How to tell when the smelt is clean

[Michael J. Spangler]

Hi Guys,

i just did my first smelt yesterday

once all of the WW were melted and the clips and junk skimmed off i fluxed

i use about a 1/4 - 1/2 cup of pine shavings 4 times
stirred as vigorously as i could with lead.

i scraped a little, stirred mostly and skimmed off the junk that floated, the black bits of nasty and the dirty ugly dross.

i the fluxed a few times with approximately 1" nubs of taper candles

i figured that would pretty much do the job so i started to ladle out my ingots.

as i was going i noticed some more dross (as far as i know) floating to the top and what looked like a little ash from the wood shavings.

so i skimmed that when it popped up from time to time and continued ladling my muffin pan ingots.

when all was said and done and i brought the smelting pot back in to the shop for the night i picked up the 10# or so disc from the bottom of the pot and flipped it over. i noticed what looked like some more fine black wood ash stuck to the bottom of the solidified lead

is that normal?
what should i be looking for to tell me that the lead is clean?
how many fluxes do you guys normally do?
did i screw up? should i re-melt the whole deal and do some more scraping stirring and skimming?
would it help to see pics of the ingots?
should i cut on in half on the bandsaw and look for crud or inclusions in the melt?

thanks guys!

[Longwood]

The heavy lead holds stuff on the bottom and the sides.
Scrape the sides and bottom with something flat on the end and sides.
I ground flats on a spoon which works very well.
Some people use a wood stick which works for fluxing but be sure to scrape again with something metal to remove the the junk the stick leaves behind.
Be extra sure to clean the bottom around the spout or it will plug up or drip or both.

[btroj]

Yep, itis the stuff that was stuck to the sides and bottom of the pot. I good scraping will bring an amazing amount for crud to the surface every time.

I flux and scrape. Once I being pouring ingots I still notice more stuff floating to the surface. I then scrape again and skim the crud off. I then go back to pouring ingots.

If a tiny bit of the crud gets into an ingot I don't worry too much. That will go away when I skim and flux in the casting pot.

I will say that I am pickier about scraping the pot when smelting range lead. I don't want the sand and other grit in my bullets.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

With smelting you first get the rough stuff out of the way. If it looks fairly good & clean...shiney with a minimum of dross, sand, dirt, miscellaneous crud evident then after the last scrape, flux and skim, then pour your ingots. Oxidation is an ongoing process and nobody bats 1000 and gets it all. There will always be some dross forming; its when you cast your bullets that you have to tighten things up. You don't want/need any inclusions or other garbage in your mold cavities or bullets. Flux and skim often, but within reason. DO NOT smelt and cast from the same pot...its bad news. Both the smelt pot and the casting pot have to be cleaned regularly....emptied, scraped, brushed. I cast mostly with WW + 1-2% tin and I watch the melt surface and the appearance of the bullets like a hawk. The minute that the surface of the metal starts to "dross up" and/or "pour stringy"...I flux and skim. Fluxes include sawdust, pine sticks,shavings and probably a dozen or more other ideas and they all work well. But some of them leave ash or other debris that you have to deal with. I use small chunks of candle (wax) and that smoke like the dickens and I have to light it up and that too leaves some black crud that has to be skimmed off. You can't spend most of your time chasing every speck of crud so do the best you can with the cleaning in the smelting. No need to section ingots or remelt the whole lead supply. If you do a pretty decent job in setting up the ingots then it will go a lot smoother for you when you cast. LLS

[Michael J. Spangler]

thanks guys. i think i had led it right then. i'll keep an eye on it once in the furnace and manage it there. i would rather spend a few more minutes and take my time with this stuff than have to go back and do it over again

i'll probably still have to do it over again now and then anyway.

thats ok i'm happy with casting more and more boolits