PatMarlin's California Flake Flux

[PatMarlin]

What is PMWFCFF? ....

CFF flakes are processed from no less than 4 species of large old growth “buggied” salvaged Northern California trees that would otherwise rot in our forests, or provide fodder to burn in catastrophic wild fires. With the combination of old growth heartwood, and a high amount of sap production due to the tree’s natural defense to stop penetrating bugs, mother nature has produced a fine product for lead bullet casters.

CFF has proven to:

• Keep alloys thoroughly mixed and “super fluxed” with all impurities at the top.
• Provide better mold fill out and less weight variation improving accuracy.
• Keep the casting pot and equipment clean with no rust or dirt.
• Help produce super clean ingots when used during smelting.
• Help recover every last bit of lead normally thrown out with dross skimmings.

CFF has a very pleasant aroma with hardly a bit of smoke, and none of the flames that are typically associated with using other fluxes. 100% non toxic. No chemicals added.

Cost is $20 shipped Flat Rate USPS Priority- conus total, and that includes 10% of the net going here to Cast Boolits.

One box should supply near 1000 pot melts. Money back if not totally satisfied.

I run a saw mill here in our remote part of the country, and I seek out these fine trees before they go to rot. It creates some beautiful wood and I'm happy to see the byproduct of what I do go to a good use, and help support Cast Boolits.

I'm not making much on this, as I spend quite a bit of time mixing batches of CFF so it's not all from one log species, and boxing etc. The post office is making the easy money on this deal.

I get a lot of compliments on CFF, and I hope more folks post their findings.

I know some guys jus have a problem with buying a wood product, cause they think any old sawdust or a stirring stick will work as well. Well it really doesn't.

Work yes, but there's a reason guys (myself included) like CFF wood flake as it really works better than most fluxes, better than any other method I've tried and if you are interested in better fill out of your molds, a cleaner pot, fast melting time, plus more consistent weight variation of your boolits, CFF is well worth the $20 for near a lifetime supply....

[PatMarlin]

Here are some "Testimonials" from our fellow Castbooliteers:

9.3X62AL:
"FIRST-RATE as a casting flux. Just tell the user to give it 5-6 minutes to really carbonize, and they'll never go back to anything else. The furnace sidewalls are CLEAN--the alloy is CLEAN--and boolits fill out like nobody's bizness at 675*."

Below are some pics of the flake in my pot. Doesn't smoke much. Doesn't flame. Smells real nice. It seems to bring more impurities to the top, and I get great fill out with ACWW alloy than anything else I've used. All ya need is a good pinch per pot.

Pat brought me some of his wood shavings just before I ran out of the NEI Flux I bought from Walt Melander just before he passed away. Pat's material works significantly better than the NEI stuff for me."

Hip's Ax:
"My box showed up yesterday, man this thing is chock full! Now I can flux my brains out! This will come in handy, just made arrangements to help clean out a rimfire/pellet trap at a gun club with a junior program."

Old Ironsights:
"FWIW... When Pat packs a box with CFF, he PACKS A BOX!"

larry h:
"About a month or so ago, I ordered a box of CFF from Pat. Oh, BTW I filled a two gallon container up from the box and I still have a full box of CFF. Pat really packs it in. Finally had a good day here in So. Cal. to cast some boolits, used some CFF as the instructions stated that came with the CFF, and it worked GREAT!!!!!! It not only cleaned the melting lead but the inside of the pot too. I can't say enough about CFF. I HIGHLY recommend it to everyone who cast boolits. THANKS Pat. R/Larry"

practical_man:
"CFF wins the "Household 6" seal of approval.
By all cast boolits standards, I'm a novice at casting. I've used the tried and true fluxes - marvelous, candles, boolit lube, and pine sticks. None of them made my lovely bride very happy -- too "stinky". Pat Marlin's CFF has changed all that -- hopefully forever.

Last weekend I fired up the pot and tossed in some of the much-touted CFF. I cast a few boolits and my lovely bride came out in the garage to comment that it didn't stink like usual. That's a big win for me, and for peace in the household.

I'm happy with the performance of CFF, and really happy that my lovely bride can tolerate the aroma. Thanks to Pat for the great product, and for helping to keep peace in our happy home."


