Whitespider
03-22-2009, 07:28 AM
FIRST YEAR
When found this site a few years back, I’d been shooting cast from various sources for years. For a time I was getting them from an acquaintance, custom cast to my specifications. Eventually he moved because of a job change and I was back to buying commercial cast. I found this site during a Google search, because I’d decided it was time to start pourin’ my own boolits. I was tired of the problems with too hard, too small, mostly bevel base, expensive commercial cast; I’d never really given lube much thought. After lurking and reading for some time, I joined the board to ask questions in order to clear up some confusion. It didn’t take long for you nut-cases to me pull in to the madness, within days I had a pile of filthy wheel weights and a mold on order.
I decided if I was gonna do this... well, I’m gonna make my own lube. Starting my boolit casting adventure with revolver boolits I figured I wouldn’t need a high-tech lube, just something basic. After reading posts about JPW, LLA lubes verses pan lubes I figured I’d have the best of both (couldn’t believe y’all hadn’t thought of this lube, I must be smarter than y’all :rolleyes: ). I melted together 1lb beeswax/1 can JPW/1 bottle LLA, set my boolits in a pan and pour in my wonder-lube. The stuff doesn’t get hard, way to soft for pan lubing. So I melt it back down and add another 1lb of beeswax, pour it in the pan with boolits. Harder that time, but won’t release from the pan, I had to use the cookie-cutter method. Take my boolits in the house, run ‘em through my Lee sizer, great lookin’ boolits. Damn I’m proud of myself, until two days later when the lube shrinks because the solvent in the JPW evaporates; now my lube grooves are only half full! :groner:
Ok, I figure I’ll just “cook” the solvents out, I put the stuff back on the stove and heated it up. Standing there stirring it, I get to thinking it’ll be too darn hard with all the solvents gone, right? Didn’t I read somewhere that FWFL used mineral oil and Ivory soap? So in another pan I heat up a goodly amount baby oil, cook the snot out of it, and add some Ivory soap, cook some more. When I figure the solvents have evacuated my beeswax/JPW/LLA, I poured in the baby oil/ivory mix; oh, and just for good measure I added another bottle of LLA, couldn’t hurt. Man oh man, this stuff came out s-t-i-c-k-y!! The only way to get the boolits out of the pan is cookie-cutter ‘em while the lube is still soft and warm. But the lube doesn’t shrink, and works well enough in my revolvers.
SECOND YEAR
Started casting for my auto pistols, starting with my .40 S&W, darn if wasn’t getting some barrel leading. Maybe my lube needs some “work”? Hmmm... I wonder if that little jar of Lyman Moly paste...? Yep, added that to the mix along with a little tube of Anti-Seize. Guess what? The Moly and heavy stuff in the Anti-Seize just sinks to the bottom of the pan when pan lubing. :groner: Didn’t I read that Ivory soap was supposed to keep everything glued together? Added more Ivory soap. Nope, no help, stuff still separates. Well, I’ll just heat it up and pour it through an old tee-shirt, which should filter out the heavy stuff (don’t try that, it makes a colossal mess and doesn’t filter crap!).
OK... I’ll just heat it up and let it settle out, and when it’s cool I’ll cut the heavy, dark part off. So I melt it again and just for the heck of it, I toss in some graphite and a squirt of synthetic bearing grease. Problem is the stuff won’t release from the pan so I can remove the dark part. I tip the pan over and warm it with a torch until it releases; another colossal mess! I get the dark part cut from the lighter stuff, which turned a colossal mess into a massive colossal mess! Now I have two lubes, one that’s black and pretty stiff, one that’s brownish (like peanut butter) and a bit softer. Oh, just for reference, I fixed the leading problem in my .40 by using a boolit of proper size and a bit softer alloy. :rolleyes:
THIRD YEAR
Yesterday I get up early, pour myself 300+ boolits for my .38. I’m excited about using the Lyman 450 I purchased over the winter so I dig it out and mount it to the bench. After a bit of messing around I figured out how it works and get the proper punch and die installed. I decide to use the “peanut butter” colored lube, but I figure it’s too stiff to flow (only about 50 degrees in the garage). Well, what should i use to soften it? I know, I’ll use Crisco. So I mix the “peanut butter” with one cup of Crisco and pour it in the 450. Damn stuff is too soft, now it not only looks like peanut butter; it also has the consistency of peanut butter. I did get my boolits lubed and sized, but I’m gonna need to get the 450 cleaned out before the weather warms up. I see another massive colossal mess coming.
Well now, I’ve got over two years and lord only knows how many $$$ invested in my “Wonder Lube. I haven’t added any paraffin yet. Maybe I should just toss it and make some Felix Lube. Maybe, just maybe, I ain’t smarter than y’all are!!!
