Fluxing......With Paper Shreds??

[cloakndagger]

Making a new batch of ingots the other night, I ran out of sawdust to flux with.. quickly raided the house and shop for fluxables, and came up with my burn sack of shredded bills and papers... tossed it in, and it seemed to work..

Is this a way to eliminate having to harvest sawdust? If so it has the added bonus of doing away with my private papers..

[thegasharkman]

def a good question how did the lead turn out? I have tons of paper shreds if this is the easy source then I am g2g

[cloakndagger]

Lead ingots turned out clean, pot looked normal, and dross came up, so I think it worked. Good thick layer applied, quickly ignited, turned to carbon, stirred in as normal.

[thegasharkman]

Nice I will def use this on my next batch

[runfiverun]

leaves,sticks,paper,coal dust,pine needles,tree bark,dead grass,saw dust,pine tree sap,chunk of rail road tie,paint stick.
these are just some of the stuff i have used to get carbon in an alloy.

[Shiloh]

What was the smoke like and did it burst into flames??

Shiloh

[cloakndagger]

Coal dust... suprising to some but ive never seen coal dust before... or a quantity of coal larger than a chunk i recieved as an office christmas gag... so basicly all it boils down to is getting the carbon into the mix, no matter where it comes from?.....hmmm... im looking over a bag of unused charcoal right now.... and yes the smoke did ignite fairly vigorously when there was a good layer of shreds

[oneokie]

Coal dust... suprising to some but ive never seen coal dust before... or a quantity of coal larger than a chunk i recieved as an office christmas gag... so basicly all it boils down to is getting the carbon into the mix, no matter where it comes from?.....hmmm... im looking over a bag of unused charcoal right now.... and yes the smoke did ignite fairly vigorously when there was a good layer of shreds

Crush the briquettes and they work as well as any source of carbon.

[DLCTEX]

Practically anything carbon based will work. Some are just neater to use than others, I prefer the dry wooden stick myself.

[10 ga]

I've used shreds before and suggested it several times on various posts. Always have plenty of shreds on hand and sometimes the table saw bin has "treated wood" sourced dust which you shouldn't use. 10 ga


XZ

[cloakndagger]

Woo hoo, shred, the ayes have it, and I have plenty of shred...

[prs]

Just remember to avoid shredding credit cards, that could stink up place.

prs

[kir_kenix]

I use a handful of shredded paper sometimes too! Good way to get rid of personal documents, bills, etc that I don't want finding their way into my trashcan. Usually I just grab a handful from the paper shredder, just be careful not to grab any credit card apps or other glossy paper...it reeks when it burns and smokes to high hell.

[thegasharkman]

So i tried this with my latest batch of ingots. They were the best yet. Far better than wax or saw dust. This is a must for me!!!

[41 mag fan]

I tried the charcoal, and if you don't get it to a really fine dust it'll be a pain in the butt to put it mildly for me.

[cloakndagger]

Hmm.. were you using briquettes? Im thinking of trying what we call "chunk" which is pure charcoal, not compressed into briquettes. Its rather easy to turn to powder inside the bag.

[RoGrrr]

If you're going to use coal or charcoal, use a coarse file, wood rasp or 36 grit sandpaper (body shop grinder coarseness) to make it easier to create your dust. (better than crushing, IMO) Then pick up a large salt shaker the next time you go to a goodwill or other used/thrift store. I see them all the time for a quarter or 50 cents. This is a convenient, easy way to add your carbon, yet keep the area and your hands clean.

[Willbird]

I tried the charcoal, and if you don't get it to a really fine dust it'll be a pain in the butt to put it mildly for me.

The fines from "lump" charcoal would be great...no other good use for it. I have also tried USED ground corncob media (outdoors) as well as new ground corncob (indoors and outdoors) and it worked fine. The used media will have lead styphnate residue in/on it from primers though. One thing about using stuff other than oils and greases, and waxes...if it sits and smolders red hot IMHO it is over the 1000f where lead starts to vapor off, so it may create lead vapor ?? So if I do use it I only use it outdoors.

[cbrick]

chunk of rail road tie

Yikes, hope that was outdoors. Burning creosote :shock: brings no joy.

Rick

[Crashbox]

Would powdered graphite work as a flux? It's just another form of carbon...

Paper shreds... hmmm... me has one of them cross-cut shredders... hmmm... great suggestion... thank you....

[runfiverun]

you can feel a violent shaking/vibrating when stirring the pot with it.
it's not as bad as many paint sticks i have used though.
the point IS to get the carbon into the alloy and then get it BACK OUT.
you have to stir and scrape the pot after putting in the carbon.

and you still have to return the oxidized alloy to the mix.