In a recent thread someone mentioned they used bacon fat or used motor oil to flux. I’m wondering if anyone else has used these to flux and if so, how it works.
In a recent thread someone mentioned they used bacon fat or used motor oil to flux. I’m wondering if anyone else has used these to flux and if so, how it works.
I have used a little veggie oil and motor oil the smoke does disipate some of the oxygen but if i remember right it burned off faster than beeswax
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I've read that they make processing lead smell nice, but haven't used them myself. Part of that reluctance was a superabundance of paraffin, part was wondering whether there was enough salt in the bacon grease and metallic and other contaminants in used motor oil to be a problem for the alloy or the lead processor.
I’ve always heard used motor oil had nasty stuff in it. As for bacon grease, I use all I generate for cooking and wouldn’t want to waste it on fluxing lead, unless someone comes up with some really good reasons for doing so. I think I will stick to first sawdust and then bee’s wax.
When I get a new bag of sawdust/wood shavings I pour some used oil in and soak it up. Works real well for smelting range scrap. In my old NRA cast bullet handbook they used this method, and it works.
I was told any thing that would make a carbon layer over the melt is good to go. Maybe I was told wrong but I have used pine needles and beeswax and those little parafin candles to good effect.
I never have enough bacon grease in the house. The Doc has told me the grease burns will heal over time but it would be best if I let the skillet cool before I lick it clean.
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But not in my Lead. Ever seen a skillet popping with bacon fat? Not a situation I want with lead.
Mustang
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I use ground up corn cobs for my flux . I have used bacon grease for trapping coyotes. I save the bees wax for make boolit lube .I make the old NRA bullet lube .With the ATF .
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When I'm cooking down coww's I give it a shot of burnt motor oil , it seams to help with lead clinging to the clips . It makes a pretty kettle of lead , but it's nasty .
I mentioned that in a post using bacon fat and old motor oil , did it back when I was melting wheel weight and do it now with range scrap , does not pop or splatter like a skillet , if you have melted metal it flares off just like wax or beeswax , I dump a good dip or two of old waste oil in with scrap after firing up pot , there is always pieces of wood in the scrap and the oil soaks down into the dirt and scrap and starts heating up , at this time I usually throw a lit piece of paper in and let it burn .
As there is around 50 pounds or more of metal in the pot and quite a bit of debris there is no splattering of metal as metal melts and oil is burning I stir it around and then skim the garbage off and start pouring ingots , I cast ingots till pot is almost empty and dump in more scrap , end of last month I did a batch ended up with about 150 pounds of clean range scrap ingots , makes my stash of old wheel weights last longer , I do not use much bacon fat anymore as I cook little of it , waste oil from oil changes is free and while burning helps scrap to melt and it works for me , lead dips and pours easier as it seems to release the surface tension , plenty of wood scraps from target backstops keeps a fire burning during most of the melt till I skim off the waste .
May not be the way others do it but it works for me , I save beeswax for other uses though I have accumulated a stash of it , just like the jugs of xlox stashed away if ever needed , it does smoke and is done outside later in evening and into the night , most of the time the wind is blowing so choose the side to stay on and shield your burner some , I lay out older boards to dump ingots on , and toss them into old metal coffee cans for mixing into electric pot with harder or softer as needed .
Outdoors I use motor oil and sawdust when smelting. Indoors casting I use scented wax or beef tallow. Smells like a steak fry.
Most of the COWW I’ve had came with enough oil and grease on it that it was self-fluxing.
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I tried bacon fat once. Can’t tell you whether work well or not because all I did was make me hungry. I quit casting and went and cook breakfast!
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I once used up some bacon grease that had gone rancid as flux. Worked, but left a residue I didn't like. Salt? Tried Crisco once, also messy. In my casting pot I've used beeswax, Alox bullet lube, and pine rosin. Rosin is cheapest if you buy it right.
I can't remember ever getting any range scrap., but if I were reducing a large amount of really dirty lead I'd use sawdust, because that task would need so much fluxing. Sawdust and used motor oil are essentially free. Wheelweights, type metal, and several hundred pounds of X-ray room shielding have kept me in lead for many years.
Cognitive Dissident
I've used whitetail deer and elk tallow a few times. Mmmmmmm good smell !!!
I remember my older brother and dad with a buffalo they bought and butchered back in early 80's had all this deep yellow fat on it , always wished we had saved it for boot grease , The bacon fat along with hamburger fat was handy at the time so it was used and the wheel weights had lots of brake dust grease and lots of trash , sure wished I could get them again though .
Bacon fat has salt in it. NaCl acts like KCl (as in corrosive primers, it attracts water once it cools down). Sawdust works well but you and your clothes will smell like you sat in a campfire. Parafin from candle wax is clean once it ignites and leaves a thin film on the surface of the melt to retard oxidizing. I tried used motor oil but quit once I learned of all the impurities in it that can be nasty. In reality, most any organic polymer or wood that is not hazardous (like particle board or pressure treated sawdust) works well outdoors so long as you walk away from the pot while it smokes and not come back until the smoke clears.
No bacon grease here! We eat so little of that greasy stuff anymore, the wife saves every single drop for the next mess of green beans.
YUM!
Besides it DOES have salt AND water in it! Part of the meat curing process. A no-no for your pots.
I use yellow pine dust and beeswax for fluxing and only beeswax for reducing in the casting pot. I have almost 80# of the stuff (50¢/#!) and it really has a very pleasant smell. Only takes a pea-sized piece to "get 'er dun".
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 |