Smelted some today

[huli]

Its 60 degrees here in wv today . so I got out the smelting goods. I had one bucket that had about 100 lbs of ww in it . After sorting and throwing out junf I ended up with 52 lbs of lead. I did have some trouble fluxing. I used bees wax , no flame, Crayola , nothing but smoke. I tried some sawdust from my table saw and still didn't get the flames. So after all that I just skimmed off the bad and started poring ingots. Wind was blowing a little so im using that as an excuse. What say yall? Thanks Steve

[454PB]

The reason it didn't burst into flames is that it wasn't hot enough.....which may be a good thing with all the zinc weights floating around these days. I usually light off the smoke with a propane torch to reduce smoke.

[huli]

That thought crossed my mind too. Had one sitting there where I used to light my burner,,DUH

[Charlie Two Tracks]

Be careful when you stir the sawdust through your mix. You really want to put a bunch on top, light it and let it burn off. Then stir the burnt ashes into the mix. If you don't burn it off and just push the sawdust into the molten lead, it will boil and splatter all over the place. Be sure to have some eye protection on. It won't do you much good to know how to cast if you can't see. 700 degrees (or better) is pretty darn hot.

[plainsman456]

You are lucky,here the last two days it has been blowing dirt and dust at 40-50 MPH.

All day long and into the night.
We need some rain or something bad.