Is this called fluxing

[DCP]

Is this called fluxing

Get some charcoal or sawdust (or candle wax).
Get a wood stick (paint stirrers will work) and stir your melt with it

The carbon will allow oxides to remelt into your mix.

Saw dust is free and I have lots of wood sticks

Anyone any better, any tips

Thanks

[qajaq59]

I like the saw dust. Especially if it's cedar.

[blackthorn]

Just make sure any sawdust and/or stick is VERY, VERY DRY!!

[Wayne Smith]

Just make sure any sawdust and/or stick is VERY, VERY DRY!!

Actually, not necessary as long as it stays on top of the melt. I've used sticks picked up off the ground, put them very slowly in the melt, only had some bubbling, nothing dramatic. I do NOT recommend this, however. I once swatted a wasp that landed on the melt, it spun and bubbled but did nothing dramatic as it crisped.

I would even be careful using soft wood, I've not tried it, but I can imagine what would happen when a sap inclusion gets down in the melt.

[qajaq59]

And don't have anything, such as a shelf, too close to the top of the pot because in my experience the wood chips can ignite.

[Calamity Jake]

After you have fluxed good add clay cat litter to the melt(if bottom pouring) then needing to flux again becomes few and far between.

[Gunslinger]

Can you use the litter that... hmmm... how do I explain this.... gathers the pee into a chunk? That's all I'm able to find here.

[Springfield]

Gunslinger: If you can't fine any non-clumping litter then just go to the auto store and buy some garage floor oil absorbant. Same thing as cheap kitty litter.

[azcoyhunter]

How often do you flux?
I flux at first when my melt gets up to temp, then again when the dipper that I use starts to get the "skin on it", or when I put my sprues back in to the pot.

[Ugluk]

The clump forming litter is often bentonite clay (read on the bag), also usable for sucking up oil spills and mixing with sand and oil for sand casting.

[JSnover]

I would even be careful using soft wood, I've not tried it, but I can imagine what would happen when a sap inclusion gets down in the melt.

It gets interesting; boils and spatters, just like you'd think it might. Pine is supposedly a good wood to flux with because of the resin content. I've used dry pine twigs with good results but they're not my first choice, due to the flaming droplets of pitch that fly out of the pot.

[montana_charlie]

How often do you flux?
I use a dipper, and cut sprues with a gloved hand. So, my sprue is in my palm when the mould is ready to open.
That hot sprue, and any stray bits of metal, goes back in the pot before I do anything else. The next thing going back in will be the hot bullet...if I don't like it when it falls out.

I get about 12 bullets to a pound of alloy, and my pot holds (about) 22 pounds.
I 'reduce' before starting, then cast until the scum starts to 'bother me'. It bothers me to know that the scum is rich in tin oxide, so I get it worked back in to the alloy pretty regularly.
It also bothers me when I have trouble getting a 'clean spot' to dip from.

When I stop to 'reduce' (flux), it means a couple of bullets are likely to come out 'too cool', so I turn those sideways in my line-up to indicate they are probably culls.
After casting 50 bullets, I will usually have four suspected culls in the line. That means I will reduce after each 15 or 20 bullets.

To me, this is a 'time period' thing based on how long it takes for oxidation to occur. If I were casting small bullets, I would probably reduce after the same number of pours, because the length of oxidizing time would be about the same.

Lucky for me, I'm usually after fifty good ones...not 300.

CM

[First Big Foot]

Hi:
In studying knife making, a method of case hardening is to pack the piece of steel into an airtight container with crushed wallnut shells all around, (like plain coarse tumbling media). The shells are heavy with carbon, and on charcoaling impart carbon to the outer few thousandths of the hot steel. So maybe a teaspoonful of Media would do your job.

I was taught to keep a candle handy, and touch the end to the melt for a couple seconds to put a layer of wax ash over the melt. The liquid spreads out over the melt almost instantly, then gasses off as smoke, (unburned hydrocarbons).That's how I do it. (But do it outside! You shouldn't be melting lead indoors anyway.)

In Your Service:
First Big Foot

[largecaliberman]

Is this called fluxing

Get some charcoal or sawdust (or candle wax).
Get a wood stick (paint stirrers will work) and stir your melt with it

The carbon will allow oxides to remelt into your mix.

Saw dust is free and I have lots of wood sticks

Anyone any better, any tips

Thanks

Yep, you can use those. One caution, on the saw dust and wood that has been treated with termicide, avoid breathing in the smoke. Better yet, avoid it.[smilie=1:

[yondering]

Sawdust is all I use anymore.

If you're fluxing with sawdust, you don't need a wood stick. It won't hurt, but isn't necessary. I use a metal spoon. Let the sawdust turn to black charcoal, then crush the charcoal against the sides of the pot under the surface of the melt, while stirring gently. Scrape the dust back to the top and throw it away.

[Bret4207]

I've used wax, oils, pine pitch, spruce gum, leaves, sawdust, shavings, hay chaff, almost anything you can think of I imagine I've tried something at least close to it. But I always stir it into the melt. Once I realized that I just followed a few other peoples advice and stirring with a stick of some sort. I stir, add the carbon as I do it and I scrape the pot sides with the stick too to get more crap out.

The stick method is the best for me.

[mold maker]

WalMart, Lowes, and Home Depot all have paint paddles that are usually free.
They also work good as juvinal correctional incentive devices. My Grand kids hate for me to flux their pots.

[Muddy Creek Sam]

I have a lot of Oak that needs planing, Guess I shoud put it in a storage pail with lid.

Sam :D