Flux Questions

[American]

I used maybe one gram of candle wax to flux a 12# pot of lead (my first ever). Was I supposed to stir it in, or just throw it in and let it burn? It was kind of hard to stir when it was flaming. I guess I don’t understand how it works to get stuff to the surface if you don’t stir it in before it burns up.

Also, is the store-bought flux (Frankford Arsenal brand, $11/#) any better than candle wax, or doesn’t it make much difference? Does this stuff flame up like wax?

Midway sez:
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Frankford Arsenal CleanCast Lead Fluxing Compound 1 lb
…Separates dross from your valuable bullet alloy and improves the consistency of the melted lead to eliminate variability during the casting process.
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Reviewers say:
…Recommended usage on container reads 1/8 of a teaspoon to 5-10 pounds…

And
…this stuff creates a black somewhat foamy residue on top, then dries hard to where you can pick it out in one to two scoops. I've never seen my nasty lead come out so pure until I used this. Didn't really smoke for me.

[lovedogs]

I use a large stainless spoon to scrape stuff off the sides of the pot. Then I put some Frankford stuff in. You have to stir vigorously to flux well. The crud will float to the top where it can be skimmed off. You have to stir really well to get a complete flux.

[leftiye]

Stir with a stick, or you're not getting your money's worth as per the work you're doing. Stearic acid and rosin are also super fluxes (both together aregood too).

[Ricochet]

Stirring while flux is flaming is a good method of keeping unsightly hair off the backs of your hands.

[American]

Yeah, now I do remember someone saying that stirring with a wooden dowel (well dried) was all the fluxing boolit metal really needs. Makes sense to me - guess I'll try that tomorrow, not having any of that other stuff on hand just now.

And I can imagine it does want stirred properly, although the ingots I made today seem just fine. But I won't know for sure until I get the mold I ordered and actually try casting. Next week.

This is fun! Today I almost got out the plaster of paris to make a mold to cast a pure lead boolit to slug my barrels so I can be sure I ordered the correct mold and sizing die, but I ran out of time. Maybe in the morning.

And as for the hair on my hands - lost that last week grilling ribs, so the fluxing episode was just like old times!

[hornetguy]

.....you GRILL ribs??

Heathen.....

[454PB]

If you're willing to put up with the smoke, just about anything containing carbon will work as a flux. If you want smokeless fluxing, get the Frankford Arsenal flux.

[Blackhawk Convertable]

Try saw dust. A lot less smoke...

[mto7464]

I tried the stick/dowel rod method and it seemed to make my pot dirtier. The boolits were not looking very clean so I changed over to the spoon and it scraped alot of crud off the sides of the pot that I was missing, or putting there, with the "stick". I fluxed with wax several times and stirred and scrapped and that made a world of difference in my boolits.

[American]

.....you GRILL ribs??

Heathen.....

Hey, we like 'em just fine like that, but alway open to try new ideas - how do you prefer to cook pork ribs?

[waksupi]

mto, that was the alloy being cleaned. Keep stirring with that stick, and scraping the sides of the pot, until crap stops floating up. Stirring with the spoon, you just plain aren't getting everything fluxed. It may swish things about a bit, but doesn't put any flux to the bottom of the melt. It can't. Specific gravities, and all that. Any flux that just sits on top of the pot, no matter how much you stir it, will only flux that top layer, and do nothing in the rest of the pot.

[Three44s]

Ribs:

My favorite way is pressure cooked most of the way and then finnished up on a BarbieQ.

Your favorite sauce in the pressure cooker (lightly added) ....... and good doses on the grill.

YUMMERS!!!

The biggest challenge is to NOT over cook them in the pressure cooker. Otherwise you have it too soft to stand up to grilling.

As to fluxing ............

I like bullet lube and stir with a preheated spoon ....... and put it on lead alloy thats just barely melted. That way it does not burn right away.

(I like the hair on the BACK OF MY KNUCKLES !!!!)

Well ...... you know they might make a sequel to the sequel to the sequel to the Planet of the APES ........ and need an extra ......................

I despise Marvelux for fluxing!

