Stirring the Pot

[Walter Laich]

when you an to your pot do you stir the contents or not?

I always give mine a quick stir just to be make sure the melt is as uniform as it can be even though the ingots are the same alloy and the melt

[Baja_Traveler]

Once everything is melted I stir and scrape the pot sides with one of those free wood home depot paint sticks to move any stuck dross to the surface for removal. After that there is no stirring involved until the next melt.

[JBinMN]

Once everything is melted I stir and scrape the pot sides with one of those free wood home depot paint sticks to move any stuck dross to the surface for removal. After that there is no stirring involved until the next melt.

Ditto. But I am an equal opportunity paint stick guy. Even cedar or pine shims work as well.

[Retumbo]

I only stir after I add bees wax

[472x1B/A]

when you an to your pot do you stir the contents or not?

I always give mine a quick stir just to be make sure the melt is as uniform as it can be even though the ingots are the same alloy and the melt

I use to think about this all the time. Was all the good 'stuff' on the right side of the pot and all the not so good 'stuff' on the left? So I started to mix the pot with a paint stir stick. I stopped using the sticks and went to a old fork with the ends bent 90*. This works great for me now, stirring and scrapping the sides at the same time.

[country gent]

When I add more to my pot I flux and stir well just to make sure any differences there might be are blended into one mix completely. I also do this to blend any alloys back in that may have separated during melting. IStir scraping the sides and bottom of the pot and then pulling the lead up thru the flux and pushing the flux down thru the lead agitating as much as the full pot allows me to. How you stir is almost as important as what you flux with. Just swirling the contents dosnt get the flux and alloy mixed as well

[Kraschenbirn]

My stirring stick is a piece of well-seasoned white oak from an old shipping container. Was just over 16" long when I started using it about five years ago. Now, the 'working end' has charred to where it's more like 14" overall. At the current rate, I figure it's good for another ten years...providing, of course, that I last that long.

Bill

[fredj338]

Once everything is melted I stir and scrape the pot sides with one of those free wood home depot paint sticks to move any stuck dross to the surface for removal. After that there is no stirring involved until the next melt.

I do the same, stir w/ a wooden anything after I add ingots & it comes to temp.

[poppy42]

I use to think about this all the time. Was all the good 'stuff' on the right side of the pot and all the not so good 'stuff' on the left? So I started to mix the pot with a paint stir stick. I stopped using the sticks and went to a old fork with the ends bent 90*. This works great for me now, stirring and scrapping the sides at the same time.

My wife Looked at me kind of funny when she asked me what happened to some of the old silverware that we had used outside for barbecues. I just told her I had put it to a good an alternate purpose and that she couldn’t use it to cook with anymore

[RogerDat]

wood paint stir sticks or Salvation army slotted spoons. I used a grinder to make the end of the spoon flat rather than a rounded point. Lets me scrape the bottom of pot better and I have a corner on the spoon that I can get back into where the bottom of pot meets the side.

I have a couple of table silverware spoons bent to help them pour and those see action as skimmers and to stir up gunk in a casting pot.

[MaryB]

Paint stir stick, it also adds flux in the form of pine because it does burn some...

[Bzcraig]

Once everything is melted I stir and scrape the pot sides with one of those free wood home depot paint sticks to move any stuck dross to the surface for removal. After that there is no stirring involved until the next melt.

Yup, just like this.

[glockfan]

while i consider myself a rookie, i figured stirring the pot as much as possible keeps the different elements of the product well spread in the pot ; at least, good or bad that is a self thaught reflex.i also scrape as soon as i
see a build up in need of attention lol.

when i flux i keep stirring on ignition and continue all the way till extinction lol...ok...maybe i get some fun out of it.

[Walter Laich]

lol...ok...maybe i get some fun out of it.

fun is where you find it

[D Crockett]

when the pot first gets melted I take a dull hack saw blade that I bent a 90 deg. bend on it and scrape the sides of the pot to get and dross back to the top and then I stir the pot when I put in some flux and that is about it for me D Crockett

[Grmps]

I flux with pine sawdust every time I fill the pot.
burn it to a char
mix in first with a potato masher to get it distributed through the pot top to bottom, then with a wire wisp to blend it all in.
I end of with a layer of grey granules on the top that help prevent oxidation and splash when returning sprues to the mix.

[Santa Lee]

Last time I tried stirring the pot my wife slapped me.

[Retumbo]

I don't blame her...have to send her $10 to slap you harder

[lightman]

I stir the lead in my pot and scrape both the sides and bottom but I use an old spoon. The humidity is high enough around here that I'm hesitant to use a paint stick. A few times I have gotten a hiss, spit or a rumble that I did not like!

[RogerDat]

I stir the lead in my pot and scrape both the sides and bottom but I use an old spoon. The humidity is high enough around here that I'm hesitant to use a paint stick. A few times I have gotten a hiss, spit or a rumble that I did not like!

Even with the metal stuff it is smart to give it a bit of warm up lying across pot or floating on surface. My 2# casting ladle is cast or pitted and it has given me "recoil" the one time I made the mistake of dipping into the pot too quickly on a cold day. Made an impression shall we say. Slotted spoon has done the hiss and spit thing a time or two also. January thaw with all the melting snow pumping moisture into the air. Imagine in a high humidity climate wood might well be pretty iffy as far as sticking into a pot.

BTW my comments are about making ingots in a larger pot. In my 20# casting pot it's just the occasional pea sized piece of bees wax to drive tin back in or the table spoon or wood stir stick to skim. I ladle cast so need the top clear of dross. Sounded like some were describing leaving a top layer of ash on the melt which I think is normal way to seal out air for bottom pour casting pot usage.