Good flux materials

[b money]

Hello, I'm about ready to undertake my first lead smelt. And have looked all over for a list of good/successful fluxing materials I have read pretty much anything carbon will work, but I'm sure some things work better than others. Also cheap or free is a main goal too.

Also if you would like to share any general tips that would be great.

Thanks

[prickett]

Hello, I'm about ready to undertake my first lead smelt. And have looked all over for a list of good/successful fluxing materials I have read pretty much anything carbon will work, but I'm sure some things work better than others. Also cheap or free is a main goal too.

Also if you would like to share any general tips that would be great.

Thanks

Saw Dust works well for me and meets your price criteria.

I started a pretty long thread you can search for where quite a few people gave their experiences (almost all good) regarding saw dust fluxing.

[jmsj]

b money,
Sawdust works best for me and I have lots of it laying around. Sometimes I'll use parrafin wax. I personally don't like the borax type fluxes. They don't smoke but make a mess of your pot. Why not gather up different fluxing materials and try them all and choose the one you like best. Most are cheap or free.
Welcome to the site and good luck on your first smelt. jmsj

[Heavy lead]

I started using boolit lube when I started, but the last few months or so, I've found just throwing in a couple of lighted matches and letting them burn down, then stirring works just fine, if the melt is particuliarly dirty, or seems to be domed up and seems just not to fill sometimes I'll toss in a little lube and light it off, but don't usually have to do it.

[b money]

Alright thanks everyone

[b money]

Just thought of this, has anyone ever tried using old news paper or cardboard?

[dromia]

For fluxing stir the melt with a dry wooden stick.

Cheap, simple, clean and as good flux as you'll get with anything else.

I don't flux very often do most of it at the alloying stage and then once before casting when the pot is up to temperature.

[cbrick]

b money, welcome to Castboolits.

Here is an article on fluxing, what it does, how and why.

The "Simple" Act of Fluxing
By: Glen E. Fryxell (http://www.lasc.us/FryxellFluxing.htm)

Hope this helps,

Rick

[b money]

Thanks everyone

[geargnasher]

If you have a bunch of dirty wheel weights to deal with, you can add a quarter-cup of diesel fuel or used engine oil to the lead and light it when you first turn on the burner, it adds heat, consumes oxygen, and adds carbon if used in a dutch oven or similar pot because of oxygen starvation inside the pot.

But truly, any and all of the above advice is sound, too.

Gear

[mdi]

Don't mean to hijack this thread, but if carbon is good, how would charcoal (bbq bricketts) do as a flux? Beat them into a powder? Or chunks? Hmmmmm, sounds like a new experiment coming up...

[winelover]

Don't mean to hijack this thread, but if carbon is good, how would charcoal (bbq bricketts) do as a flux? Beat them into a powder? Or chunks? Hmmmmm, sounds like a new experiment coming up...

That's exactly what I do with them! Put one in a metal coffee can and pulverize it with a baseball bat. Crude Morter & Pestle. Works fine for flux.

Winelover

[Duckiller]

Really dirty,oily come with their own flux, especially when stirred with a wood stick/dowel. Carbon gets the ingots as clean as possible. Melting clean ingots to cast boolits doesn't need much flux. Burning a small amount of paraffin just before casting gets the crud to the surface. Be aware it may make you jump, ie caster's flinch. Really dirty wheel weights make clean ingots and clean ingots produce pretty boolits.

[buck1]

Saw dust pine pitch,wax are all good choices.

[Cowboy T]

I use sawdust most of the time. Cheap (free) and plentiful.

[Munkeyjoe]

Humm Im a fan of the "wifes Candle throwouts" and stirring with a paint mixer stick.

[Dannix]

For fluxing stir the melt with a dry wooden stick.... once before casting when the pot is up to temperature.
b money, if you're using a bottom poor you may want to above scraping the bottom of the pot with the stick though. Check out that sawdust thread for more elaboration.

Edit:
Here's the main one: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=86424&highlight=sawdust
If you do an advanced search here for "sawdust", put Pat's username in the 'find posts by user' and set to sort by threads, you'll find lots of good info.

[Bret4207]

Just stir it with a stick, scrape with a stick. It gets the carbon down into the melt better than anything I've tried.

[Big Dog]

That's exactly what I do with them! Put one in a metal coffee can and pulverize it with a baseball bat. Crude Morter & Pestle. Works fine for flux.

Winelover

I do believe that is the right track of thought, the charcoal

a friend of mine works smelting copper, bronze, brass and some other metals (it gets rolled out & milled to exact thickness, slit & rolled on huge spools) and they use tons of charcoal every month, they throw it on top of the open smelt and stir it to pull all kinds of crud out of the molten metal

[docone31]

I use Batterns flux for my 'smithing work. Sometimes I do mix charcoal into the flux, depending on what I am doing. It does indeed act as an absorbant of O2 also.
For most lead casting, I use Kitty Litter. No smoke, it gradually breaks down to make diatomatious powder. It absorbs a lot of crud in the process also. An advantage, I can cast, water drop, then toss the reject back on top lf the Kitty Litter. The moisture is long gone before the casting melts back into the pot.
All ingots that go into the pot, pass through the Kitty litter. No tinsel fairy after all these years.
Lasts a long time also.