Crash Corrigan:
"LEAD MELTER: What are you fluxing with? Try some of the California
Flake Flux. Beats Marvelux to he!! and gone. Cheap and smells great! It also does a fine job of removing the crud from the alloy. I use CFF when I smelt and do a little fluxing when I add ingots to the casting furnace."


Chargar :
"Fluxing can be nasty, smoky and bad smelling work. I have found Pat Marlin's California Flake which is just pine shavings to produce far less nasty stuff than others fluxs I have used. I stir the pot with a 3/4 wood dowl which also help the flux."


-The best of NV Bill-... ...

NVcurmudgeon:

"Lately, two innovations have vastly improved my boolit casting good/bad ratio.

The first improvement was Bull Plate Lube. Thanks to this board, I have progressed from nothing, to NEI Mould Prep, to a No. 2 pencil, to NAPA graphite spray, to BPL. For the first time I can cast without having to worry about smears on the top of the blocks and sprue cutter. Production has increased because I can speed up casting.

The second improvement is California Flake Flux. CFF seems to be a more thorough flux. It keeps the surface of the melt clean longer, enabling more mould cycles between fluxings, and less incidence of dross inclusions.

Together, these two products have enable me to increase alloy temperature which results in improved fill-out. Recently a stinker of a mould belonging to a friend has been turning out 80-85% keepers instead of a paltry 50%. Better yet, my good old H&G 68 has in the last two sessions, jumped up from the 80% range to 97%. Now I can join the ranks of those who cast almost all perfect boolits and others can think, "Yeah, right."

"The other day I finally got a chance to use PMWFCFF for fluxing while actually casting boolits. I was casting with mould that has been giving me fits with incomplete fillout. Fortunately it is not my mould! This time I tried keeping the temperature between 725 and 750. (My RCBS thermometer may read low as the bolits were well frosted.) Out of 400 castings there were 350 perfect, 40 very good plinkers, and 10 culls including mould warmers. Using Pat's flux I was able to cast longer between fluxings. Another thing I noticed was that the skimmings were much lighter in weight, with much less visible metal than when using my former candle wax flux. I attribute both of these improvements to Pat's flux. More complete fluxing would accout for the less alloy in the skimmings, and having less dross would keep the surface of the alloy cleaner longer and allow more castings between fluxings. I won't go so far as to say that the new flux was why the formerly persnickety mould tamed down, it may have been the higher temperature. That's what you get when you make two changes at once-guesswork."

"Thars Gold in that thar Dross!

I've been saving lead pot skimmings for months toward an experiment. Having just received a supply of Pat Marlin's World Famous California Flake Flux gave me a good excuse. I had a quart of recovered dross, weighing about five lb. to try refining. I melted enough clean alloy to yield about 5 1/2 RCBS/Lyman one lb. ingots (OK, call it six) in my Potter (ladle) lead pot, followed by some of my skimmings. Then I covered the melt with a thick layer of PMWFCFF, stirred thoroughly, and waited for the flux to mostly burn up. Next I skimmed the pot down to clean metal. It took three repititions to get all the dross processed. After the last processing, I was able to pour NINE of the one lb. ingots! At least three lbs. of good boolit metal had come out of the skimmings. The dross had changed in appearance. Instead of streaks and blobs of metal bonded wth the black dross, the dross contained small irregular lumps of metal. I sifted out the finest the of the dross with a common kitchen strainer and picked through the part that would not pass through the strainer. It was slim pickings, maybe an ounce of lumps that were worth picking out.

Conclusions: I think this process worked to recover most of the wasted metal because the melt was completely covered by the flux. I would never have tried completely covering the melt with my usual candle wax, because of probable huge volumes of smoke. It seems worthwhile to save up skimmings for refining, but it doesn't pay to sift and pick through the dross afterwards.

Yes, I am a mossbacked ladle caster."

Thanks for all the great comments- Pat...

[PatMarlin]

Here's The Official Instructions for using PMWFCFF...

When adding cold lead to your pot, put a healthy finger-pinch of CFF atop the melt, and let it start smoking as it melts.

Do this for two reasons.. 1) it has to burn/combust to form higher amounts of carbon, and it won't burn if not exposed to air, and 2) in case it contains any ambient moisture, it sits atop the hot melt and dries out before stirring down into the melt. It also speeds up the melting considerably.