Throw that crap in the trash or give it to an ememy!!!! ...... but don't use it in your lead kettles!!!

One last tip:

I like to melt wheel weight or other scrounged alloys and pour into ingots TWICE !!!

By making two runs with the same lead, I get much cleaner ingots that way.

Three 44s

[American]

Ribs:

My favorite way is pressure cooked most of the way and then finnished up on a BarbieQ.



Durn! And I just dedicated that nice stainless pressure cooker bottom as my smelting pot... Oh, well. Gotta have priorities in life - and that cooker only cost $3 in the thrift shop. Suppose I should keep an eye out for another. In the age of microwaves, to say nothing of the patience that comes with age and not being in such a hell-fire hurry all the time any more, I've quit using pressure cookers. Maybe time to give 'em another try.

And thanks for the fluxing info. Seems somehow right to stir deep into the melt with what amounts to a stick of flux, and also the notion of remelting and refluxing the ingots to get them extra clean.

[hornetguy]

I just make sure to peel the membrane off the back side of them (baby backs) and put them on in a large metal cookie sheet, lined with heavy duty foil, coat them with a shake-on rub, then cover with foil, sealing the edges, then bake 'em in the oven no hotter than about 250. I usually let them bake for about 5-6 hours, then you can either uncover them, baste 'em with bbq sauce (Stubb's is best, of course) and turn the broiler on em for about 5 minutes at a time, basting with the sauce every 5 minutes or so, till you get the desired "coating" on them, or do the same thing on the grill.

If you can get them out of the foil without them falling apart, I'd be surprised.

edit: In order to stay "on topic".... while they are cooking, you can smelt WWs.....

[38 Super Auto]

I think you should flux with enough candle wax or paraffin, so that when it's burned off, you're left with a gray powder. BTW, good candles will have some stearic acid in them.

As with other recommendations, I stir with a pine sliver that contributes to reduction of oxides.

[Woodwrkr]

The best ribs are allways smoked for 8 to 10 hours in a genuine hickory wood fired smoker.:-D

[dromia]

I stir the melt with the stick then scrape the sides and remove the dust floating to the top with the spoon, you need to get the crap out of the pot after fluxing.

[Bad Water Bill]

When I started casting they also suggested using carbon rods. The tipe used in theater projectors and spot lights. Do not know if welding rod would work or where you could get the other rods. BWB :castmine:

[Ricochet]

Wonder how John Boy and Billy's Grilling Sauce works for fluxing?

[mto7464]

mto, that was the alloy being cleaned. Keep stirring with that stick, and scraping the sides of the pot, until crap stops floating up. Stirring with the spoon, you just plain aren't getting everything fluxed. It may swish things about a bit, but doesn't put any flux to the bottom of the melt. It can't. Specific gravities, and all that. Any flux that just sits on top of the pot, no matter how much you stir it, will only flux that top layer, and do nothing in the rest of the pot.

I still think I will use both and see what it does. When I used the spoon I could tell I had stuff stuck inside the pot, on the sides and the bottom, that I was not getting off with the stick. I'll work on it.

[mroliver77]

After I started using a stick it seems my pot sides and bottom stay cleaner. I can feel the crud come loose as I stir. If I have problem alloy I keep it just hot enought to remain liguid and use quite a bit of wax to get mebbe a 1/32 deep cover of wax on top of alloy. Stir in with stick and no fire. Scoop out all the black goober that mixes with wax then flux again with my sawdust and it sure casts better.

[Molly]

Hey fellows, lookit whut I found:

Abstract
The invention regards a procedure and a device to deoxidize metal melts by using a reducing agent which is introduced into the metal melt. In order to be able to produce metal melts with the lowest possible oxygen contents in the simplest and most economical manner, it has been determined to use alcohol, molasses or lignin, or a mixture of these materials, as reducing agents.

Lignin is what holds wood fibers together, so the sawdust suggestion may have some merit. I wouldn't recommend the alcohol: quickly converts to large cloud of explosive vapors, and your insurance agent will be upset. But molasses???? Sounds like a pretty sweet suggestion to me.