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Thread: Zinc Removal with Sulfur Report

  1. #41
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by trooperdan View Post
    Dang Rich, what was that store? It is about $1.50 a pound in 25-50 pound lots around here!
    Mccartney's Feed and Hardware, Fredonia PA. Little Mom and Pop type place, they cater to a bunch of Amish, apparently they use it for chimney cleaning among other things. Also supposed to be good for raspberry bushes when mixed with wood ashes and powdered limestone.

  2. #42
    Boolit Mold
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    If you play with the acids, keep some baking SODA within reach. It neutralizes most common acids. It also reacts violently with acid if added too fast. Rub or pour it on yourself if you get splashed, never pour into the acid except a pinch at a time, maybe. And yeah, the fumes will seal yer fate especially hydrocloric HCl. That stuff will put you on your knees gasping.

    I need the pure lead for RB's....Just don't know how to do it.

    Ed

  3. #43
    Boolit Master
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    I just stumbled on this while searching for something else... don't know how I missed it, but it sure is good info!

  4. #44
    Boolit Master
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    Keep in mind... Sulfur is flammable, Think road flaresx10.

    I added a few ounces to the top of my Lyman Mag 20, and turned it on. when It go to temp, I had a nice puddle of melted S on top. when I stirred it all hell broke loose. White flames 5-6 feet high.

    When all was said and done there was a cake of slag on top of the pot. The junk alloy that was in the pot seemed to cast much better.

  5. #45
    Boolit Buddy
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    Wow guys...acid in the pot..whew... Please remeber chemical 'gear'...breathing equipment, saftey glasses...proper gloves at bare minium. Site ventiallation..up wind of the pot... bit of baking soda,,fire exteinquisher.... at least... Certainly no 'small feet' around the work....

    I just read BORAX in the pot helps when smelting... never tried it, but am gonna!

    "it ain't fun if your hurtin"...

  6. #46
    In Remembrance - Super Moderator & Official Cast Boolits Sketch Artist

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    Well I got some sulfur today and going to try it out I think I have a batch of ingots that has zinc in it. After reading the post again Iam kind of nervous. If I got it right you fire up the pot when lead gets just before melting point thick stage you add the sulfur. Then you heat it on up and stir with a long stick staying up wind at all cost and be ready for flame on. Let that burn out add sawdust to flux then let sit. The zinc should turn to a hard crust on top. That sound about right ? Also if you do the same thing twice would it remove more I was thinking so. Another note what if you did the sulfur treatment to alloy that did not have zinc in it what do you get?
    Reloading to save money I am sure the saving is going to start soon

  7. #47
    In Remembrance - Super Moderator & Official Cast Boolits Sketch Artist

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    Well I got back to it today melted down the mix again and sulfer treated it again got more crud. Did it again got more crud. So I think with or without zinc your going to get some crud whats getting removed unsure. I dont have any acid to check my ingots that I poured out of the mix. But I was going to cast some boolits with them and see what happens. Has anyone tried the sulfer on a alloy that is know not to have zinc in it.
    Reloading to save money I am sure the saving is going to start soon

  8. #48
    Boolit Master
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    Good inf.
    If I could add 1 more question. What are the symptoms that make you think you have Zink contaminated lead?
    Only once have i had a lumpy surface on my casting pot during my heat up process. An that went away when i fluxed and or when the melt got to casting temperatures.
    But the problem I'm having is that my 44cal bullets are not expanding when shot into testing media. My alloy is both 50%clipon/50%stickon WW or 75%clipon/25%stickon both have about 1%tin added. The expansion media that I'm shooting into is both 1 gal. jugs and wet newsprint. Everything is shot at 25yards
    I'm using both testing medias to see if there is a difference in how the bullets expand.
    The bullets I'm using are 503 solids ah the 503 with the small HP pin. The heaviest load has been 18gr 2400, with both the solid an, HP with both alloys penetrating to about 18" of news print without any expansion.
    I have only been casting about a year. But it seems like i am getting good fill out on everything I'm casting. I have about 5/ 44cal molds, and 2/30 cal molds. an i don't go above #8 on my lee pro 4/20. But i don't have a thermometer.
    If it makes a difference i can adjust my casting temp to go from shinny surfaced bullets to frosty. I tend to stay on the shineyer side
    I hope i haven't muddied the water with excessive detail!
    Kevin

  9. #49
    Boolit Master sagacious's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by kbstenberg View Post
    Only once have i had a lumpy surface on my casting pot during my heat up process. An that went away when i fluxed and or when the melt got to casting temperatures.
    ...
    But it seems like i am getting good fill out on everything I'm casting.
    ...
    If it makes a difference i can adjust my casting temp to go from shinny surfaced bullets to frosty. I tend to stay on the shineyer side
    Kevin
    Those two details argue persuasively that there is not likely to be zinc in your alloy. Could be, but as far as I can see, nothing in your description indicate the usual problems from zinc contamination.

    I'd recommend you start a new thread for your question about lack of expansion, and the relevant factors can be addressed one at a time, and the fix identified. Good luck.

  10. #50
    Boolit Master
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    Thank you Sagacious! I was hopping i hadn't been contaminated. Hopefully i have just water hardened to too high of a BHN for expansion.
    Kevin

  11. #51
    Boolit Master sagacious's Avatar
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    Very good-- your question didn't mention quenching, but I thought that might be the problem. Those quenched bullets can be surprisingly hard. Try air-cooling and you'll probably get the kind of results you're after. Good luck!

