Hardened oil

[Jack Stanley]

I've seen oil over the years get gummy and hard so here's a question for ya . How does one remove oil in the pores of the steel that has hardened ? I got an old mold and washed it twice with laquer thinner to clean it and it acted as if it has an oil contaminate even after bringing it to temperature .

I'm thinking a soak with Kroil then rewash with laquer thinner might work . Any ideas ??

Jack

[btroj]

Keep hearing it, cooling it, and cleaning. The heat cycles will bring the oil from the surface to be cleaned off.
You could also boil it in soapy water for a bit.

[ubetcha]

Might want to go to a auto parts store and get some brake cleaner in a spray can.Spray the cleaner into some kind of a pan big enough to soak the mold.Two cans would be better.If you don't need two cans,you can still use the rest for other degreasing projects.Have you trying something like Simple Green of a similar product? A long soak and scrubbing with a nylon brush may help with both products

[runfiverun]

i heard that dawn takes grease away from the plates not your hands at least once or twice in the 70's.
it is a good degreaser.
engine degreaser seems to remove grease from them pretty good too.
some heat usually helps too.

[Jack Stanley]

I haven't tried any other degreasers yet , laquer thinnger has always worked very well without leaving anything behind .

I did try some kroil and a brush on the cavities and while it did clean up some of the brown "patina" I'm not sure it got much beyond that . I added a little JB bore paste to the Kroil and that did help the bullets drop a little better . Perhaps I'll try heating , cooling and cleaning or even leaving the cavities wet with Kroil for a week and see what that does after cleanup .

I wonder how much effect the brown "rust" under the oil would have . The finish in the cavities is good but has the color of an old black powder musket "browning" :confused: It is the strangest new old stock mold I've ever seen .

Jack

[nanuk]

i heard that dawn takes grease away from the plates not your hands at least once or twice in the 70's.
it is a good degreaser.
engine degreaser seems to remove grease from them pretty good too.
some heat usually helps too.

wasn't that Palmolive's claim too?

(do you think the oils in there were Palm and Olive?)

[Fishman]

What about carb cleaner? The type that you soak carbs in? Would that work? I have a similar problem with an old aluminum lee mould.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I like the Kroil soaking for a week idea.

[troy_mclure]

If its legal to buy in your state MEK will dissolve any grease and oil.

[imashooter2]

The first reply was the answer you need. Boil it with a drop of dish soap in the water and it will come out clean.

[Iron Mike Golf]

+1 on MEK. The oil has oxidized and turned to varnish. You need an aggressive solvent. Paintbrush cleaner might work, too. Or citri-strip. Think stripping varnish.

[Huntducks]

Parts cleaner.

Some of you act like these molds are made of human flesh, there steel molds.

[Fishman]

Not to hijack Jack Stanley's thread, but I have boiled the Lee mould in question in water with dish soap and it didn't do much if anything. Is this MEK the same as the cleaner you soak carbs in and will it etch an aluminum mould?

[popper]

Methyl-ethyl-ketone. It evaporates FAST. Most alum won't hold ANY oil, use no chlorine brake cleaner. steel will retain oil. The trick is to dissolve gunk and drain or brush away.

[StratsMan]

MEK is also trans-dermal... it will penetrate your skin. It's been a long time, but I seem to remember that latex gloves didn't stand up to it, but vinyl gloves will...

That aside, I bet it will give a good clean to your molds...

[Jack Stanley]

Since I don't have any MEK , I'll keep swabbing it with Kroil every day for a week or so just to keep the area wet with solvent . However , I think the next time I'm in town I'll get a can of MEK .

Jack

[troy_mclure]

If you cant find Mek at lowes/home despot try a paint supply store.

[rintinglen]

And if you do use MEK, make sure you read and follow the directions--especially the parts about plenty of ventilation and keeping it off your skin.

Were I to try it, I'd put the mold in a glass jar with a tight lid and pour the MEK over the mold, I'd screw on the lid, gently swirl the fluid around and then let it set for a few hours. I'd pluck the mold halfs out with metal tongs, lay them out doors in the sun to dry on newspaper and then pour the MEK back in the can.

I boil my oily molds for 20 minutes with a small amount of dish soap in enough water to completely cover the mold to depth of at least an inch. I have degreased some pretty gunky molds this way. The key is to get a good rolling boil going and to make sure the water level covers the mold all the time.

