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A fellow caster stated that his lead has a lite copper haze floating on top ,," does he need to skim the copper haze off "??? Thought I would ask someone with knowledge of this subject ,,. Mentioned something about using copperized lead ???.
coffee's ready,,,,Hootmix.
That "light copper " haze sounds a whole lot what others call wheat straw color. Most likely it is from a high tin content. However some people purposely add a very small amount of copper to the alloy. Tin is required to dissolve the copper and what I read is that .5% is a lot. So there could very well be copper in the alloy and if it is then it probably has a goodly amount of tin as well.
Anyway, no need to skim it off. It will just come right back and you are probably taking tin out in oxide form.
It's most likely desirable elements separating due to excessive heat. The best thing he can do is flux the lead and try to mix everything back in, while lowering the heat a little bit.
Another vote to not skim it off. I would try to stir and flux it back into the mix. Maybe reduce the melting temp a little.
The yellow haze is lead sulfate. It used to be used as a dye in cloth mfg.
Thank you I 'll pass this info along.
coffee's ready,,,,Hootmix.
my first thought was tin, throw some sawdust in there and stir it good, maybe with a tidbit of beeswax, and it should go back into the mix.. I keep a layer of wood shavings ash on top of my melt, even in my bottom pour, to keep the tin from oxidizing, and it works great. I just never drain the pot completely, unless I have skimmed all that stuff off, very well. instead I usually leave maybe 2 lbs in it, and tip the machine so that the last bit of lead dries away from the valve and will come right out. that avoids sucking stuff through the valve, clogging it!