Stir the charred CFF well into your melted lead pot from top to bottom and skim the dirt that floats to the top. Then re-install a little CFF atop the melt, and let it burn as you cast. Every time you add cold lead to the pot while casting, add another pinch then stir the charred CFF through the melt again, and get a little more dirt or grit each time.

You can save your dross skimmings to reclaim the lead content if any when you smelt your lead at a later time with CFF.

Pat........

[miestro_jerry]

Good sales job, except I can't find how to order this stuff.

Jerry

[PatMarlin]

Oops...

PM me for details to order...

[kartooo]

Recieved mine a few weeks ago

Good stuff,fast shipping and enough to last a lifetime !!1

[oscar]

Pat,
How big is this "box"? Will you be able to ship it to South Africa?
Midsouth shipped me a Co-ax press some time ago, no problem.
Brownell send me some stuff USPS, arrived within two weeks.
Would love to get some of your CFF.
Oscar

[BigCheese]

Just bought my first box of PMWFCFF. Used it on a couple of coffee cans full of skimmings accumulated over several years of casting. Pat's flux converted the dross to a dry, dark gray powder (except for copper jackets from range lead). After removing the powder, I poured 23 ingots (1 lb size). This metal would have all been lost. Great stuff!

I'm looking forward to my first casting session using PMWFCFF

[EchoSixMike]

I'd like to get some of the world famous flux, but your inbox is full. S/F.....Ken M

[waksupi]

Originally Posted by EchoSixMike

I'd like to get some of the world famous flux, but your inbox is full. S/F.....Ken M

Ken, I suspect Pat may still be having forest fire problems in his area. hang in there

[EchoSixMike]

Doh! Forgot about those. It's OK, I'll use up the lbs of Marvelux I've got in the meantime. S/F....Ken M

[mold maker]

Does anyone know for sure if Pat is in the threatened area, or maybe burned out? It would be a sad state of affairs for us not to help if that were the case.

[PatMarlin]

Hi All- I'm back and we are safe and sound.

I truly apologise for getting behind on CFF. I'm weeding through a few orders right now, and I have 2 payments that have not been sent off.

Please feel free to PM me and I will get caught up.

Thanks for your concerns and kind words..

[PatMarlin]

Oops...

I forgot to mention the price is now a buck more to cover the postal increase.

New price is $21 shipped.

[carpetman]

Pat--New price is $21---how much for used? Oh and welcome back.

[PatMarlin]

I will trade you some of your fish for some used Ray...

[Ranch Dog]

My PM to Pat... Boys and girls, this is the best $21 you will ever spend on your casting activities!

Originally Posted by Ranch Dog

Pat,

Thanks for the trade, I hope you are half as happy as I am! I spent yesterday casting and what a pleasure the Flake Flux is to use! My alloy has never looked so clean and my bullets so bright. My pot was even easy to clean out at the end of the session! 20# worth!

[Etienne Brule]

This stuff is just GREAT !!!

I used to put some Marvelux and did not like the black residu.

With PatMarlins flux, no residu at all and everything goes smooth.

Thank you

Etienne Brule from Quebec...

[PatMarlin]

Here's The Official Instructions for PMWFCFF ...

**Safety Warning** DON'T leave CFF uncovered outside in an area with moisture as it is wood, and wood will absorb moisture out of the air.

Feel it first. If it feels damp, dry it out in the house before using it. It drys out pretty fast. Also follow the instructions which say to "Set it on top of your melt and let it char before stiring".

That insures the moisture content burns off quickly, and safely.

**Water and lead is explosive- please see this thread:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...ight=uncovered

When adding cold lead to your pot, put a healthy finger-pinch of CFF atop the melt, and let it start smoking as it melts.

Do this for two reasons.. 1) it has to burn/combust to form higher amounts of carbon, and it won't burn if not exposed to air, and 2) in case it contains any ambient moisture, it sits atop the hot melt and dries out before stirring down into the melt. It also speeds up the melting considerably.

Stir the charred CFF well into your melted lead pot from top to bottom and skim the dirt that floats to the top. Then re-install a little CFF atop the melt, and let it burn as you cast. Every time you add cold lead to the pot while casting, add another pinch then stir the charred CFF through the melt again, and get a little more dirt or grit each time.

You can save your dross skimmings to reclaim the lead content if any when you smelt your lead at a later time with CFF.

Pat........

[cptkeybrd]

Hey Pat would love to get some of the stuff, pm sent thanks