[MBTcustom]

Some of those chemicals mentioned are extremely harsh. I would soak in paint thinner for a week. Also WD-40 or Kroil would do well.
One thing you have to remember is that the oil sometimes has solids and gunpowder mixed in, and if you use a cleaner that is too harsh, the oil will be removed and the remaining residue will turn into black concrete when the solvent evaporates.

[troy_mclure]

I've found kroil to be a very ineffective solvent, even worse than wd40. Mineral spirtits can work as well, but it takes a lot of soaking.

[Arnie]

Exylene will suck oil out of steel . I put some on a blued barrel once and it turned it silver ,thought i had ruined the blueing but a little oil made the color come right back. Not sure if thats spelled right . Pronounced Zylene .Wear gloves .Arnie

[Reload3006]

I would soak it first in Toluene (an oil based solvent) then clean it well to remove the toluene and oils it has dissolved. then clean it with MEK (methyl ethyl ketone) This should get all the oil out of the mold. In industrial applications the Toluene can be heated but I advise against that as you probably dont have adequate ventilation or temperature controls and could kill yourself. also while using the above chemicals remember that they are known carcinogens and you should use the appropriate PPE to protect yourself.

[MtGun44]

"pores" in steel do not exist. There are surface irregularities a few thousandths of an
inch deep like mountains and valleys, but no deep holes which is what I would call pores.
Some poor quality castings have some holes that might be deemed pores, but these are
flaws, not inherent to the structure. As the steel is machined and polished more and more
these valleys and hills get less and less until they are a few millionths of an inch only
on very highly polished surfaces.

Sintered bearings (bronze or copper usually) are made up of powders that are compressed
and heated until the particles are lightly bonded, so these structures are specifically intended
to have pores and they DO hold oil in "oil impregnated bearings" - but this is entirely
unlike normal gun or mold steel or aluminum.

This is just silly stuff. Any guy selling you oil that "goes into the pores" is probably selling
snake oil. Not scientifically sound.

Bill

[Jack Stanley]

Thanks Bill , without pores then I'm guessing that I probably do have the mold clean by now and it's something else then . Perhaps a "rust crust" or the alloy or temperature is wrong . I normally do not have any problems with iron molds performing .

This one has been cleaned with laquer thinner two or three times , soaked and cleaned with Kroil for several days and got a nylon brushing with Kroil and JB bore paste . I may try boiling water with dish soap and maybe get some MEK if that doesn't work . If those don't play out and an alloy switch doesn't do it I may give them a bath in Evaporust for a while . I know blueing is a form of rust and I've had cavities that had been rusty perform good . This stuff looks like the finish of an old musket though ... except where the brush and JB have been . It did cast a little better the last time I heated it up so maybe I'm going in the right direction .

Jack

[imashooter2]

Just to be clear, you don't clean it with boiling water and soap, you drop it in a pot of water with soap and boil it.

[fullofdays]

anyone used Eds red or hoppies no 9 on their molds? i have an ultrasonic cleaner with a heating element that works wonders on match barrels and other parts....

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk

[MtGun44]

Scrub good with Comet and a toothbrush. It will not hurt it and will get it really
clean.

Bill

[btroj]

Comet and a toothbrush is my standard mould cleaning routine. Some moulds seem to need a second cleaning after a preliminary casting session.

[Jack Stanley]

Would running a nylon bore brush into a closed mold with a slow speed drill bother it to much ? I never used comet on a mold before .... goes after rust right well I presume ?

Jack

[ironmonger]

Another source of a very powerfull solvent is available at your local hardware store.
Pick up a quart of pvc solvent. It contains MEK, acetone, cyclohexane, tetrahydrofuran and other solvents... as if it needed others.

Make sure you get the clear stuff and the non-low VOC stuff is a better solvent. Use it outside and wear nitrile gloves and eye protection... the part where the say 'do not use near open flame'... they aren't kidding. Try not spill it on anything that you want to keep the paint on either.

paul

[Jack Stanley]

Welcome to the forum Paul and thanks for the tip .

Jack

[crabo]

What about carb cleaner? The type that you soak carbs in? Would that work? I have a similar problem with an old aluminum lee mould.

I would not do this unless I wanted to throw the mold away.

[hiram]

try starting fluid----ether--- or acetone.