Pencil leading a mould as a release agent

[RICKLANDES]

I received a Lyman 457193 mould yesterday and started casting some bullets for my .45-70 Gemmer. I always hate the fussiness of getting the shipping oil off a mould and getting it broke in for some good casting.

I was being a bit lazy with making sure ALL of the oil was off before giving the mould a run. Needless to say I had a short run of some very nasty bullets. I could see on the mould a bit of oil carbonizing and knew I needed to get it off. What to use???

I tried a bit of 0000 steel wool, a cloth, etc. w/o correction. I spied a pencil and sharpened it and rubbed all of the grooves etc. smooth and clean of any visible "crud". The bullets formed well and they dropped from the mould on opening.

Many have already figued this out I am sure (but I could not find this tip in a search so decided to post). The bullets casted very well with test weights within a grain per the scale.

[Blammer]

best way IMO to get rid of surface rust. use a pencil to 'color it up' then use the eraser to erase it, ta daa rust gone. (just your basic light surface rust)

[mroliver77]

I used the pecil for mould tops and sprue plates before I was turned on to bull plate. I have used it to clean mould also. The erasers have a very fine grit in them. After learning why a mold sticks in a mould, I fix it and no longer rely on mould release, soot or voodoo.
J

[Echo]

A guru many years ago told me that all I needed was a sharp #2 pencil to take care of the bullet molds - as mentioned above, and also applying clay/carbon to the underside of the sprue plate.

[catboat]

A bit off topic, but another use for pencil lead is to swirl it around the inside of a case neck 2-3 times before resizing (or actually using a die with an expander ball). Reduces the drag tremendously, almost like using a carbide expander ball.

[beagle]

You can also spray coat with moly and polish with a soft pine splinter. That's Felix's old trick and works wonders./beagle

[MT Gianni]

I learned it from Felix on the old Shooters board. Don't forget to use the unsharpened wooden part of the pencil as well. The soft wood will help rempove any small rust and burrs before the graphite gets there.

[williamwaco]

NO. NO. NO.

Pencil leads are partly graphite but mostly clay. They are very abrasive.
I have personally ruined two knoves by "lubricating" the hinge with a pencil lead.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

NO. NO. NO.

Pencil leads are partly graphite but mostly clay. They are very abrasive.
I have personally ruined two knoves by "lubricating" the hinge with a pencil lead.

what's a Knove ?

[morcey2]

what's a Knove ?

Past-tense of knave?

[williamwaco]

what's a Knove ?

Sorry.

Knives.

[Rocky Raab]

Apiligy accepted.

[Char-Gar]

NEI made and sold (I suppose they still do) a product called Mold-Prep. It was an industrial graphite in some kind of carrier that evaporated leaving an even coat of graphite on the interior mold surfaces. I have used it for decades with complete satisfaction.

[Bret4207]

I do not believe in smoking moulds or using any kind of "mould release" in general. However, for a spot that keeps gathering crud and lead or to lube a sprue plate, a good old fashioned carpenters pencil has worked great for me. Apply it and rub it off. Works fine, doesn;t create a film like the mould release I've tried and doesn't insulate the mould or tend to throw smaller boolits like smoking.

[adrians]

i just got an old win 32WCF mold and it had surface rust so i used a pencil to get it off ,i also did the cavity (i could feel small burrs and the pencil tip took them down some ) gonna cast some today to see whay the actually drop.
ofcourse bullplate will be used during casting.

[Sonnypie]

Oddly enough, I haven't found any rust on my aluminium molds....

And William, I read that and knives is what registered in my head. I had to go back to see the typo.
Atuo spill cheker in my haed.

Has anybody tried graphite as a release agent? Seems like one could dust the cav and use a Q-tip to polish.
Just curious.

[sundog]

If you use graphite, one of the easiest ways to do it and keep from putting to much on is using one of the commercial mould release products such as Dropout (Midway) and sparingly put some on a q-tip and then swab the already cleaned cavity. The key word is 'sparingly'. We had this discussion before, and like Bret, it's better to get the mould working to it's fullest potential. BUT, if it needs a little help, give it just that, only a little, don't over do it. And by no means expect full size boolits it you spray mould release directly onto the mould. All you want is a film on trouble spots.

[1Shirt]

Have used a pencil on new molds for years, works well, never had a problem (so far at least).
1Shirt!