Fluxing the smelt? What to use?

[davcar45]

So is it necessary to buy a commercial product to flux your WW smelt for making ingots or can you use something you can buy at the grocery. I have heard and read about using anything from sawdust to cutting up old candles.

What is the best thing to flux with? How about something I can buy at the grocery strore like paraffin wax or beeswax. What are the options?

Also, if you flux your lead while smelting for ingots, do you have to do it again when you melt it in the casting pot to pour boolits?

Thanks

[Muddy Creek Sam]

Paraffin wax, Sawdust, a Stick, Candles, Burnt oil. Most anything organic.

Sam :D

[Lead Fred]

What are the options?


I use bees wax because I have many pounds of it. Works great, and a little dab will do Ya

[dragonrider]

I use sawdust, toss a handful on top and let char completely then mix it into the melt.

[jsizemore]

I use a stick of heart pine. Scrape the pot sides and bottom and flux at the same time. Lots of folks on here use a paint stir stick from the home center (sorry I can't call it the lumber yard since they carry curtains and other female personal stuff). Good luck.

[imashooter2]

I use a stick of heart pine. Scrape the pot sides and bottom and flux at the same time. Lots of folks on here use a paint stir stick from the home center (sorry I can't call it the lumber yard since they carry curtains and other female personal stuff). Good luck.

Ask for the commercial sticks for the 5 gallon buckets that they keep behind the counter.

[jnovotny]

Anything organic will work for flux, if you can stand the smell!!

[10 ga]

Sawdust, avoid sawdust from "treated" wood. Have a "lightwood" stick that i use to stir and scrape. After smelted remove the dross and ash then I even "dip" the lead out as I don't have a bottom pour pot. 10 ga

[Cord]

Here is a good article that explains a lot about fluxing for casting.

http://www.lasc.us/FryxellFluxing.htm

Fluxing for a smelt of WW is a bit different, because of the clips,
sticky adhesives, dirt, and the odd piece of junk you might miss.

I like to use the cheapest generic vegetable oil from the grocery store.
$2.25 for a bottle that lasts a long time, it coats the clips and grabs the
dirt, and leaves minimal dross when you light it off to reduce it.

Make sure you sort out zinc weights, or keep temperatures low,
so they float and can be spooned out to avoid contamination.

.

[dragonrider]

"avoid sawdust from "treated" wood"
Exactly right I should have mentioned that. Thanks

[davcar45]

So when you put the sawdust or other flux in you stir it up, then you scrape of the top of the lead(dross). I have a dutch oven so do I just ladle the lead into the ingot mold? If they are 1-1/2 pound and 1 lb ingot molds how big a ladle is required?

[leadman]

Look for a ladle that holds at least a pound of lead. There is a link to Rotometals at the top of the page, I think they have ladles.
Check Goodwill, thrift shops, and antique stores for a ladle. Look for a large spoon used for stirring pots that is slotted or if solid you can drill holes in it. Use this to remove the clips and junk from melting the wheelweights. I bought my stainless spoon from the 99 cent store and drilled holes in it.
I avoid using Marvelux in my pots. It gets crusty and attracts moisture so things rust. Also if it is on your tools and you submerge it in the lead it gets real interesting real fast!

[Fugowii]

I use Marvelux and have nothing but good to say about it. Works like a charm.

[Bob J]

I use candle wax from a huge candle I got at a yard sale..... Enough there to last me for years.....;)

I let a piece the size of a pea melt on the surface and then stir it in being sure to scrape the sides and bottom....

[WHITETAIL]

Welcome to the forum![smilie=s:
Why buy anything when you can
go out side and get a dry stick
and stur the pot?
If you fell this is not the way to go.
Then get the paint sticks from the
Home Depo.

[mtgrs737]

You can check ebay for ladles too, I got a nice one that is about 3" across with a long handle that will just fill a 4 ingot mould made by Lyman. I use candle wax and sawdust to flux with when smelting. At the casting pot I use steric acid to flux with. Don't forget the safety equipment when smelting and fluxing.

[Frozone]

I picked up a few 'bundles' of rodent bedding that was being tossed at a pet store. It's not sawdust, but it's pine flakes and works pretty well. I like it because it covers the melt and seems to do a great job at preventing oxidation. It also catches the sprue and lets it slowly heat up and rejoin the melt. I don't see a temperature change from adding the cold sprue back in nor do I have to flux often.

[HamGunner]

Sawdust, especially if it has a rosin in it. But any wood sawdust will work. I throw it in the pot first off and then add metal to melt on top. The sawdust will be reduced down to carbon and ash by the time the raw metal is melted. Stir the metal well and after reading about the use of a stick, I have been scraping the sides and bottom with a stick and it helps get some carbon down on the bottom. The carbon helps separate the junk out of the alloy. I add a bit of candle wax, lube, etc. and light it with a match to help burn up the smoke when the sawdust gets to smoking heavily.

When casting with a bottom pour, I leave a layer of carbon ash on top all the time to reduce oxidation or alloy separation. I just do not let the pot get all that close to empty. A full pot fills the mold more consistently.

[sqlbullet]

Sawdust smells the best. Used motor oil if plentiful if you change your own oil. About anything that will burn when heated will make an OK flux.

Whitetail nailed it, don't buy, you have plenty of stuff around your house that will make fine flux. last few sessions I have been using up some old vegetable oil, and it works great.

[evan price]

+1 for used motor oil, it's free and works great. I also use the freebie restaurant crayons my kids get in the kids' menus for small pot melts.

[shooter575]

Just think "Carbon" Anything that will turn to carbon when dumped into the lead will work.
The carbon mixes with the lead oxide,tin oxide etc.Turns to CO2 and floats away leaving pure metal. Don't let Al Gore know about the CO2 thingy