Low cost choices for fluxing?

[HamGunner]

Anything that contains carbon will work.

For use in a large pot for what we call "smelting" (or for casting in a bottom pour furnace) I prefer sawdust and lots of it. I throw it in from the start to let it get reduced to ash and another handful or three as I add more metal to the pot. I especially like sawdust that contains resin and the more the better. It keeps things extremely clean and the smell is natural and more like a camp fire. Sawdust works really great with a bottom pour pot when casting and I leave a layer on while casting. After fluxing, just throw another good handful back on top of the pot and let it smolder back down to ash as you cast and it will be ready for the next fluxing.

For ladle or dipper casting where the flux has to be removed completely, the sawdust works, but petroleum products is faster. I normally just use old candle remnants or about anything that will not stink too badly. Watch for flare ups.

[geargnasher]

One more time guys: carbon reduces oxides, but doesn't clean the alloy of impurities. To clean the alloy, you need sawdust because it contains certain substances that react with and "lock" contaminants out the alloy so they can be skimmed away with the ashes.

You use what you want if you think it works, I'm trying to help you guys out here by explaining what is really going on. If your alloy is "clean" enough of contaminating metals, a chunk of Gulf Wax to take care of the oxides might be all you need. But just because the melt has a clean, shiny surface doesn't mean it doesn't have junk in there that will hinder the way it casts. Sawdust or borates are the ways to remove that stuff, although the borates have a couple of pretty severe drawbacks.

Wet sawdust, sprinkled on top of the melt, won't created a bomb. Shoving a damp stick down into the melt will.

Gear

[bumblefox]

I'm really diggin' this sawdust/woodchip idea. I've been collecting ww and any other forms of lead that can be found on the side of the roads for about two years now, But I'm still new to the casting stage though. So I was wondering if there is a formula as to how big/small the wood chips/dust should be compaired to the size of the melting pot/devise, also what is a good ratio of wood to lbs of lead being smelted.
Thanks in advance!

[guidogoose]

+1 on using wax. I've cast over 50,000 bullets this year alone with it and it works fine. I am curious to try sawdust after reading the reviews here.

[mold maker]

My choices are sawdust,sawdust, and sawdust. When smelting I grab a generous hand full and drop it on top of the metal . Your clean pot and melt will thank you.
If you use too much it will only take a minute longer to char. If you use too little it wont be totally effective. Just make sure its dry and don't stir it under till it is charred. It's just a convenient form of inexpensive carbon, same as the rest. Only it does a better job, cheaper. As far as chip size, larger takes longer to completely char to carbon.

[geargnasher]

Sawdust is not just carbon like the grease/wax/oil. The carbohydrate structure of wood pulp reacts with and absorbs certain impurities dissolved in scrap or dirty alloy that cause casting problems, so it is a true FLUX, not just a sacrificial reducant.

Gear

[Longwood]

If you have a pellet stove, or know someone that does, ask them to buy a small box or bag of them to try.
They are tightly compressed wood chips and dust and they work extremely well as flux once they are broken up.
I do it by putting about 1/2" in a cake pan then adding enough water to cover them. The chips will quickly swell as they absorb the water so be sure to expect it and be prepared with a deep enough pan. Add more water if all of the pellets do not break apart or pellets if you have too much water.
I then dry mine in the sun till they dry. Here, that takes about two or three hours.
In the South East you may have to try another method.
I have used them without breaking them up then drying them.
During casting it takes up too much time.
While smelting, it works ok, they just smolder longer so I add paraffin to light, so it burns off most of the smoke for the neighbors sake.

[gbrown]

I guess it is what you have the best access to and what works for you. I have used paraffin, candles, etc. in the past, but was not pleased with the oily residue left on the side of my pots. Went to a local rice mill for mulch and discovered they sold a bag of clean rice hulls for $4.00. This bag is what they put 100# of milled rice in. About 4 foot by 2.5 foot by 2 foot. Holds about 50 # of hulls. Clean and dry. Smell good on top of a bunch of alloy. One bag is about 5 years of smelting-casting. As said by others here--carbon is carbon.