  12. #52
    Cast Boolits Founder/B.O.B.

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    Mr. 45nut, Sir:
    I was reading the thread ( a "sticky") concerning the removal of zinc with sulfur in the lead, and lead alloys section of your cast boolits site.
    In reading about some of the more dramatic reactions witnessed by some of your site members, I recalled from my adolescence the fact that sulfur and zinc , when intimately mixed together make an effective, if somewhat dirty , model rocket propellant.

    I thought you might want to be aware of this ( you probably should verify this, as it was a long time ago... ) and probably make your membership aware of this as well.
    At the concentrations of zinc generally experienced in lead melts, there is probably little or no danger . But if someone were to try to "clean" some granulated zinc with a substantial amount of sulfur , I would not be surprised if the bottom of a cast iron pot melted out from the reaction.

    Again, I'm not trying to cause a panic, I just felt that I had some specialized knowledge ; if it turns out that I'm wrong , please accept my apologies in advance.
    ( love your site, by the way; - will get around to joining one of these days )

    regards,
    From a innocent bystander
    Boolits= as God laid it into the soil,,grand old Galena,the Silver Stream graciously hand poured into molds for our consumption.

    Bullets= Machine made utilizing Full Length Gas Checks as to provide projectiles for the masses.

    http://www.cafepress.com/castboolits

    castboolits@gmail.com

  13. #53
    Boolit Master sagacious's Avatar
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    I can vouch that the wrong flux can light a pot of zinc on fire-- which is to say, molten metal that is on fire. Imagine that for a moment.

    Powdered zinc should not be mixed with powdered sulfur. It will burn with exceeding vigor. Molten lead and sulfur do not pose any explosion hazard that I am aware of, but I still would not mix lead dust with sulfur. Use both common sense and safety gear at all times when working with anything molten or flammable.

  14. #54
    Boolit Master



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    The "innocent bystander" is right. I don't know why I never thought of it before!

    I've got a book on model rocketry printed in 1960 (Rocket Manual for Amateurs, by Capt. Bertrand R. Brinley, Project Officer, 1st US Army Amateur Rocket Program) and it lists a mixture of zinc dust and powdered sulphur as a propellant, and several pages of recommendations and formula.
    It says that a properly designed amateur rocket could be propelled to heights in excess of 100,000 feet by this mixture. It also states that there are no reliable performance parameters in mixture ratios. Purity of the ingredients, particle size, thoroughness of mixing, amount of air present, etc. effect the performance. It also says that zinc and sulphur burn readily in open air, and can be ignited by squib or random spark. Most any metal when powdered will burn in similar fashion, provided with the correct amount of oxidizer.
    Reading more here, it sounds like mixing it is similar to the making of BP, that many other threads here have related the processes.
    So, it sounds like you DON'T want to confine it while burning out in the pot, which will keep you from sending any lead pots or ladles into shallow earth orbit, or from knocking the earths axis off center. But, you could generate enough heat to melt your pot down too.
    Caveat Emptor (my latin sucks)- Mixer Beware!
    USMC 1980-1985

  15. #55
    Boolit Master



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    Charlie, you must have been an experimenter like me! I'd like to buy your book, if you ever decide to sell it!

  16. #56
    Boolit Master



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    I've seen several like it over the years- next one I find, I'll get it for you. I'll be on the look out now, and probably never see another!
    The first one of them I ever saw was in my 8th grade science class, and that got me started into experimenting with scientific stuff. It didn't help that the teacher, encouraged me! He let me have stuff that would get us all sent to jail these days. You can't imagine the things I tried making back then. I would have won the science fair that year, but I had a temperature fluctutation in my "lab" and it ruined the entry experiment. I was growing various types of crystals, and my supersaturated solution dumped too fast due to a temperature drop, and I had nothing to fall back on.
    When I found this copy of it, I couldn't refuse it, and have had it all these years.
    Last edited by Charlie Sometimes; 08-15-2010 at 09:41 AM.
    USMC 1980-1985

  17. #57
    Boolit Buddy
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    MMM... The crud your gettin out could be the crud (sulfur) your puttin in... Ummm..Dunno..ain't that bright... But be careful... Puttin stuff in the pot is tricky... Why I only use pine saw dust..

    Thought about BORAX..use it ofte in tanning deer hides...but..no..don't know the impact and ain't got the place and time to 'test' it. So..bit of saw dust and maybe some old grease to flux...

    Just be careful....

    "it ain't fun if your hurtin"

    Nose Dive

  18. #58
    Boolit Mold CowboyPoetWannabe's Avatar
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    Charlie and trooperdan,

    A PDF copy of the book, "Rocket Manual for Amateurs," is available at:
    http://www.rocketryplanet.com/content/view/2766/95/

    BEWARE...the file size is quite large.

    -CPW
    I support my family, my church, traditional Judeo-Christian values, and Christian evangelism.
    I support Israel...they will eventually bow the knee to Jesus Christ. - Zechariah 12:10ff

    "Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say?" - Luke 6:46 (NIV)

  19. #59
    Boolit Master



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    That's the book! Mine looks just like that.
    USMC 1980-1985

  20. #60
    Boolit Buddy LeadThrower's Avatar
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    Folks have been talking about the noxious fumes of burning sulfur, but I didn't see anyone identify the product. It's sulfur dioxide, and truly nasty stuff. Take the words of caution seriously -- the suggestions for respirators are good. For details, see the OSHA site: http://www.osha.gov/dts/chemicalsamp...CH_268500.html

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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