Noob question but...

[jamesp81]

What do you guys use to skim dross with?

I've been using some lead I got off ebay, supposedly "cleaned" wheel weights. To be fair, they are pretty good, but I am getting some dross on the top and sticking to the sides of my pot after shutting it off. It's clear the lead needs a good fluxing and skimming. What are you guys using that I could also use, that I wouldn't have to make? (I'm not handy, so I'm not going to get into building tools).

[sav300]

Old soup spoon,old soup ladle. Any thing with a bowl shape and a long handle.Not the Wife`s stirling silver spoons!

[Tatume]

A thin strip of pine is nice for scraping the sides of the pot. Then use your spoon to skim. The pine will burn if you leave it in the lead more than a few seconds, so be brief.

[kmrra]

I use what they both said , Soup spoon for skimming and a wood stick to clan the sides of the pot and stiring works as fluxing also

[Wayne Smith]

Make sure your 'dross' isn't the tin oxidizing out - stir in a little wax (light the smoke - it burns off) and see if it reduces back into the mix.

[44man]

It sounds like you are putting the weights in your casting pot. Sure way to get all the dirt.

[pka45]

I stole a spoon from the wife. Stainless, though...

[lightman]

Consider what Wayne said about your tin, and flux well. I have 2 large kitchen spoons that I use. A perforated one for skimming wheelweight clips, bullet jackets and other large junk. And a solid one for the smaller trash. Buy them new at Walmart or used from a thrift store. Don't get your kitchen stuff and never use them around food after you have lead on them. Look for the one piece ones or ones that are riveted together. The welded ones are probably not welded but soldered and will come unsoldered when they get hot.

[rda72927]

Paint stirring sticks work real well also...

[robg]

A long sundae spoon in stainless steel in my Lee 10 lb pot

[DerekP Houston]

old stainless spoon from my camping gear, was already rusted and dirty ;).

[jamesp81]

It sounds like you are putting the weights in your casting pot. Sure way to get all the dirt.

I might not have been clear. I am melting ingots that were smelted from wheel weights by a guy on ebay. So the ingots should be clean. For the most part they are, but I'm still getting some slag.

As far as using wax to get the tin back into the mix, will common candle wax work? What about a boolit with lube on it (the commercial, hard crayon type stuff)?

[Tazman1602]

Dude I stole one of wifes kitchen spoons 25 years ago, drilled a series of holes and been using it ever since....

Art

[Tazman1602]

I might not have been clear. I am melting ingots that were smelted from wheel weights by a guy on ebay. So the ingots should be clean. For the most part they are, but I'm still getting some slag.

As far as using wax to get the tin back into the mix, will common candle wax work? What about a boolit with lube on it (the commercial, hard crayon type stuff)?

Dude you're doing fine. Go to the grocery store and get a box of Gulfwax --- it's used for sealing jelly jars. Drop a little in your mix, set it on fire with a match, stir stir stir until fire goes out then skim the dross --- outside of course........

I use different methods today, but that one works just fine.

Art

[GrayTech]

Candle wax works just fine for fluxing.

[Wayne Smith]

If anyone in your house burns candles there are a lot of stubs laying around. If you eat cheese there is a wax coating on many of them. Don't bother buying Gulfwax unless you are making candles, you will never use all of it!

[OS OK]

186687
My rusty old dross bucket with confiscated spoon from the kitchen...the yellow is the outer covering I slipped off an extension cord....thick rubber insulates you from that 700*F Pb. It doesn't take but a few seconds while stirring/skimming and the handle of that spoon gonna get blazing hot.
That little bucket catches all my pot dross, I save it until making ingots and re-run it there and get a little Sn back to enrich whatever I'm doing, a little Sn goes a long ways for fill-out in the mold...hang onto it.

[44man]

I might not have been clear. I am melting ingots that were smelted from wheel weights by a guy on ebay. So the ingots should be clean. For the most part they are, but I'm still getting some slag.

As far as using wax to get the tin back into the mix, will common candle wax work? What about a boolit with lube on it (the commercial, hard crayon type stuff)?
Thanks for the clarification. You are just getting normal crud we all get.
I use paraffin myself, works fine as would a wood stick. Stir wax all the way in, beeswax or boolit lube also works. Just need the carbon.
I use an old stainless spoon with a long wood handle riveted on, handles get hot.

[sundog]

Dross needs to go back into the alloy. If it was already clean when ingotized, dry rip saw dust works really good. A layer in the casting pot thick enough to hide the metal is enough. When it starts to smoke, light it off and stir. If there is dirt when the fire goes out, skim it (and the ash) off. Repeat, and leave that layer of carbon (burned saw dust) on top to prevent any further ozidizing.

Several years ago I had some large pieces of elm that would not split. I ripped them with a chain saw into burnable pieces. The resulting pile of saw dust was saved and has been my source for quite awhile now. Works extremely well.

Any dross that is collected, which is very little, is saved to add into the next big melt down for clean ingots that is done in a cast dutch oven or the MOAS. Clean is the name of the game when rendering WWs into ingots.

[mdi]

I found some "shims" at the hardware store. They are rough cut, approx. 1"x12", 3/8" at one end tapered to a point at the other. I use them for stir sticks. The work quite well and aid fluxing. I'll stir vigorously with a stick then skim with a slotted spoon.