Cleaning a ladle

[Bazoo]

What does everyone else do to keep their ladles clean? Mine (a Lyman) rusts between casting sessions unless I cast often. I clean it once in a while with a wire brush on the inside and outside. I've not tried remoil but I use it in my moulds so I'm thinking it would do the trick. Any other ideas?

Thanks

Bazoo

[The Dar]

I leave my Lyman buried in the lead as it solidifies. It warms to the right temp the next time I fire up the pot.

[Peregrine]

I find it really doesn't matter. Recently I used a higher tin alloy (~6%) and it completely coated the ladle in a thin, even layer of alloy, which is neat.

I usually spray them down with WD40 after i'm done but I think the rust is fairly irrelevant.

[GhostHawk]

Wire brush on the bench grinder once a year. Use an old knife to scrape off any hard to reach spots. Steel wool to polish.

Then give it a good coat of BLL or thinned alox and let it cure. Lead does not like to stick to that stuff. It cures/hardens to almost a enamel finish.

Then a good rap when it is hot against the side of the pot will see most lead release from the ladle.

Works on sprue's that have a sticky spot and like to hang onto lead too. Polish first with steel wool then coat with thinned alox.

[gwpercle]

I scrape out the insides with the small end of a small file and scrape the outsides with a larger file .
Use coarse sandpaper and anything else to get crud off the ladle and spout .
Wire brush to finish up .

If you have a spray can of the nasty black spray on mould release (mine says Midway Drop Out Mold Release Agent) that you haven't dumped in the trash...it mucks up a mould but Spray a coating on the insides and outsides of your clean ladle . Stops rust and nothing sticks to the ladle ... The stuff should be marketed as Ladle Spray...works great .

If you don't have the black stuff spray it with a Dry Lubricant...give it two coats . After a casting session give it another coat after the ladle has cooled before putting away .

Not sure how long the dry lube will last but the black drop out stuff hangs on for many casting sessions . I sprayed a new Lyman Ladle with some and after at least 6 casting sessions have not had to recoat it...no rust either .
Gary

[country gent]

I have cleaned ladles several ways.

At work we used the sand blasting cabinet to clean die casts ladles when needed. I have done this with my ladles also. it does good and will slowly smooth the surfaces as cast finish. It dies good getting into nooks and crannies.

I have wire brushed them clean with a small cup brush and dremil tool. this works is harder to get into nooks and crannies, also takes longer. The wire brushes over time will smooth the as cast surfaces some also. The wire brushes wear and you may want an assortment for working the ladle. The flex shaft types work better for me.

The last way I have done is to heat and tap all out I can let cool and unscrew handle. drop the ladle in your case cleaner with corncobs over night. You can use the oldest dirtiest media you have and throw it way after.... This will clean the ladle and with some additives in the old media polish the ladle more slowly. While time wise this is the longest process it is done unattended. What might really work would be a small rock tumbler and ceramic media and soap water. This would polish and smooth the tight crevices and surfaces better. The ceramics are made for this polishing odd shaped and internal areas.

[Bookworm]

I unscrewed the handle, and dropped the head in a vibratory cleaner filled with clean sand.

It lightly smooths over time, and cleans fairly well.

[Bazoo]

Thanks for the responses and ideas.

[spudslayer]

I bring mine to my place of employment once in a while and blast them smooth in the sandblaster with aggressive grit. It makes the metal baby butt smooth again. Then I go get 'em dirty all over again.

[RogerDat]

I have a piece of course steel wool, like a chore boy pot scrubber. I hit ladle briefly from time to time to get rust and any scale off. I guess I figure it will take a long long time to rust a significant amount and I'm darn sure I don't need it to be clean enough to eat with.

Of course the larger ingot casting ladles are much easier to get into than my Lyman little dipper ladle for casting bullets but I find I can stuff a chunk of that course steel wool into the bowl and twist it around a few times and that will take care of most of the grunge. Then I use it, and it gets grungy again. I might look into the mold release mentioned or alox (or 45/45/10 lube) just because. Even though really I'm not all that concerned with ladle having a bit of rust or not.

