardboard being flammable could have a draw back though. I've a fan in the window right behind my bench so it doesn't take much to direct smoke over to it. Bullshop has a picture on his web page of a nice vent set up.

[KirkD]

Well, I got a real education on this one! Thanks heaps, men. Yesterday, I thought fluxing was a black art about which I knew zip. Now I see that there are a lot of options and I don't need a ton of flux. I got plenty of bullet lube and something the size of a pea is not much at all. I'll probably have other questions as I go along, but I'm getting ready this aft to try my first casting. Hopefully, I get at least 10 good bullets out of the 2 or 3 hundred I'm going to attempt.

[Wayne Smith]

Frequent fluxing is necessary when you dip and pour. Bottom pour pots aren't so sensitive, or so I've read. When I use a ladle I add oxygen to the lead every time I place it into the mix, which causes oxidation, naturally. Fluxing puts the oxides back into the mix, for those who don't know. Having a surface other than lead - cat litter? - on your lead in a bottom pour pot prevents the oxidation.

[KirkD]

Well men, after the culls, I managed to cast 90 500 grain bullets using the double cavity SAECO mould for the trapdoor. The biggest problem was that a number of the bullets did not have very sharp edges around the base, so I threw them back into the melt. When all was said and done, I have 90 bullets and I'm very happy that I was actually able to cast bullets. It was my first experience. Thanks again for the advice.

[Jon K]

KirkD,

Experiment........... practice makes perfect,...... the old saying goes. You'll figure out the idiosyncracies to make that mould work.
Temp and technic, experiment and write it down, then you'll know what you did last, an whether it worked or not.
BTW, I flux every 10 when casting my 540 gr 45 cal.

Jon