cleanest flux?

[troy_mclure]

ive been fluxing with shortening(as recommended by lyman's cast boolit book).
it seems to work well, but is incredibly messy. i use about a tablespoon for every 20lbs of lead.

it leaves a black gooey mess on the sides of my pot, and on my stir/skim spoon.

since im getting me a fancy electric bottom pour pot, i figured id need a cleaner flux than what i am currently using.

any recommendations?

[Howdy Doody]

I am not too fussy about the sides of my pot, so I use my homemade BP boolit lube as flux. I still have some flux I bought from Brownells and that will definately keep the sides clean and nice, if just a little oily.
:)

[docone31]

I use home made BP lube as flux also. Got plenty. The other alternative, Crisco!
Great stuff. lots of smoke, makes black goo, works great.
I have a Lee Bottom Pour. So far, I have been drip free.

[GabbyM]

Corn oil works well. I keep some in an old dish soap bottle.
White lard. the kind with no salt.
You can also use lard for cooking in place of shortening (hydrogenated vegetable oil) which is not fit for human consumption.

[405]

Seems kinda odd but a hardwood dowel 1/4 - 5/16 works well to scrape and stir. It chars and shucks off a little "flux" each time. Easy to srape and get down around the stem and spout on bottom pour pots. Then skim with whatever dross skimmer or spoon.

[lwknight]

You can get those big 3 pound candles at wally world pretty cheap. they make great flux and are not messy to speak of. and they make it smell good when they melt, till it starts burning and smoking.

[lwknight]

My grandmother ate food cooked in Lard for 101 years. I bet no one can say that about shortening.

[rwt101]

I use wood paint stirrers. It works great. Keeps it clean and no oder.
Bob T

[Tazman1602]

ive been fluxing with shortening(as recommended by lyman's cast boolit book).
it seems to work well, but is incredibly messy. i use about a tablespoon for every 20lbs of lead.

it leaves a black gooey mess on the sides of my pot, and on my stir/skim spoon.

since im getting me a fancy electric bottom pour pot, i figured id need a cleaner flux than what i am currently using.

any recommendations?

I've been fluxing with parafin for a number of years, smokey, messy, and stinks up the basement even with sliding doors wide open. I just tried some Marvelux from Brownells, it is the cats meow. Try it here:

http://www.brownells.com/.aspx/pid=1132/Product/MARVELUX_reg__BULLET_CASTING_FLUX

You won't be sorry.

Art

[sargenv]

I've been using up small bits of Parrafin wax and the California Flake Flux combined. When it smokes I set it afire and stir it well with scrap redwood slats that I got from removed lattice board. It works just fine and I can scrape the sides with the redwood stakes. I would likely use paint stirers if I did not use the lattice board scraps.

[fredj338]

I used to use wax, still occasionally throw in old recovered lead bullets, but clean ry sawdust works great, far better than wax IMO.

[Bret4207]

You can use most anything containing carbon to flux. Some guys use charcoal briquettes even. I see no sense ion using oils, waxes, etc anymore since I found the simple stirring stick. It provides all the flux you needs with ZERO flames, no accumulated crusty stuff or rusting pots. Just get a stick of a handy size that's dry and stir and scrape the pot with it, As you scrape it sheds carbon well down in the mix and loosens the crud. Simple, cost effective, no flames, minimal smoke and it works.

[blikseme300]

I make rustic furniture using Ponderosa pine timber. This is a resinous wood. I rip sticks from remainders and use these to stir the melt. Smells good and fluxes very well - also cheap!

Bliksem

[44wcf]

This is by far the best I ever used.
PatMarlin's California Flake Flux

[Butler Ford]

Seems kinda odd but a hardwood dowel 1/4 - 5/16 works well to scrape and stir. It chars and shucks off a little "flux" each time. Easy to scrape and get down around the stem and spout on bottom pour pots. Then skim with whatever dross skimmer or spoon.

Don't remember where I heard the hardwood dowel trick first but I thank them every time I fire up the pot. Since the only metal that goes into the pot is clean to start with after a few stirs and scrapes with the dowel that layer of skim on the top seems to disappear and the only thing left is ash. I leave the ash as a seal against oxidation. It works, no unpleasant stink and very little smoke.

[troy_mclure]

ill have to try the wood thing next time! thanks guys!

[BLTsandwedge]

The wax seal on Maker's Mark works well. There's a one-to-one ratio of one bottle's seal to 20 pounds of melt. I find that it works even better if I go one bottle's seal to every 10 punds of melt- or 5. An' you know what? The next morning I have a pile of the damnest looking boolits......

[dromia]

Seems kinda odd but a hardwood dowel 1/4 - 5/16 works well to scrape and stir. It chars and shucks off a little "flux" each time. Easy to srape and get down around the stem and spout on bottom pour pots. Then skim with whatever dross skimmer or spoon.

Thats what I use, any dry stick, however I rarely flux the pot. I only flux when smelting up the alloy.

I periodically press the oxidised layer back into the melt on the side if the pot with a spoon.

[JSnover]

I gave up on candles, lubes and all that other junk. Wood beats them all.

[rwt101]

I have a 12' by 16' shed that I cast in. I get a pretty good amount of moisture in it at times. Today I turned on the 10 LB Lee pot and picked up the piece of wood and started to stir and it started to bubble up. I removed the stick just in time. Evidently some moisture got into the wood. Never had that happen before. I use a heat gun to warm the ingots before I put them in the pot. So I guess I will have to do the same with the wood on days when the humidity is up. We had several inches of rain in the last 24 hours.
Bob T

[No_1]

I am with the rest of the guys. My ingot are about as clean as they can be by the time they get to the pot. I use the paint stirring sticks they give you FREE at any of the major supply stores. Their shape allows me to get at all side and the bottom. They do smoke but do not explode into fire like grease or lubes, they do not cause my pot to rust like one of the commercial flux powders I have tried and if just in case you did not pick up on it in the 3nd sentence they are FREE!

Robert

[John Boy]

Last few months have been using borax that a friend gave me
Have tried all the others but this cleans the pot - ladle and the lead. Leaves nothing but the black dross floating on the top and mixes the separated Sn that may be floating on top back into the melt