A rusted pot, oh no!

[jdgabbard]

Ok guys. I use my pot about once a week for about an hour long casting session. I cast outside, but store my pot inside in a cardboard box in the closet.

Well in the last month I have begun to notice I'm getting rust on the inside of the pot. I usually leave about an inch of melt in the pot at the end of each session, and because I use it as often as I do I do not see the point in cleaning it with oil every session.

SO, is this just something I am going to have to start doing? Or is this caused from something else like my flux? I have used Beeswax, Ivory Soap, and Sawdust to flux it. Something in the Ivory Soap maybe?

What do you think? And if you think I just need to clean it every time, what with? Steel Wool and oil???

[Vly]

I assume this is an electric pot? My electric pot is an RCBS and the pot part must be stainless as I have not had a rust issue. My cast iron pot for smelting gets rusty and I don't worry about it. I occasionally hit it with the wire brush in the drill.

Maybe the cardboard box is absorbing moisture and aiding the rust process? Some fluxes do cause rusting....Marvelux is the worst for that. I have gone to old candles that the spousal unit would throw out after one burn. :? Cheap and it works.

[jdgabbard]

Yeah its one of the Small Lee Pots.

[jsizemore]

I started out fluxing with Gulf wax parafin and a stick of resinous heart pine, also called "fat light wood" in my neck of the woods. I store my dutch oven in my outdoor storage shed, a 78 el camino. I have zero rust and I only leave a trace of lead in the bottom of the pot. I store my Lee 20-4 inside and I only flux it with the stick and it also shows no rust. I only cast or flux every 2 weeks. Smells great when I flux. Showed my dutch oven to an oldtime caster and I sold him on the fat light wood.

[mooman76]

I usually fill my pot at the end of the session. It helps but you will still get some rust. On the good side a little rust looks bad but doesn't really hurt. If the rust comes off it floats and you toss it out with the other sludge you get. I've had the same cast iron pot for 20 years. I don't use it much now because I got an electric when I got evicted from the kitchen but it still works.

[2TN Mules]

I suspect moisture is the problem. The rust is cosmetically unappealing but won't hurt the cast. As mentioned above it will come off and float on top. Clean it up if you want and while it is still warm, but not hot, just wipe it down with WD40 or CLP, then let it cool totally before storing it away. Good air flow around it should minimize rusting. Little bit of warmth in the pot when placed in the box is likely the culprit.

[jdgabbard]

Ok. I will just start waiting for it to be cold to the touch then drop the solidified lead button out of it and wipe it down with some CLP. After a proper cleaning first. Back when I was using Beeswax I don't think I had this problem. Think the waxy residue helped keep it from the elements.

[docone31]

When I shut down, I hyper load my pot, and turn the valve to eliminate early wake up drips from a restart.
Is it rust from the pot, or, rust from the melt. I have gotten large flakes in my pot, and it did not have a corresponding vacancy on the pot walls.
I also use the infamous Kitty Litter for flux. Nothing corrosive there.

[2TN Mules]

Oh, sorry forgot to mention that the soap could be the culprit. I do a tremendous amount of dutch oven cooking and no soap should EVER touch cast iron. i kind of feel the same way about other types of iron also. Best luck on solving the problem.

[Dan Cash]

Just knock the rust off and keep on casting. One of my pots is a large cast bean pot that I got cheap at an antique mall. Talk about rust, Uff Dah! I knocked the loose scale off of it and it works fine; just don't scrape the bottom much. Try fluxing with a stirring stick, preferably pine. There is no nasty residue, things are fluxed and it does not stink. Does not seem to cause rust either.

[jdgabbard]

You all keep talking about cast iron. I'm using an electric pot. :-D

Docone, its rust from the pot. Its not bad, just a light surface rust. But knowing why I'm getting it is the major concern. At least at that point I can prevent myself from using whatever is causing it to rust.

[docone31]

Blueing is rusting also.
I let my pots rust away with that surface rust. I figuire I will need a new pot before the walls perforate.
I was thinking you had scale rust like I found in mine. It could only have come from deposits.

[mto7464]

Here's what you do. I store mine in the shed. After a session I unplug and let it start to cool off. The I take a candle and go around the edge. It should still be hot enough to melt but not burn off. I touch all the metal surface that I can, the wax will spread out nicely even if you can't get to all the surfaces. I also touch the spout portion, . This leaves a nice carbon waxy coating on and it has never rusted. It smokes like crazy the next time but thats no big deal

[cajun shooter]

jbgabbard, The reason they keep talking about cast iron is a lot of pots have a cast iron tub. All the old Lyman's did. Even the top of the line Wagge does. The RCBS that I own has SS and no problem. If your using Lee they will rust as they age as they use a light steel tub. Other than keeping your tub full which I chose to do, you will have the rust unless you empty pot and spray with corrosion X or some other magic spray.

[pjh421]

I like Marvelux because it doesn't take up much room in my casting area. The best thing I've found is cedar shakes, just like the afforementioned pine sticks. I guess any resinous wood should work better than the evil white powder. Marvelux seems to leave a yellowish deposit in the pot but its the stainless RCBS so I don't worry about it too much. Someone on the board here mentioned having sprayed the inside of his pot with mould release agent so I got some from Midway to try. Wow what a difference! Clean your pot up and try that. You won't be sorry. I also sprayed the dipstick on my casting thermometer and that stays clean now too. Oh, and once I get my steel ingot moulds media blasted I'll use the release spray on them as well since they rust so easily. Just don't use it in your mould cavities.

Paul

[pjh421]

I like Marvelux because it doesn't take up much room in my casting area. The best thing I've found is cedar shakes, just like the afforementioned pine sticks. I guess any resinous wood should work better than the evil white powder. Marvelux seems to leave a yellowish deposit in the pot but its the stainless RCBS so I don't worry about it too much. Someone on the board here mentioned having sprayed the inside of his pot with mould release agent so I got some from Midway to try. Wow what a difference! Clean your pot up and try that. You won't be sorry. I also sprayed the dipstick on my casting thermometer and that stays clean now too. Oh, and once I get my steel ingot moulds media blasted I'll use the release spray on them as well since they rust so easily. Just don't use it in your mould cavities.

Paul

One more thing. Somebody here posted about Evapo-Rust so I got some of that too ($21/gallon). I never had much luck with naval jelly but Evapo-Rust is really effective. Now they make a gel version too. I saw some of the liquid type at Harbor Freight recently. Last summer a friend bought some sinker and arsenal type round ball moulds at an auction. They were absolutely rusted. They would not come apart even after he soaked them in diesel fuel. I degreased them and then put several into a plastic waste paper can (being tall and narrow). Its an enzyme bath and it just ate the rust. We were able so save all the moulds and there was not a speck of rust left on any of them.

[TexRebel]

I just burn a small dab of Bees wax over the left over lead, never had a rust problem in my electric pot