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Thread: Zinc Removal with Sulfur Report

  1. #21
    Boolit Buddy
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    hydrochloric acid reacts much faster than sulfuric acid with zinc. Infact, zinc+HCl reacts to produce lots of hydrogen gas. So be careful working in closed areas.

  2. #22
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    Muriatic acid is hydrochloric acid. Draino is sodium hydroxide, a very strong base, not an acid Battery acid is sulphuric.

    Jerry Liles

  3. #23
    Boolit Mold Stove_Pipe's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Springfield View Post
    I've put Muriatic Acid on some slag I thought had some zinc in it and it sizzled pretty good.
    Hmm, wouldn't that give off Hydrogen?

  4. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by 13Echo View Post
    Muriatic acid is hydrochloric acid. Draino is sodium hydroxide, a very strong base, not an acid Battery acid is sulphuric.

    Jerry Liles
    The Doc said "Rooto", not "draino". Draino is Lye. Rooto is sulfuric acid.

    Muriatic acid is a certain percentage solution of hyrochloric acid (diluted).

    Gear

  5. #25
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    Percentage is about 35 percent. ... felix
    felix

  6. #26
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    Thanks, Felix.

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  7. #27
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    Anyone been brave enough to continue with the experiments?

  8. #28
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    Stick Ons - Zinc?!?

    Just picked up a bucket of WW from the tire place. As I was emptying my carry bucket, I noticed that there was a large amount of the stick on WWs.

    Does anyone know - are the stick ons Zinc? Guessing they may be. If anyone knows for sure, I would appreciate it. Thanx

  9. #29
    Boolit Buddy arcticbreeze's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by oscarflytyer View Post
    Just picked up a bucket of WW from the tire place. As I was emptying my carry bucket, I noticed that there was a large amount of the stick on WWs.

    Does anyone know - are the stick ons Zinc? Guessing they may be. If anyone knows for sure, I would appreciate it. Thanx
    The stick ons are most likely pure lead. Squeeze them with a pair of side cutters and you will know right away.

  10. #30
    Boolit Buddy arcticbreeze's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by leadman View Post
    Anyone been brave enough to continue with the experiments?
    I was debating on it. I was thinking about taking 2 zinc weights and mixing it with say 40 lead weights and then taking 1/2 of the mix and performing the whole procedure. Then taking the 2 samples and sending them to Rotometals for analysis. I have not decided if it is worth the $158.

  11. #31
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    Quote Originally Posted by oscarflytyer View Post
    Just picked up a bucket of WW from the tire place. As I was emptying my carry bucket, I noticed that there was a large amount of the stick on WWs.

    Does anyone know - are the stick ons Zinc? Guessing they may be. If anyone knows for sure, I would appreciate it. Thanx
    Use the side cutter method to check the stick-ons. About 20% of the stick-ons I have gotten recently WERE zinc. I'm also running into a lot more Fe stick-ons but they're pretty easy to spot as they seem to be shaped like little rectangle blocks.. I've had several zinc stick-ons that look the same as lead weights, so I suggest you use care with the stick-ons.

    Oddly I haven't been getting very many clip-on zincs, but many more Fe clop-ons.

    Edd
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  12. #32
    Boolit Master oscarflytyer's Avatar
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    Thanx guys

    Sounds like nothing is absolute! Guess I will get to drink a lot of beer as i sort thru 6 gal of WWs! Thanx

  13. #33
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    "Of particular interest to the bullet caster are calcium, aluminum and zinc -- all of which are difficult to reduce and all of which cause casting problems if present in any significant amount (they muck up the surface tension of the alloy and prevent the alloy from filling out the mould properly). As the sawdust chars, it can be thought of as a kind of activated carbon. Both the lignin's of the original sawdust and the oxygenated sites of the activated carbon are very effective at binding metal ions like calcium, aluminum and zinc. Thus, the advantage of sawdust is that it does both jobs, returning the tin to the melt and removing the problematic impurities. Sawdust has the added benefit of being free."
    http://www.lasc.us/FryxellFluxing.htm

    CM
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  14. #34
    Boolit Buddy Bulltipper's Avatar
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    I used this method this week and it worked well. I did use a respirator and it was fine unless you really get a strong whiff. I would add this info to anyone trying this, Let the sulpher mix sit after you have stirred in your sawdust or flux. My first batch i removed the slurry as soon as the sawdust stopped smoking. I think I may have removed more lead than was necessary. The second batch I allowed to sit a little bit (3-5 min) and the slag formed a kind of hollow crust with lots of pretty colors. This crust was a lot lighter than the first batch. My boolits then came out of the melt much better looking and my melt pot only had a very light skin of purple on the top after the process instead of the heavy oatmeal and colors.
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  15. #35
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    Quote Originally Posted by arcticbreeze View Post
    The stick ons are most likely pure lead. Squeeze them with a pair of side cutters and you will know right away.
    In my last batch of wheel weights, I had some stick-on ones that were steel.

  16. #36
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    I went to the feed store yesterday. a 50# of 100% sulfur was $29. That ought to last me a while. If the weather cooperates I plant to try this next week.


    Now if I could only find saltpeter that cheap.

  17. #37
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    Dang Rich, what was that store? It is about $1.50 a pound in 25-50 pound lots around here!

  18. #38
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    Testing metal

    If you mail in the samples together We will test up to 5 different pieces for the one flat rate of $69
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    Quote Originally Posted by arcticbreeze View Post
    I was debating on it. I was thinking about taking 2 zinc weights and mixing it with say 40 lead weights and then taking 1/2 of the mix and performing the whole procedure. Then taking the 2 samples and sending them to Rotometals for analysis. I have not decided if it is worth the $158.

  19. #39
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    Quote Originally Posted by arcticbreeze View Post
    I was debating on it. I was thinking about taking 2 zinc weights and mixing it with say 40 lead weights and then taking 1/2 of the mix and performing the whole procedure. Then taking the 2 samples and sending them to Rotometals for analysis. I have not decided if it is worth the $158.
    I would hazard to guess that the end result is that it doesn't matter if you have zinc or not in your alloy if you are able to cast good bullets with whatever you have. Of course, I suspect that once you have zinc in your alloy, the likelihood of you casting good bullets is somewhat reduced... I would be interested in hearing about people who have tried casting with alloys that were significantly zinc contaminated and they were using a very hot pot... If you get it hot enough, does the zinc-lead alloy still have problems with fill-out?
    Last edited by grumman581; 04-27-2010 at 12:26 AM.

  20. #40
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    Interesting thread. Made me get out my copy of "The Handbook of Commercial Bullet Casting" by Paul Moore. He uses sulfur to remove COPPER. For metal contaminated with zinc, aluminum or calcium, he says the removal process is difficult and dangerous and declines to give further details. Says it is too easy to generate highly toxic fumes. His suggestion is to dilute contaminated metal with good metal. Start with a ten to one ratio.
    His method for refining the metal before casting is to dry dross with sawdust, then clean with caustic, sodium hydroxide at 700-800 degrees. Be careful as sodium hydroxide is hygroscopic (adsorbs water). He puts it on the top of the melt and leaves it until melted, without stirring. Stirs after it has melted. Finally removes the caustic with charcoal. I haven't tried this yet but be careful.
    Bruce

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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