remelting the dross question

[mdevlin53]

So I smelted about 80 pounds of lead this morning. I have a 20 pound pot so I did it in 4 batches. it was lead pipe, lead cable jacket, two plumbers ingots and a lead brick. most of it had a lot of oxidation on it. I mixed in my tin and antimony and pored ingots. then I re-smelted the whole batch using equal parts from the four original batches to try and ensure they were consistent. All the time I was fluxing and skimming. when I was done I took the dross and re-melted it and got about 4 pounds of lead out of it. now here is the question. Will the lead from the skim be the same alloy as the batch or because it was skimmed do you think it might be higher in tin? I will probably use it as a start to my next batch so it may make very little difference in the long run just wondering.

[Alan in Vermont]

That seems like a lot of recovery from the dross to me. Were you fluxing really well before you skimmed the pot every time? IIRC, I didn't have enough metal in the dross from 1,000 lbs of range scrap to be worth trying to render it out the last time I smelted. I fluxed heavily, with sawdust, several times as the pot was filling up. I was running the pot quite hot, stirring a lot to get the jackets to clean up and float to the top then adding more raw material until I got the pot full which was right around 100 lbs each batch. When I had all I was comfortable with in the batch I would flux it again then skim off the ash and dirt and immediately start pouring ingots.

[mdevlin53]

I guess I am going to have to get a better skimmer or a better technique as it appears I am taking too much lead with the dross.

[leeggen]

What are you using as a flux? saw dust is the best, others out there but guess they work never tried them. Not all thing will flux lead.
CD

[retread]

Are you using a spoon or other instrument that has plenty of holes for drainage? I have almost no lead in my dross.