What Do You Use For Flux?

[UtopiaTexasG19]

There appears to be a vast array of things folks use to flux their melted lead from commercial products to bees wax and parafin? What do you use and why? I am curious if there is any concensus on what works the best. Also, does anyone flux a first time when casting ingots or is that just wasting time when it can be done eventually at a pouring session? Thanks...

[dragonrider]

Sawdust, it is free and works very well, IMHO nothing better. I use it by the double handfull when smelting ww's to ingots and when casting I use a dry stick, REPEAT DRY, stick to stir the melt occaisionaly. Understand this, when using sawdust for flux just toss a handful or two on your melt and ALWAYS allow it to burn to ash BEFORE you stir it up. Sawdust may feel dry, IT IS NOT, pushing it below the surface before it has turned to ash can result in an eruption, AKA a visit from the tinsel fairy and it can hurt alot. What kind of sawdust doesn't matter but don't use pressure treated it has some nasty stuff in it.

[plainsman456]

I flux when pouring ingots and when casting boolits.
Sawdust is cheap and plentiful,you can get it from any lumber yard ,cabinet maker or just make your own.
What was said about letting it burn down before working it in is real important .

[Lizard333]

Sawdust. Cheap and works REALLY well.

[timkelley]

Pine and fir sawdust and I stir with an Oak stick.

[LUCKYDAWG13]

sawdust and ill toss in a match head just to burn it

[cavalrymedic]

For no reason other than I read to use a pea size ball of candle wax, that's what I use. I have plenty of sawdust laying around so maybe I'll try that next time. DragonRider peaked my interest when he mentioned not using PT sawdust cause of the nasty stuff. The old "green" PT had arsenic in it, if I remember correctly. I remember reading somewhere that a little arsenic in the alloy help to increase BHN if you are water quenching. Maybe a good way to get arsenic into the alloy. Then again, maybe not. I would wear a nice gas mask and do it outdoors. I have no idea what is in the new "YellowWood" except that whatever it is, it does not seem to prevent wood rot or termites.

[wbwizzard]

I have to do my casting in the garage, but I keep my casting stuff in the cellar. Once I forgot to bring up my commercial wax flux, so I looked for a quick substitute and located some used corn cob polishing media that was headed for the dump. Threw in a handful, worked fine; recycling at its best.

[cbrick]

Here is some reading, see chapter 4 on fluxing, it will tell you why waxes, oils, parrafin etc will not do what you want it to.

From Ingot to Target (http://www.lasc.us/Fryxell_Book_textonly2.pdf)

You might want to read the entire book but chapter 4 is directly related to your question.

I usr sawdust while smelting and before each casting session.

Rick

[cbrick]

located some used corn cob polishing media that was headed for the dump. Threw in a handful, worked fine; recycling at its best.

Rather poor idea if there was ANY chance of your breathing the smoke/fumes. Polishing medium is full of lead and other no-no's.

Rick

[geargnasher]

I think from now on my recommendation is going to be Patmarlin's California Flake Flux. My cabinet shop friend has a sawmill and I collected some planer chips from a batch of trees he recently processed that were similar to Pat's product. IMO after using it such a thing is chemically, physically, and emotionally the best thing there is for the purpose.

Gear

[MikeS]

I don't have easy access to sawdust, so I use some pine shavings (hamster bedding, pre-hamster), and it works great. I used to use wax, I've even used a wax that was specifically designed for fluxing linotype called 'Vitaflux' (which worked better than any of the other waxes I've used), but none of them work as well as sawdust / wood shavings!

I have a Lee casting ladle that I use for mixing my lead pot, and it's developed a layer of crud on it, and the first time I used wood as a flux, after stirring the pot with my ladle for a bit, when I removed it, it was clean! The layer of crud that was on the ladle was now in the sawdust! The same for the sides of the pot, they stay clean when using sawdust / shavings as flux. I was also amazed at the difference in the boolits cast from lead that was fluxed with sawdust, they were nice and shiny, and filled out better than I've ever been able to get them when using a wax based flux. For $4.99 I bought a supply that will last a LONG time, as those packages are really compressed pretty well.

Another flux that should probably be avoided are the borax based ones. There are several commercial fluxes that are borax based (I'm not talking about Boraxo, a hand cleaner based on borax, I'm talking about the chemical borax) as they attract water (I forget the technical term for this), and will rust your pot, utensils, etc. when you use it, and IMHO it doesn't do near the job that wood fluxes do!

[onondaga]

I have something I am going to try. Another hobby of mine involves primitive skills and I use Pine Pitch to make PPG or Pine Pitch Glue for fastening stone arrowheads and spear points to shafts before wrapping with Sinew. The pitch is the part that makes sappy pine sawdust a good flux. Plus pitch burns real well when it is hot. I think it will work good and I have a nice supply of it.

Gary

[Coffeecup]

I use hardwood sawdust. Softwood sawdust gives me a sinus headache.

[Baron von Trollwhack]

I don't flux WW when making ingots. They are already greasy, smutty, and slimy enough right from Billy Bob's Tire Shop to be self-fluxing and give off a bit of Copenhagen tainted choking smoke. Always leave a little starter liquid GALENA in the pot and keep adding more of those s-f WW till it's time to rake off the useless crud, valve stems & clips and go for the third 60 pound pot, then I give it up till when I'm getting low on the lead muffins and Lymans.

BvT

[garym1a2]

I normally use my homemade boolit lube, it lousey as a lube but makes a great flux. Mostly wax. Saw dust and wood chips work well also.

