fluxing with sawdust-I'm impressed

[JohnFM]

All I ever use is chainsaw chips. I burn different pines and firs and it makes a good flux.
When you go through 8-10 cords a year, there are a lot of chips piling up.

[Elkins45]

Farm stores also sell wood pellets that are used for bedding in horse stalls.

[Longwood]

Wood pellets work extremely well, are cheap, store better than sawdust or pet bedding, and is reported to be a much better cat litter that breaks down rather than turning into concrete like the baked clay does.

[songdog53]

I get my sawdust by the garabage bag from friend that builds cabinets and other wood working things. Course big black bag will last you long time.

[geargnasher]

I get my sawdust by the garabage bag from friend that builds cabinets and other wood working things. Course big black bag will last you long time.

Me too. I prefer chips off the shaper, particularly Alder and Cherry. The sawdust is mostly from the tablesaws and has a lot of plywood stuff in it, and they're still using formaldehyde plywood here.

Gear

[zxcvbob]

I do most of my fluxing with dirty walnut/corncob tumbling media, or sawdust from the floor under the table saw. But I like to end with a little lard or Crisco to gather the ash so I can spoon it out. Fat also does a better job of reducing the last of the oxides floating on top.

When I'm casting with a bottom-pour furnace, I put a big handful of corncob media on top and just let it float there.

[dpaultx]

I prefer chips off the shaper, particularly Alder and Cherry.

I've never actually tried the sawdust fluxing thing but have read a lot about it.

From my understanding of the process, it seems that the larger wood chips, or flakes, that come off of a tool with an actual cutting blade, such as a shaper, or a lathe, or a router should work better than the finer forms of sawdust like what comes from a table saw or band saw with a sawing type blade. There are even finer forms of sawdust, such as what comes off of a belt or disk sander, but I don't think I'd want to use dust from a sanding tool for fear of picking up actual grains of sand, and am not sure that the smaller particles would work as well as the larger chips.

Does the hardness of the wood play much of a role in the fluxing process? What about the oil content of some of the more exotic woods such as rosewood or cocobolo? Would sawdust, wood chips, from those woods help or hinder the process?

Just curious . . . Doug

[mold maker]

Almost any DRY thin shavings or sawdust will work. The toxins in treated lumber and plywood being the exception. The idea is to turn it to carbon, and eliminate the oxygen on the surface of the melt. Sawdust will first scorch and then burn. Both produce carbon and the later uses up all the Oxygen producing a reducing atmosphere. That robs the oxygen from the oxides, returning them to base metal.
Many folks rather enjoy the smells of different wood smoke. (Don't intentionally breathe it) A lit match will light the smoke from most flux, and eliminate it.
Fluxing with sawdust, will clean your pot and tools at the same time, and it leaves no residue.
It's way simpler to do, than to explain. It just works.

[oneokie]

What about the oil content of some of the more exotic woods such as rosewood or cocobolo? Would sawdust, wood chips, from those woods help or hinder the process?
Just curious . . . Doug

Do some internet research on the hazards of the oils and airborne particles of the exotic woods.

[TNFrank]

Dump out your pencil sharpener into a container and use that for flux - works great!Robert

And you have graphite impregnated bullets so you won't have to lube them.











Just kidding about the not having to lube them part.

[leadbutt]

Ive read about the sawdust but havent came across any yet. When i was melting ww's in the late fall i picked up a small handful of leaves and tossed them in the pot. I noticed that the lead was alot cleaner then when i just used wax to flux. Can anyone come up with negatives against using leaves? They are readily available.

L. Bottoms

[SlippShodd]

What about the oil content of some of the more exotic woods such as rosewood or cocobolo? Would sawdust, wood chips, from those woods help or hinder the process? Just curious . . . Doug

As Oneokie indicated, I suspect those would be a bad idea. One of my other hobbies is building and repairing custom pool cues. Two of my favorite exotic woods to use in cues are cocobolo and bloodwood, both members of the rosewood family and the oiliest of the bunch I use; bloodwood will actually weep oil in a puddle under a saw when cut (prompting my wife to nearly call the EMTs). I was warned early on to always wear a cartridge filter mask when working with them and have taken the advice to heart. Occasionally I have neglected the mask when I needed to do a bit of quick sanding on a piece. We all know what happens when you hurry. The results of breathing even a miniscule amount of dust from those woods results in a *massive* 2-day headache and visit from the diarrhea fairy (she's a first-string blood relative to that tinsel-hanging b!+ch). Consequently, I have no desire to find out what would happen if I released the smoke from any rosewood chips in the lead pot.
Since my current trade is that of a handyman, my fluxing stash comes from under my tablesaw after a lengthy session of cutting Doug Fir 2x4s. The pile under the saw right now contains a bunch of acrylic chips... I need to clean that out before I accidentally throw any of that into the pot.


mike

[gwpercle]

I have wood shavings I use to light my pellet stove I think they have wax on them, I wonder how that would work?

I used white pine shavings, from wood plane or done with pocket knife, while stirring with metal spoon I had beeswax on bench so melted a small amount into hot spoon and drizzled over shavings / charcoal and continued stirring. Worked great and smelled good too. The shavings absorbed the beeswax and took it into the melt. the wax didn't float on the surface and smoke or flame up like it sometimes does... I'm going to keep using this method. gary

[JohnFM]

Ive read about the sawdust but havent came across any yet. When i was melting ww's in the late fall i picked up a small handful of leaves and tossed them in the pot. I noticed that the lead was alot cleaner then when i just used wax to flux. Can anyone come up with negatives against using leaves? They are readily available.

L. Bottoms

I bet you could toss in a handful of dry grass and get it fluxed.
Lot of dead grass around here yet and I was going to try it out yesterday, but I forgot.

[popper]

Burned wood already has the caustic in it, gramma used it and fat to make lye soap. Another reason to use sawdust. I'm completely swaging it here, but maybe the sawdust and fat will make some soap to remove more impurities.

[Just Duke]

Caustic soda is very, very, alkaline. Also very dangerous. Probably as dangerous as the nasties in car batteries.

Agreed. It's also packaged and called Drano.

[floydboy]

Does the sawdust need to burn up completely or just turn black.....

[geargnasher]

Does the sawdust need to burn up completely or just turn black.....

It doesn't matter. The ash won't corrode your pot or tools, if that's what you're wondering.

Gear