When found this site a few years back, I’d been shooting cast from various sources for years. For a time I was getting them from an acquaintance, custom cast to my specifications. Eventually he moved because of a job change and I was back to buying commercial cast. I found this site during a Google search, because I’d decided it was time to start pourin’ my own boolits. I was tired of the problems with too hard, too small, mostly bevel base, expensive commercial cast; I’d never really given lube much thought. After lurking and reading for some time, I joined the board to ask questions in order to clear up some confusion. It didn’t take long for you nut-cases to me pull in to the madness, within days I had a pile of filthy wheel weights and a mold on order.
I decided if I was gonna do this... well, I’m gonna make my own lube. Starting my boolit casting adventure with revolver boolits I figured I wouldn’t need a high-tech lube, just something basic. After reading posts about JPW, LLA lubes verses pan lubes I figured I’d have the best of both (couldn’t believe y’all hadn’t thought of this lube, I must be smarter than y’all :rolleyes: ). I melted together 1lb beeswax/1 can JPW/1 bottle LLA, set my boolits in a pan and pour in my wonder-lube. The stuff doesn’t get hard, way to soft for pan lubing. So I melt it back down and add another 1lb of beeswax, pour it in the pan with boolits. Harder that time, but won’t release from the pan, I had to use the cookie-cutter method. Take my boolits in the house, run ‘em through my Lee sizer, great lookin’ boolits. Damn I’m proud of myself, until two days later when the lube shrinks because the solvent in the JPW evaporates; now my lube grooves are only half full! :groner:
Ok, I figure I’ll just “cook” the solvents out, I put the stuff back on the stove and heated it up. Standing there stirring it, I get to thinking it’ll be too darn hard with all the solvents gone, right? Didn’t I read somewhere that FWFL used mineral oil and Ivory soap? So in another pan I heat up a goodly amount baby oil, cook the snot out of it, and add some Ivory soap, cook some more. When I figure the solvents have evacuated my beeswax/JPW/LLA, I poured in the baby oil/ivory mix; oh, and just for good measure I added another bottle of LLA, couldn’t hurt. Man oh man, this stuff came out s-t-i-c-k-y!! The only way to get the boolits out of the pan is cookie-cutter ‘em while the lube is still soft and warm. But the lube doesn’t shrink, and works well enough in my revolvers.
SECOND YEAR
Started casting for my auto pistols, starting with my .40 S&W, darn if wasn’t getting some barrel leading. Maybe my lube needs some “work”? Hmmm... I wonder if that little jar of Lyman Moly paste...? Yep, added that to the mix along with a little tube of Anti-Seize. Guess what? The Moly and heavy stuff in the Anti-Seize just sinks to the bottom of the pan when pan lubing. :groner: Didn’t I read that Ivory soap was supposed to keep everything glued together? Added more Ivory soap. Nope, no help, stuff still separates. Well, I’ll just heat it up and pour it through an old tee-shirt, which should filter out the heavy stuff (don’t try that, it makes a colossal mess and doesn’t filter crap!).
OK... I’ll just heat it up and let it settle out, and when it’s cool I’ll cut the heavy, dark part off. So I melt it again and just for the heck of it, I toss in some graphite and a squirt of synthetic bearing grease. Problem is the stuff won’t release from the pan so I can remove the dark part. I tip the pan over and warm it with a torch until it releases; another colossal mess! I get the dark part cut from the lighter stuff, which turned a colossal mess into a massive colossal mess! Now I have two lubes, one that’s black and pretty stiff, one that’s brownish (like peanut butter) and a bit softer. Oh, just for reference, I fixed the leading problem in my .40 by using a boolit of proper size and a bit softer alloy. :rolleyes:
THIRD YEAR
Yesterday I get up early, pour myself 300+ boolits for my .38. I’m excited about using the Lyman 450 I purchased over the winter so I dig it out and mount it to the bench. After a bit of messing around I figured out how it works and get the proper punch and die installed. I decide to use the “peanut butter” colored lube, but I figure it’s too stiff to flow (only about 50 degrees in the garage). Well, what should i use to soften it? I know, I’ll use Crisco. So I mix the “peanut butter” with one cup of Crisco and pour it in the 450. Damn stuff is too soft, now it not only looks like peanut butter; it also has the consistency of peanut butter. I did get my boolits lubed and sized, but I’m gonna need to get the 450 cleaned out before the weather warms up. I see another massive colossal mess coming.
Well now, I’ve got over two years and lord only knows how many $$$ invested in my “Wonder Lube. I haven’t added any paraffin yet. Maybe I should just toss it and make some Felix Lube. Maybe, just maybe, I ain’t smarter than y’all are!!!