[Longwood]

I guess it is what you have the best access to and what works for you.

Pine needles have been reported as usable.
I am going to try them this fall.

[fcvan]

I flux with used ground walnut from my tumbler. Sometimes I use new but mostly use the old stuff to get rid of it. I decap and wash my brass with dawn dish soap and sometimes a splash of lemon juice for the really tarnished stuff. The point is washing removes the primer fouling or at least reduces it so I'm not sending that up in smoke. The brass comes out clean and the media lasts a lot longer. When the media is too funky I flux with it. Frank

[gbrown]

Pine needles have been reported as usable.
I am going to try them this fall.

I was told by a couple of people who have been casting for a combined time of 95 years + that rosin was the PRIMO fluxing agent. Never tried it, but I believe that rosin is a product of the pine. You might have a great idea there.

[Longwood]

I was told by a couple of people who have been casting for a combined time of 95 years + that rosin was the PRIMO fluxing agent. Never tried it, but I believe that rosin is a product of the pine. You might have a great idea there.

I recall bringing home some resin many years ago from the Uniroyal tire plant. Maybe that was why.

I got a new mold and am anxious to try it as soon as I get the new motor for the roll around swamp cooler.
I am going to try some pine pitch balls and Encelia resin beads that the indians burned for incense.

[csmopar]

I just started smelting old range lead, so far saw dust is working for me, course, I'm brand new but I decided to use saw dust since the local saw mill will sell it cheap, I got a 25 foot dump trailer full for 35 bucks.

[geargnasher]

I was told by a couple of people who have been casting for a combined time of 95 years + that rosin was the PRIMO fluxing agent. Never tried it, but I believe that rosin is a product of the pine. You might have a great idea there.

I've used pine rosin, it's an excellent sacrificial reducant, but does nothign to remove impurities. Sawdust and rosin together is a dynamite combination, rosin first, then sawdust. It will look like shiny new metal after the rosin, but it's the stuff you can't see that sawdust absorbs and removes as it chars that you want to remove, so use the sawdust anyway.

Gear

[41 mag fan]

2x4x8= $2.59. chop chop on my miter saw, maybe $1.00 in electricity total.
enough swadust for 2 full 8 hour days of casting, and 7'9" or so of 2x4x8 left= priceless

[Elkins45]

For $4.99 you can go to the local farm store and pick up a giant bale of either pine or cedar animal bedding that will probably last you a lifetime.

I was a paraffin user for 20+ years until I tried sawdust. Now I will never go back. I just wish there was some way to leave a layer on top while ladle pouring.

[geargnasher]

Elkins, you can ladle pour with a layer of sawdust/ash on top just fine if you use a Rowel-type ladle. It sure keeps the oxides down and the ladle stays clean of all that sticky dross crud.

Gear

[Elkins45]

Elkins, you can ladle pour with a layer of sawdust/ash on top just fine if you use a Rowel-type ladle. It sure keeps the oxides down and the ladle stays clean of all that sticky dross crud.

Gear

Gear, there's just no end of the useful stuff I learn from you. I had no idea the Rowell ladles existed until now. What a simple yet elegant idea. I think I could almost whip something up like that myself. Thanks for the great suggestion!

[gbrown]

Post by Elkins45: Gear, there's just no end of the useful stuff I learn from you. I had no idea the Rowell ladles existed until now. What a simple yet elegant idea. I think I could almost whip something up like that myself. Thanks for the great suggestion!

I bought a #2 from Rotometals, one of our sponsor/vendors about 6 months ago. Works beautifully. Fills an 8 cavity mold easily.

[geargnasher]

Gear, there's just no end of the useful stuff I learn from you. I had no idea the Rowell ladles existed until now. What a simple yet elegant idea. I think I could almost whip something up like that myself. Thanks for the great suggestion!

Lyman and RCBS have been making Rowell-type casting ladles for a long time, and like GBrown said, Rotometals sells several bigger ones for gang moulds and pouring ingots.

Gear

ps I swear I put two "ells" in Rowell in the post above, but I think I flubbed the dash and backspaced twice. Anyway, being quoted twice it's preserved forever.