Trying to understand some things. I am working with an unknown alloy of around 13bhn. I have been melting the lead down over a coleman camp stove, fluxing, and pouring into ingots. Last time it was taking a while for the ingots to cool in the mold and when I dumped them out of the mold they kind of slumped and tore showing what appeared to be fibers.
In my recent reading It appears that if you get your alloys too hot it can cause the tin and or antimony to oxidize. It is possible that I over cooked the lead and rendered it closer to a pure form by oxidizing off the tin and or antimony?
I think I may have been running my lee pot too hot as well. I used to crank it to max until it melted then back off to around 7. After getting my lead thermometer this appears to be over 1000F. I am currently running it around a 3 to get around 700F.
How can I tell if I over cooked this lead? If I did over cook it can I just treat it as pure and re-alloy it? Would an extended cook at high temp be a good way to de-alloy lead and get pure if needed?
Trying to make sure I am doing things properly going forward.