[stubshaft]

Pat Marlins Flux!

Love the smell...

[Armorer]

When I'm out cutting wood to stockpile for the winter, I just fill up a gallon ziplock or two and that does a pretty good job. I also stir my bottom pour pot with either a wood dowel or a handy stick. I figure a little extra fluxing cant hurt.

Armorer

[oscarflytyer]

For smelting, I tend to use old candles and sawdust/cedar shavings and paint stir sticks. Not real particluar for smelting...

For casting, tried the pet cage cedar shavings - basically good smelling saw dust. Gave up, although I will OCCASSIONALLY use them, because they ARE around...

Now I just stir my casting pot liberally with a wooden paint stir stick.

[mongo]

I tried saw dust yesterday and it seemed to leave rings in my lee 20lb pot. The sawdust was pine, I let it burn to black then stirred it in , Maybe I use too much or not enough? I did my last 3 pot fulls with candle wax and it seemed to clean up the pot with a bit of scrapeing.. Pine tar? Tommy

[geargnasher]

Yer s'posed to scrape the sides with a stick, like a paint stir stick or such. The stick is like a Magic Eraser for junk stuck to the sides of the pot. Skim the ash when done if you want, or just leave it floating on top while you cast, it will help seal the surface from the air so you don't have to flux again before the pot's near empty.

Gear

[Three44s]

The neighbors took my old tires away from me! .................


*************************************


Like everyone else ........... natural wood by products and boolit lube in a pinch!


Three 44s

[Rusty Shackleford]

crayons

[Humbo]

Bullet lube, and sometimes wax candles.

[JOptionPane]

i am new to this but after all the reading i have done here i tried saw dust then i alternated to candle wax the next time stirring with a long wooden stick worked great best of all i had everything on hand and didn't have to spend money :)

[primersp]

candles wax, but sometimes pine resin and it's smelled well

[Kraschenbirn]

Plain, generic, vitreous clay kitty litter...the cheap stuff, no clumping, no deodorants... stirred, occassionally, with a piece of hardwood dowel. No smoke, no burn-off, minimal mess. ((One bit of advice: don't try recycling from your cat's litter box...the smell is awful!)

Bill

[jmsj]

When smelting I have used waxes, sawdust, stirring w/ a dry wooden stick and oils, The best thing I have found so far is dry sawdust w/ some mineral spirits added to it.
I had tried some floor sweep product from work that was basically sawdust with what smelled like mineral spirits added in and it worked quicker and better than anything I had used before. But I couldn't find the ingredients or the MSDS sheet for the product. Being worried about what else might be in the mix, I made up some sawdust / mineral spirits and it worked about the same.
When casting I usually let the melt get up to temp and stir well w/ a wooden stick and then put a layer of PLAIN CLEAN kitty litter or oil absorbent on top of the melt. After that if it seems that I'm having problems, throwing in a few cull cast boolits w/ flux and stirring seems to straighten things out.
jmsj

[ColColt]

Plain ol' sawdust-stirred but not shaken.:)

[Frozone]

I use saw dust.

I think everyone (in the US) has access to a Home Depot or a Lowes. Just ask them if you can have some from their cutting table vacuum system.
They will be happy to have you clean it out for them. It holds a 30 gal drum worth, That's plenty for a while ;-)

Be warned it will contain some plywood and pressure treat dust so don't inhale. but it is plentiful and it's free.

Some times I get a sawdust flux that after it burns to ash and it's been stirred in, the ash get's silvery and 'thick'. This often happens when smelting WW and you get "dirty" batch.
Rather than toss that out. I'll use a 1/2" square of paraffin and light the smoke and reflux with that. It will reduce what's in the ash back in and then I'll go back to saw dust.

[ColColt]

I use saw dust.

I think everyone (in the US) has access to a Home Depot or a Lowes. Just ask them if you can have some from their cutting table vacuum system.
They will be happy to have you clean it out for them. It holds a 30 gal drum worth, That's plenty for a while ;-)

Be warned it will contain some plywood and pressure treat dust so don't inhale. but it is plentiful and it's free.

Some times I get a sawdust flux that after it burns to ash and it's been stirred in, the ash get's silvery and 'thick'. This often happens when smelting WW and you get "dirty" batch.
Rather than toss that out. I'll use a 1/2" square of paraffin and light the smoke and reflux with that. It will reduce what's in the ash back in and then I'll go back to saw dust.

You'll also get some vinyl and other non-wood sawdust from them as well. It's hard to separate...I've tried.

[superior]

I've used just about everything I could get my hands on that I thought might work. Wax, sawdust, motor oil, axel grease, gear oil, and stirring with a stick. I have yet to notice a difference in the finished boolits. When the melt starts to pour a little stringy, I use whatever I have on hand and it works.

[grouch]

Unsalted canola oil
Grouch

[geargnasher]

I've used just about everything I could get my hands on that I thought might work. Wax, sawdust, motor oil, axel grease, gear oil, and stirring with a stick. I have yet to notice a difference in the finished boolits. When the melt starts to pour a little stringy, I use whatever I have on hand and it works.

That's called "tin tails". Better do all you can to get the tin out :-D

Gear

[mold maker]

Your Wife and neighbors will be pleased to smell good ole wood smoke instead of the oily smoke from waxes and oils.
Which ever ya choose, light it as soon as possible to cut down on the volume of smoke. That also helps to reduce the oxides other wise lost.