[Walks]

I use Crisco Vegetable oil to protect my cast iron casting stuff. It doesn't evaporate and washes off with Hot Water and Dawn.
I also use it to protect my electric casting furnaces.

I scrub my ladles with a steel brush while they are still hot. The crud falls right off.

[Bazoo]

Lots of times it's a few months between casting sessions and my ladle rusts up. I'm lazy I spose, I should store it better instead of leaving it on the bench to rust. I have left it in the pot before, but for some reason don't care for doing that. Not that it makes any difference.

[country gent]

While the ladle is still hot from casting touch your piece of beeswax, paraffin, or candle to it and watch it spread and coat the ladle in a protective coating. Inside and out. Only takes a second to do and it will add to fluxing next session

[onelight]

While the ladle is still hot from casting touch your piece of beeswax, paraffin, or candle to it and watch it spread and coat the ladle in a protective coating. Inside and out. Only takes a second to do and it will add to fluxing next session

Great idea.

[Bazoo]

Thanks country gent. And thanks everyone for the ideas.

[farmbif]

wire brush and steel wool to clean rust from steel. if you have bees wax coat it when done casting its protected till next casting session

[gwpercle]

That Midway Drop Out Mould Release which is pretty nasty stuff when used on your moulds works great on Ladles and steel muffin tin ingot moulds .
When stuff starts sticking to ladle ... give it a coat , protects from rusting to boot .
Gary

[GhostHawk]

I used to put my ladle on the steel brush side of my bench grinder once a year to clean it up.

Then I discovered that Lee Alox dries to an enamel like finish that lead does not like to stick to.

A couple of coats of thinned alox, get it good at warm on top of the pot to "cure it" and Tada! clean ladle.

Repeat coat maybe once a year. A piece of 0000 steel wool rolled into a ball, clean it well, then put a few drops of alox on the steel wool and coat the outside. Let dry for half hour and repeat. Just make sure it gets nice and warm, bakes to that hard alox finish before inserting into the melt.

For me it works, YMMV.

PS works on sprue plates too!

[John Boy]

Hawk, great trick, Thanks

[sierra1911]

Spraying the ladle with Pam cooking spray after its cool enough to handle will prevent rust and burns off quickly in molten lead. When I lived in a humid climate, I sprayed the top and insides of my lead pots to prevent them from rusting.

[JLF]

If it is only oxide, put the spoon in vinegar of alcohol or acetic acid. With half an hour enough, then wash them with water and a common bristle brush.

[winelover]

Absolutely nothing.............except bang it gently, on the edge of the pot, to get most of the build up off when I'm done using it. My Rowell ladles are stored inside my climatically controlled shop.

Winelover

[Bobbers]

The area I live had a historic flood in 2016. Reloading and casting equipment does not float. Items got rusty. I build an electrolysis tank and started to clean all my rusted metal items in it. I was surprised at how easy it was to set up and use. I used it on 3 of ladles and it brought them back so I could use them again. Once cleaned up sprayed them with some oil good to go.

[JLF]

The area I live had a historic flood in 2016. Reloading and casting equipment does not float. Items got rusty. I build an electrolysis tank and started to clean all my rusted metal items in it. I was surprised at how easy it was to set up and use. I used it on 3 of ladles and it brought them back so I could use them again. Once cleaned up sprayed them with some oil good to go.

Excellent method

[Randy Bohannon]

The wax idea is good for your iron moulds as well that’s what I do, I don’t do anything but heat them up on a hot plate to use.Better quality mould this helps with not having to tap the mould handles with a mould mallet they just fall out on opening and keeps them looking brand new.

[kevin c]

There are some really great techniques described here that I'm going to have to try out on my big Rowell.