Foto Joe
05-24-2013, 07:58 PM
I fired up my new Lyman Big Dipper this morning and went after the bucket of sorted ww's that have been waiting for it's arrival.
My first order of business was to smelt all the soft tape weights I had sorted out, I want those for round balls. The tape weights went smoother than I expected and I wound up with about 9 lbs of nice shiny ingots, those should keep me in rb's for a while.
Next came attacking the 150 lbs thereabouts of clip on weights. So far I've smelted around 20 lbs into ingots and these are not bright and shiny like the tape weights. Given that the tape weights are pretty much pure soft lead and the clip ons have tin and possibly antimony in them should this be considered normal?
I have as of yet not gotten a lead thermometer but I will before casting bullets/round balls, therefore I don't have a clue as to what temp I'm pourimg at right now. I'm using Frankford Arsenal flux and I did try some sawdust on one batch but the commercial flux is less of a pain at this point. I'm averaging three fluxings per 8 lb+/- batch using a putty knife to scrape the sides and bottom. I'll also note that my dipper (Lyman if it makes a difference) is coated with alloy which it wasn't with the tape weights.
All weights were sorted and the zincs and steels were removed. I'm also double checking with a set of linemans pliers by "biting" any weights I'm suspicious about before they go into the pot, so far my 4 hours of sorting appears to have caught all the zincs.
Your comments on Frosty vs. Shiny would be appreciated.
My first order of business was to smelt all the soft tape weights I had sorted out, I want those for round balls. The tape weights went smoother than I expected and I wound up with about 9 lbs of nice shiny ingots, those should keep me in rb's for a while.
Next came attacking the 150 lbs thereabouts of clip on weights. So far I've smelted around 20 lbs into ingots and these are not bright and shiny like the tape weights. Given that the tape weights are pretty much pure soft lead and the clip ons have tin and possibly antimony in them should this be considered normal?
I have as of yet not gotten a lead thermometer but I will before casting bullets/round balls, therefore I don't have a clue as to what temp I'm pourimg at right now. I'm using Frankford Arsenal flux and I did try some sawdust on one batch but the commercial flux is less of a pain at this point. I'm averaging three fluxings per 8 lb+/- batch using a putty knife to scrape the sides and bottom. I'll also note that my dipper (Lyman if it makes a difference) is coated with alloy which it wasn't with the tape weights.
All weights were sorted and the zincs and steels were removed. I'm also double checking with a set of linemans pliers by "biting" any weights I'm suspicious about before they go into the pot, so far my 4 hours of sorting appears to have caught all the zincs.
Your comments on Frosty vs. Shiny would be appreciated.