New Guy With Lots Of Questions!

[slabbandit]

Hey everybody, I found a link to this forum on Crappie.com. I have molded huge bank sinkers, egg sinkers, and small jig heads. After reading some of these post, it's a wonder that I haven't been visited by a whole herd of "Tinsel Fairies":-o
I need to know a little more about "fluxing" and what materials are best to do it with.
All I'll mold these days are crappie jig heads and egg sinkers up to 3 oz. I have a Lee 10 pound pot. I started cleaning it out tonight and couldn't believe the amount of trash and dirt in the bottom. No wonder I couldn't keep the spout clean.
Any help on cleaning the rust and stuff out of my pot will be appreciated. I have a wide variety of scrap lead to clean. I plan to do this out in the yard on a propane fish cooker.
I have a pretty good amount of roof flashing lead. It seams very soft. Is this a good source for the purest lead to start with? I will be pouring some 1/32 oz. jig heads and split shots and pinch on leads. These need to bend easily to close.
Last question for now, how do I test the purity of my ingots after I flux and clean my lead?
Thanks and I look forward to hearing you guys inputs,
Dave

[Ole]

Used motor oil makes the best "cheap" flux.

Anything that burns @ lead melt temps that contains carbon will work as flux. I use sawdust and paraffin wax when I don't have used motor oil to toss into the pot.

You have to stir the heck out of your melt with a spoon. Scrape the pot aggressively to dslodge the impurities from the side of the pot.

[slabbandit]

Thanks Ole, I've got about 5 gallons of used oil. I've read of using sawdust. I still don't quite understand "how" to do it. Do I put my fluxing agent into the molten lead and should it be able to ignite into a flame? If so, do I wait until the flame goes out before stirring and scraping the pot?

[Dirty30]

I wait for the flame to go down to stir it good for obvious reasons. You don't have to light the smoke, but I do because I don't like it stinking up the joint. I use a pea sized chunk of rendered deer fat in my pot. Beeswax would be similar. Like Ole said, there are a thousand things that work as flux, that's just what I use. Just drop your flux into the lead when it comes up to temp and it will do the rest, when the flames back off a bit stir it good but don't splash. There is really nothing to it. I would also suggest that you don't melt wheel weights and scrap lead in your lee pot. All the trash will clog up your spout good. I melt everything in a cast iron pot, then clean out all the impurities. The clean ingots go into my lee pot. That will help with your cleaning.

[slabbandit]

Thanks, I will probably try pieces of candles as flux. Do I still need to flux again after melting ingots in my 10 lb pot?

[Bullet Caster]

Welcome to CastBoolits, slabbandit. You should flux once again when you melt the ingots and whenever you add more lead to the pot. Hope this helps. BC

[Ole]

When loading lead into my bottom pour melter, I usually flux when the pot first melts and flux again when it's almost empty (maybe 1 lb left in a 20lb pot).

[slabbandit]

Thanks for all the good advice.

[Defcon-One]

I use saw dust or candle wax. About a one inch piece of candle or a small hand full of DRY saw dust. (The saw dust is a better, more complete flux.)

My pot holds about 60-80 pounds of lead. I drop it in, let it get going (melt or burn) then light it with a match. From that point on I stir with a large spoon type skimmer (Scrape the sides and bottom repeatedly) until the metal is clean and shiny and there is a black/grey film on top. Then, carefully skim the ash off without removing good metal. Now pour your ingots.

Roof flashing lead is near pure and very soft!