sawdust for fluxing

[Bill]

is any clean wood sawdust ok to use? white wood, pine, walnut, oak. Anything that has no glue or resin? I've been using parifin candle wax.
thanks
Bill, sebring fl

[10 ga]

Sawdust from pine/fir/spruce with lots rosin best but any will work. DO NOT use sawdust from "treated" lumber as it will produce fumes that could be poisinous. Sawdust is my regular flux for smelting and casting work.
Best, 10 ga

[plainsman456]

I have found when using oak or other sawdust/shavings that I tend to get hungry.
Pine not so much.
Just wait till it has browned or started to blacken before you stir the mix.

[fstreed]

I have just started using it after reading about it on this forum. I just cleaned out a paper bag full from under the table saw which would have included pine, doug fir, oak, cedar, and assorted hardwoods. Seemed to work pretty well for cleaning up WWs before pouring ingots. I triple fluxed it, first with bullet lube, then the sawdust, then Marvelux. Cleaned up nicely, left the tin and antimony in the alloy and picked up the dirt.

[dragonrider]

Do use sawdust from plywood or other laminated "woods" because of the glue.

[geargnasher]

Do NOT use sawdust from plywood or other laminated "woods" because of the glue.

There, I fixed it for ya!

Gear

[dragonrider]

Thanks Gear, was in a hurry. :killingpc

[AlabamaEd]

I been using from a bag of pine shavings I got at the pet store. Seems to work pretty well.

[Defcon-One]

I use a mix that is mostly fine White Pine sawdust from my shop. It works great and it is free! It smells good, too!

I put about 1/2 cup in a 90 lb. pot. (Smaller pot = smaller amount.)

Mix gently until it gets browned, then light it off with a match to control the smoke. While it burns, I stir vigorously scraping the bottom and insides of the pot. It will turn to a black powder. Stir a bit more and you will get a fine grayish colored ash and by then your metal will look like a mirror. Clean and shiny with all the bad stuff out and the good stuff back in the mix.

Now just skim off the ash!

The only issue is to make sure that your sawdust is dry! If you let it brown like I said above, it will be dry before you stir it into the molten lead.

[bslim]

I found when I used Marvelux, I would get a build up on the sides of my smelting pot. Since I switched to sawdust, my pot stays clean, and since the sawdust comes from my tablesaw, the price is right and it does a super job. I just started casting a year and a half ago and what I have learned from this forum is incredible.

[rexherring]

My Marvelux did the same thing and after hearing about the sawdust here, It's what I use now. I have a bag of hickory sawdust from a sausage shop here. Smells like BBQ.

[BK7saum]

I've started using sawdust and it is great. Parrafin and Marvelux did okay. Got a buildup with the marvelux.

[RobsTV]

If clean sawdust is needed, does that rule out sawdust from the big name home improvement stores?

I have been getting sawdust from the vacuum connected to the wood cutter at home improvement stores. For wood buying customers, they cut their 2x4, etc, and I am assuming plywood, with that machine. Probably has glue and junk in it. Looks like good sawdust to me though. Bad idea?

[Defcon-One]

RobsTV:

If the sawdust is white it is mostly from 2X4's etc. Plywood sawdust is always kind of yellowish and finer and heavy. What I use is white and fluffy.

I saw this in another post:


Duke in Maine: What you don't want to do is allow the sawdust/chips to turn to ash. Powdery ash then becomes the same type of impurity that you are trying to remove. So, at some point, just after the resin has burned off, but before the charcoal has burned to ash, you want to remove the charcoal, and do another run through.

I always stir until it gets to ash, as I said above, and then skim. It works for me very well. You can do what you want, just wanted to pass this info. on for consideration!