Bantou
02-29-2020, 01:07 AM
I spent most of the day today trying to get some second hand molds cleaned up. I posted earlier about maybe using a vibrating tumbler to get them clean but scrapped that idea pretty quickly based on y’alls’ advice. I tried four different methods of cleaning: B12 and a toothbrush, Hoppes and a tooth brush, ultrasonic cleaning with homemade solution, and Comet with a tooth brush. Here are the lessons I learned:
1) Comet and a toothbrush is by far the easiest and least time consuming method out of the four. The trick is to keep the Comet just wet enough to not cake up but not so wet that it dissipates quickly.
2) When cleaning a mold with Comet, do not wear anything you care about. You will be covered in it by the time you are through.
3) While B12 is great for many things, cleaning junk out of a boolit mold is not one of them.
4) Similar to B12, Hoppes is a great solvent for cleaning guns. It is not a good solvent for cleaning molds.
5) attempting to sonic clean molds with handles attached is a really bad idea. Not only will it completely remove the bluing from the handles, the vibration will make the molds loose on the handles resulting in poor lock-up. I now have two molds that have to be tapped on the bottom before pouring to get a good lock.
6) When testing your molds after cleaning, don’t be an idiot and forget to roll your sleeves back down. A small drop of molten lead causes a disproportional amount of discomfort.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200229/7ebb6f3b71df67112e9bd9ca647d9062.jpg
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1) Comet and a toothbrush is by far the easiest and least time consuming method out of the four. The trick is to keep the Comet just wet enough to not cake up but not so wet that it dissipates quickly.
2) When cleaning a mold with Comet, do not wear anything you care about. You will be covered in it by the time you are through.
3) While B12 is great for many things, cleaning junk out of a boolit mold is not one of them.
4) Similar to B12, Hoppes is a great solvent for cleaning guns. It is not a good solvent for cleaning molds.
5) attempting to sonic clean molds with handles attached is a really bad idea. Not only will it completely remove the bluing from the handles, the vibration will make the molds loose on the handles resulting in poor lock-up. I now have two molds that have to be tapped on the bottom before pouring to get a good lock.
6) When testing your molds after cleaning, don’t be an idiot and forget to roll your sleeves back down. A small drop of molten lead causes a disproportional amount of discomfort.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200229/7ebb6f3b71df67112e9bd9ca647d9062.jpg
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk