What is this in my bullets/Lead

[lablover]

Yesterdays batch was great..Today, not so much..New batch of the same lead. Looks to be crud or dirt or something? Added a bit of solder 1% to see what would happen..Lead free solder. Is my lead just still dirty?

Not sure why my image is upside down but you can still see the crud

Thanks all

Joe

[TenTea]

Looks fine to me.

Filled out with sharp edges...

[fryboy]

What are you fluxing with ,sawdust ? Looks like lil specks of carbon or something ,it maybe that it just seemed that way standing on my head to get s hood look at it tho :kidding:
Try wax or oil as a final flux and if you're using a wood stick to stir try switching to a metal instrument ( I use an old spoon screwed to a dowel rod in the casting pot only I use about anything in the smelt pot but primarily a big old metal dipper

[lablover]

Yup, sawdust and a wood stick. Maybe try wax now after I clean it up. Sorry about the upside down pic..It only happens when I post



What are you fluxing with ,sawdust ? Looks like lil specks of carbon or something ,it maybe that it just seemed that way standing on my head to get s hood look at it tho :kidding:
Try wax or oil as a final flux and if you're using a wood stick to stir try switching to a metal instrument ( I use an old spoon screwed to a dowel rod in the casting pot only I use about anything in the smelt pot but primarily a big old metal dipper

[fryboy]

I was just teasing about the pic ( I have kids and grandkids who thinks if it's not sideways or upside down it just ain't right lolz )
Most stuff floats but stuff can get trapped under the surface and/or drawn down by a bottom pour spout,if I use sawdust in the casting pot I keep it on top,usually use wax in it tho unless I'm running hot,stix will work but once they start getting charred you can sometimes end up like this

[jimofaz]

I scrape the sides & bottom of the pot with my fluxing spoon before fluxing to release any attached crud. What fluxing (and sometimes double fluxing) does not return to the alloy mix, gets scraped off the top & discarded in an old metal 3 lb. coffee can. This practice seems to keep the alloy clean.

[runfiverun]

oxide inclusions.
scrape your pot and use an oxygen free barrier [wax on fire] to return what you can back to the alloy.
scrape off the leftover black gunk and toss it.

[lablover]

Drained the pot and I have a layer of brown/tan **** all over. I assume it's from the sawdust. So when you use wax, do you let it catch fire then put it out? I may try wax from now on...Gonna let the pot cool and get busy with steel wool..or whatever to try to get it clean.

[shooter93]

What Lamar said....oxide....I found I quit getting it when I boil or otherwise clean the pot more often as well as having a barrier.

[runfiverun]

I light it off and stir it in and scrape and stir slowly.
if you don't light it on fire it will smoke you out of the house/garage.
as the wax melts I work it under the surface and scrape the whole pot down methodically and fold everything over [fold as in the cooking term]
your trying to turn everything in the alloy up to the surface.

carbon is actually a proper flux and the term is carbourization [no matter what spell check say's] the carbon helps the alloy actually bind together better.
but as you have seen too much and it stays stuck to the sides of the pot and under the surface.
using some [a little] is good for the alloy but you have to get it back out.
I took a hacksaw blade and bent it about an inch from the end and put a wooden [broom handle] handle on the end by cutting it with the hacksaw shoving it in there and jb welding it in place.
this is a great scraper.
the other one I made is from a long [8"] handled teaspoon.
I ground the bottom and one side square and done the same handle treatment.
this gets the bottom of the pot really well.

[Bullwolf]

That seems to happen more when you use a bottom pour pot, than if you cast boolits with a ladle.

Flux your ingots well with sawdust and the wooden stick while you are making them, and while they are not in your casting pot, especially so if using a bottom pour.

Smelting lead into ingots in your bottom pour pot, is asking for extra contaminates.

If you feel the need for additional flux for your ingots while in the bottom pour pot, try a small spot of beeswax.


- Bullwolf

[lablover]

So the bullets with this **** on them...Ok to shoot?

Bullwolf, I made the ingot when trying to empty the pot. My smelting process is way wrong after more reading..I just let the lead melt in a pot, cleaned off the gunk off the top and made ingots..I should of fluxed it a few times to clean more gunk out. Live and learn

Good news is I took the pot apart and stuck it in my sand blast cabinet, yup, made short work of that task! Not sure why all the brown stuff? Dirty lead. I thought it was from the sawdust, I used maple...All I had. Used beeswax last night and it seemed ok.

[twc1964]

I used to flux with sawdust in my Lee pot but kept getting junk in my boolits. Your smelting and cles king should be done in another pot. Clean it well and only use bees wax in your casting pot to keep tin mixed back in to the mix. Now my boolits come out clean. Ymmv

[DerekP Houston]

Man I thought I was doing great until I emptied my lee pot last night. Roughly 1/2" of just....crud.....doesn't melt doesn't do much of anything. I scraped it all out and will clean with the vinegar/peroxide solution mentioned in another post. Seeing as its the first time I cleaned it since I started I guess things could be worse. It still works at least!

[Wayne Smith]

Be careful with the vinegar/peroxide solution. You are cleaning off lead oxide and putting it in liquid form and it is absorbed through the skin. Use rubber gloves and keep it off your skin.

[flyingmonkey35]

Not sure as your bullet is defying gravity.

[BlackPowderBen]

Not sure as your bullet is defying gravity.
[smilie=l:

[DerekP Houston]

Be careful with the vinegar/peroxide solution. You are cleaning off lead oxide and putting it in liquid form and it is absorbed through the skin. Use rubber gloves and keep it off your skin.


Yep understood, I read the warnings. Thanks for the reminder though.

[runfiverun]

they are still shootable.
the edges are square and stuff.

[lablover]

I took all my lead and re-smelted it as best I could....Ran it thru my lee production pot to cast...Yup, **** is still in the bullets.

I still have stuff floating to the top even after smelting again (in a separate pot)..I cleaned my lee out great but it's still floating to the top. I try to not scrape the dull silver stuff as I know its good alloy.

Question, I use a old butter knife I stole from the kitchen drawer. It was what seemed liked polished ss or chrome? Can that be the culprit? Right now it's as black as coal and it does not seem to want to come off??

[runfiverun]

I doubt it's the knife.

you just got stuff in the alloy.
sometimes it's an overwhelming amount of oxidized lead and sometimes it's just super-fine particles of brake dust that take forever to remove. [sometimes both or more]
I'd not get too worked up about it, use up this batch of alloy and move on to the next one.

[HangFireW8]

Sawdust is great when smelting.

In the bottom pour pot, I use only yellow (unbleached) beeswax. Smells great, burns off clean.

When it's time to refill, first I remove the dross on top with the little Lee spoon. That prevents mixing in all those little black specs. Then refill with heated ingots from my hot plate pot, melt w/ assist from propane torch, flux twice and scrape with beeswax, back to casting in less than 5 minutes with a clean shiny melt.

[gwpercle]

I'm going to suggest something that a lot of people consider heretical.....when you have an alloy that has a lot of the black specks and inclusions , try Marvelux Bullet Casting Flux , follow the directions , and flux more than once, I will some times flux a pot three times to get everything clean. Use a big stainless steel spoon to scrape sides and bottom, and remove the crud, do it several times. Stuff wants to hang on and you have to dislodge it. I also finish with a fluxing of pencil sharpener shavings and beeswax...not too much wax because it will flame up and burn, use just a little.
I have found that by using all three kinds of fluxes , not just one , I get a well mixed clean alloy.
I ladle cast with an open top pot , so do not leave a layer of anything on the surface. When I used a bottom pour , it seemed this layer added to more inclusions.
Gary

[HangFireW8]

Gary hit on my secret for clean ingots. When I smelt, I use the forbidden Marvelux, as well as sawdust and beeswax. I melt WW with a coating of sawdust on top, keeping an eye for any zincer floaters I missed. Then Marvelux, finally yellow beeswax.

For a large pot, traditional ladlers used a floating steel ring. They could keep a reducing flux outside the ring and ladle from inside. Many modern ladlers use smaller electric pots where there isn't much room or need for this idea.

[gwpercle]

Gary hit on my secret for clean ingots. When I smelt, I use the forbidden Marvelux, as well as sawdust and beeswax. I melt WW with a coating of sawdust on top, keeping an eye for any zincer floaters I missed. Then Marvelux, finally yellow beeswax.

For a large pot, traditional ladlers used a floating steel ring. They could keep a reducing flux outside the ring and ladle from inside. Many modern ladlers usr smaller electric pots where there isn't much room or need for this idea.
Thanks for the floating ring suggestion HangFire , will have to give it a try. An excellent idea that I have not heard of...learn something new every day !

[lablover]

Thanks for the floating ring suggestion HangFire , will have to give it a try. An excellent idea that I have not heard of...learn something new every day !


The ring is a pretty slick idea. I'll have to remember that if I ever paddle cast..... Something I noticed that helps reduce the crud and bear with me.

I used to fill each cavity then cut the flow..move to the next cavity then start the flow..etc etc etc. Today I started the flow from the pot and did all 4 cavities the cut the flow. Only the first one (when I started the flow) had **** in it..The others were spotless with no crud. And, the closer I got to the bottom of the pot the more crud I got. I think I need to invest in some new clean lead (Lyman 2) maybe and give my pot a good scrubbing.

And, I need to find my own WW and start from scratch myself. I also noticed my boolits are a bit heavier that the 200 gr they are supposed to be.

Not sure I mentioned this but I LOVE THIS SITE!!

[runfiverun]

boolits being heavier than advertised weight is nothing.
your using ww alloy which is about 3.5% other than lead stuff
the manufacturers are using alloys with 10-15% something other than lead stuff in them.