Cleaning oil/grease off old mold?

[DonMountain]

I bought an old used mold, and it is covered with some kind of dried on old oil or grease. What would be the best procedure or material to clean this off and get it ready to cast some boolets? Wash it in gasoline, alcohol or what?

[country gent]

I would soak in solvent for a couple hours to soften the dried oil / varnish and then clean good with dish soap and oil with a tooth brush. let dry and relube sprue plate screw hinge and pins then cast

[country gent]

Dish soap and water sorry doing a couple things at same time here. Also treat it as a new mould and break in again

[Le Loup Solitaire]

Alcohol won't do much so stick with a solvent that is more potent. Gasoline works to some extent but not as well as acetone or laquer thinner. Soaking will soften up whatever is on the mold, but you will have to finish with a toothbrush to really get into the nooks and crannies. Make sure you work in a well ventilated area and dry the mold with a hair dryer. You should re-oil any screws and then preheat with a hot plate before attempting to cast. If you get wrinkled bullets you will have to repeat the solvent treatment or keep on casting until whatever is left in the cavities is burned off/away.(Not a fun process)Store in a prescribed way so you don't have to go through all that again. LLS

[Mr Peabody]

I try to stay away from petroleum based cleaners, they get into the pores of the blocks and cause me more trouble. A citrus degreaser works well, as does hot soapy water with a hard bristle toothbrush. If you need too, put it in a pot of water and boil it for a while.

[MT Gianni]

Put it on your hot plate and raise the mold temp to around 350 F. What doesn't burn off will brush off.

[too many things]

simple green will do a good job if you don't have Kroil, its the best soak overnight in pure SG it wont rust the mold.

[DonMountain]

simple green will do a good job if you don't have Kroil, its the best soak overnight in pure SG it wont rust the mold.

Which model of "Simple Green" do you recommend? I looked at their web site and there are about 25 different models of "Simple Green" cleaner. Simple Green Pro HD Heavy Duty Cleaner & Degreaser sounded like it might be the one?

[bangerjim]

That old stuff is probably beeswax and some kind of hydrocarbon.

Soak in lacquer thinner. (sorry, you REALLY need a good hydrocarbon solvent here). It will NOT soak into metal!!!! After a GOOD soak, scrub with very hot water and Simple Green and a tooth brush. Rinse with hot water and wash again with SG/water. Rince in hot water and let dry.


Cast away. No treating needed. I never do it and have never had problems. If a ferrous mold, watch for rust. Light coat of light oil for rust prevention.

banger

[DonMountain]

That old stuff is probably beeswax and some kind of hydrocarbon.

Soak in lacquer thinner. (sorry, you REALLY need a good hydrocarbon solvent here). It will NOT soak into metal!!!! After a GOOD soak, scrub with very hot water and Simple Green and a tooth brush. Rinse with hot water and wash again with SG/water. Rince in hot water and let dry.


Cast away. No treating needed. I never do it and have never had problems. If a ferrous mold, watch for rust. Light coat of light oil for rust prevention.

banger

Ok, I have it out on the shop soaking in Lacquer thinner for a few hours, stopping out to swish it around every half hour or so. Then I plan to scrub it with an old tooth brush with the lacquer thinner and then wash it with Simple Green if I can find it anywhere. I asked my wife about it and she had never heard of the stuff and didn't know where to buy it. If I can't find it I am going to try dish soap and hot water. I think dish soap is supposed to take off grease? Because its a nice day out here and I need to fire up the lead machine and cast some of these boolets! I discovered last night that I have a Winchester 94AE in 307 Winchester that I have never tried lead boolets in because my RCBS 30-180-SP-GC mold casts boolets that are too long to fit in the chamber as they strike the rifling with about 3/16" shy of closing. And I recently bought this Lyman 311359 108 grain mold for my M1 Carbine that might fit in the 307 Winchester and be fun to plink with. Only trouble with that is I can't load them in the tube and plan to single load them in the chamber due to their pointed nose.

[gwpercle]

Dawn dish washing liquid will do if you have trouble finding Simple Green. Both are good at cutting grease.

Gary