Best Way to Clean Wheel Weights?

[Josh Smith]

Hello,

Got my first batch of wheel weights from my new source. Eight pounds, $2. That's all they had pulled; they're going to pull about 40lbs per week for me.

Anyway, some of these have been out there for a while, and have some muck and such on them. Not bad, but dusty like you'd find sitting in a scrap yard for a while.

What's the best way to go about cleaning these? Do I need to rinse them off first, or can I just throw them in the furnace and count on the fluxing process to take care of it?

Thanks,

Josh <><

[sheepdog]

Best way to get your WWs clean is cook um at 650 degrees then flux with wax and scoop off the crud. Washing them first is a waste of time and water and possibly gets chemicals and lead in ground water.

[leftiye]

Lots less smoke if you just stir with a stick, and skim off the dross and clips with a "holy" spoon.

[docone31]

Yeppir, best way,
Heat em, stir em, cast em.
Everything else turns to ash and can be dumped off.
Some of the crud makes good flux for the melt.

[Josh Smith]

Awesome. Kinda' what I thought.

Thanks folks.

Josh <><

[sheepdog]

8 pounds. Ahh I remember my first 10 pounds. It was all WWs I picked up while jogging a few weeks before I started. How proud I was of that 70,000 grains or so of lead goodness. A full 5 gallon seemed like a chest of gold!

[briang]

Washing also increasing the risk of getting water in the molten lead.

[tcrocker]

I add a little motor oil to the ww when they are coud and heat them up seems to help the crud come out of the ww a little better.

[alamogunr]

I add a little motor oil to the ww when they are coud and heat them up seems to help the crud come out of the ww a little better.

I got a bucket once that had about 3-4 inches of gear oil in the bottom. That was a real mess. I mixed them in with non-oiled WW from a couple of other buckets and didn't have to flux. A nice breeze would have been nice though. For once I didn't pick out the rubber stems and butts before melting.

John
W.TN

[runfiverun]

i was gonna rig up and old dishwasher to clean my ww's but the kids went in the house and told her what i was thinking.
seriously......just melt them down.

[blackthorn]

Quote "i was gonna rig up and old dishwasher to clean my ww's but the kids went in the house and told her what i was thinking".

Just how old is this dishwasher? and how much do she love you? LOL!

[runfiverun]

shhh she posts here too ...you'll get me beat.
i do rinse my ww's off with a hose though to rid them of gunk and stuff.

[alamogunr]

Several years ago I had 4 or 5 buckets of WW that were particularly dirty. I dumped them in the back of my pickup and went to one of the local car washes. This car wash had a very steep entry drive so I parked on the incline and turned the soapy water on the WW then rinsed. Most(emphasize MOST) of the water drained out the back of the pickup bed. Left them there for a few days and the driving dried them out very well. This still didn't account for the other trash that you inevitably find in WW. Water pressure blew out some of the butts but not nearly all. They were the last things to dry.
John
W.TN