never ending dross

[Mitch]

I have added a pic of the total haul for the wekend.The wide strips and everything that i looked like soil pipe joint is what I am talking about in this thread.i hve never seen such large pipe joints befor.

I have never seen this before.this lead id from large soil pipe joints.i meted one batch and it came out just fine.the 2nd batch just keeps on making dross.there must have been something in one of the pieces i put in the 2nd batch.No matter what you use beeswax or sawdust or mybe nuthing just stir it and it gets **** on the top.This **** will not flux back into the mix.When you scoop it odd the top of the mix looks wrinkled not nice and shiney.More bees wax and more **** come up.like it is oxodesing as fast as you take the **** off.
https://imgur.com/LgOVMBe
https://imgur.com/dAFXLsV

Thanks for lookin Bob

[sw282]

Z i n c

[Walter Laich]

+1 on zinc.

some describe it as silver colored oatmeal which is a pretty good description

friend does smelting, I do casting. At first he would get temp so high that half of each ingot would be zinc.

[turtlezx]

shouldnt be zinc in water pipes?

[NyFirefighter357]

Easy enough to test for zinc, muriatic acid.

[Smoke4320]

If it looks like oatmeal probably zinc

[Nines&Twos]

Plumbing lead is incredibly nasty from age.
Calcium and lime deposits and god knows what.
A close friend is on a crew that tears out and updates plumbing for a nearby city. He brings me lead joints and pipe by the wheel barrow load. It all has this crunchy dusty trash that takes forever to remove.
If it is from plumbing joints, it’s not gonna be zinc.

[kens]

Do not let the temp get high, then a lot of crud doesnt have a chance to get into the mix,
If you let the temp get high, you will be 'producing' dross just from the air getting to the lead.

[MaryB]

beeswax, then sawdust and a lot of that might mix back in...

[Czech_too]

I have to ask if the size, or quantity, of the melt of the 2nd batch was the same and if it wasn't, then it could be a matter of to much heat.
The picture doesn't look like the oatmeal type of crud one would encounter if it was zinc.

[Lloyd Smale]

proably just real dirty and oxidized. Keep fluxing and cleaning. Ive had batches of lead that have had to be fluxed 4 or 5 times and still require another fluxing after filling my casting pot.

[Mitch]

1st batch was 315lb 2nd was 125.Neither got hot enough to make the bees wax ignite.i have pine sawdust i use and gave it 5 good goes with that.then i dont know how many time i put beeswax in the pot more than i should need.yesterday o [ut about 30lbs of this stuff back in the pot and kept hitting it with bees wax scopped off i would guess another 3 to 5 lbs and nothing seemed to get any better.I need to get som acid to try.What ever is comeing off the top does not mix back in.It could be a tossed a pice of something in the pot the 2nd time around that was bad JU JU not sure didnt notice anything.temp being to hot i dont think that is it but will try.I am pretty good at running my smelting pot and have to lite the wax and sawdust normaly.but could be.

thanks for the ideas

[Hickory]

Would I sound like a parrot if I said zinc?

[Lloyd Smale]

I doubt they would use zinc in an underground pipe. It would eat away in time.

[Mitch]

I got some Muriatic acid.I didnt see any fizz whe i put some on the imgots from this batch.The weather has turned cold and windy soill mess with a a bit more when it warms up a bit.

[ioon44]

I had one batch of lead do what you are dealing with, I just kept skimming off the dross and was able to cast some 200 gr .45 bullets, the bullets didn't cast very well but were good enough for practice.

I just pitched the skimming's and new batches have never had this problem.

[garrisonjoe]

If the dross doesn't foam with Muriatic acid, then it's probably Calcium contamination. A chunk of Ca-lead from batteries contaminates quite a bit of good Sb-alloy lead. If it is, discard the dross where it won't gas you with stibine or arsine toxic gas. You can't spot 2 or 3% zinc in lead alloy ingots with Muriatic - it won't foam once melted into the alloy.

Good luck, garrisonjoe