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Thread: Do you save your dross?

  1. #21
    Boolit Master

    alamogunr's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DerekP Houston View Post
    *shrug* its a fun and interesting hobby that keeps me out of trouble. If I spent the same amount of time watching sports no one would blink twice at it. I'll be outside scrubbing rust off some equipment anyways so I'll do double duty and fire up the ol' melter and see what I get.

    My plan is to weigh the dross before hand, and weigh what I scrape off afterwards. I'll need a trip to home depot for some fresh sawdust too but that's on the agenda already.
    I've been told that you need to be careful of that big box sawdust because of the plywood glue in it.
    John
    W.TN

  2. #22
    Boolit Master
    JSnover's Avatar
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    I just dump mine in with the next batch of scrap when it's time to make more ingots. That way it doesn't cost any more time or effort.
    Warning: I know Judo. If you force me to prove it I'll shoot you.

  3. #23
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    DerekP Houston's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by alamogunr View Post
    I've been told that you need to be careful of that big box sawdust because of the plywood glue in it.
    Hmmm hadn't thought of that. I'll make my own with the chop saw and my bbq wood then. Thanks for the info
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  4. #24
    Boolit Grand Master OS OK's Avatar
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    It'll cook down to a glob of carbon something or other...it'll come out with the dross. I've got plenty of melamine white backed composite board shavings in my table saw and plenty of multi layered cabinet plywood sawdust too, it doesn't cause me any grief in the ingot smelt...generally there's a lot more other foreign matter in there with the dirty wheel weights or roof sealant and paint with the flashing Pb.
    The sawdust does it's job and seals off the melt if you use enough of it. In a 40 lb. pot of Pb I usually have at least 4 cups of sawdust in there...don't really measure it, just pile it in as the melt starts so it will cook down and cover the smelt from the beginning.
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  5. #25
    Boolit Grand Master Tripplebeards's Avatar
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    No, I give it to my buddy who scraps it.

  6. #26
    Boolit Master Drew P's Avatar
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    Doesn’t washing and fussing with dross increase your exposure to bad stuff and also contaminate your property?

  7. #27
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    JonB_in_Glencoe's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by MaryB View Post
    I save and resmelt it when I have enough(enough to end with 10-15 pounds), lot of sawdust or bedding pine, chunk in a candle piece or two...
    Yes, I do as Mary does, but I just resmelt it during the next smelting session with whatever amount I have saved up.

    Quote Originally Posted by Drew P View Post
    Doesn’t washing and fussing with dross increase your exposure to bad stuff and also contaminate your property?
    It could...but if you just save it in soup cans or such, then just process it with other scrap lead, then I can't imagine you are increasing your exposure...you are just exposed as you would be, without re-processing the dross. Always take appropriate precautions when handling lead...washing your hands before eating/smoking/drinking is a BIG one.
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  8. #28
    Boolit Master Drew P's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JonB_in_Glencoe View Post
    Yes, I do as Mary does, but I just resmelt it during the next smelting session with whatever amount I have saved up.


    It could...but if you just save it in soup cans or such, then just process it with other scrap lead, then I can't imagine you are increasing your exposure...you are just exposed as you would be, without re-processing the dross. Always take appropriate precautions when handling lead...washing your hands before eating/smoking/drinking is a BIG one.
    I was thinking of this as I smelted 700 lbs of lead yesterday. That small box of dros left over surely contained a few boxes of 45acp worth of lead, but I was happy to remove it from my property rather than expose my self to it yet again for maybe 1$ worth of lead. I know we are cheap but I draw the thrifty line there personally.

  9. #29
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    I have dross, and pot skimmings, and drips, and chips, and rejected bullets, and <whatever else> in bread loaf pan. When I get a couple or three filled I dump in dutch oven and use a wooden 2x2 to crush the stuff against the bottom to work the lead out. Let cool, dump remaining ash/dross and keep slab of lead in bottom. I may pursue the metal can on campfire approach in one of the posts just because I burn stuff and would save cost of propane. I NOT cheap, thrifty. Very thrifty.

    I have 3 slabs that total around 20 lbs. from doing this. XRF said it was low grade COWW lead with a few percent of tin. Will melt one in bottom of 100 lb. batch of Wheel Weights and should be pretty good. Or I could melt them together and get tested so I could "adjust" to a known good alloy. Bottom line is 20 pounds of lead is 20 lbs. of lead. Be very odd indeed if I were to be throwing that out.
    Scrap.... because all the really pithy and emphatic four letter words were taken and we had to describe this source of casting material somehow so we added an "S" to what non casters and wives call what we collect.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check