Lapped a mold, new cavity prep?

[Colorado4wheel]

This is a Lyman mold. Should I smoke it?. Other then just getting it clean anything else I should do? It's just so bare compared to the way it looked when I got it new from Lyman.

[lurch]

Clean it, clean it and then clean it again. Then start casting. The blocks will naturally oxidize over a few sessions to a nice finish just from normal use.

[dragonrider]

No, do not smoke, if you are having problems getting boolits out of the mold, lap the cavities. Clean thoroughly, try again.

[462]

I've never found smoking a mould to be necessary. Clean it thoroughly and cast.

[Colorado4wheel]

I had some lead sticking to one small section of two cavities. I had to tap pretty good to get the bullets to fall properly as well. Also, had to cast at a high temp to get good fill.

[missionary5155]

Good afternoon
Over the yearsI have lapped all sorts of molds and never did anything but give them a good cleaning to be sure all that grit was out. Last one I lapped here was a Wichester mold 44-40 200 grain. It dropped a nice .427 bullet that was worthless in my 1907 built 1892 44-40 that needs a .432 to be accurate with 8 grains Unique. Just cleaned it out after 3 lapping secions and it works very nice.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

Smoking an iron mold is not necessary. There is a school of thought that believes that iron molds should be blued. That actually will happen anyway as the mold is used. As already mentioned the oxidation process will provide the color shortly after you start using it. Just make sure it is clean and keep it that way. LLS

[longbow]

I just heat them until they smoke then let them cool enough to start casting. That usually starts the natural heat blueing and ha never caused me grief.

While many do a lot of cleaning I usually just wipe them down with a paper towel or rag then heat and cast. If I have lapped I will usually spray them with brake cleaner or dunk in mineral spirits to get the grit off then wipe down, heat and cast.

I guess if the mould is really clean it won't smoke so watch for the shiny surface to start turning blue from heat. Let it cool a bit then cast away.

I won't argue against thorough cleaning, I just find that with lots of heat my not so clean moulds don't need more than a good wipe down. I oil after using iron moulds.

I will say that if you aren't going to cast right away then you should protect the lapped surfaces from rusting however you do that ~ oil, cold blue, heat bluing, air tight container, dessicant or whatever.

Longbow

[prickett]

You guys saying to lap, what is your procedure? Are you doing the "coat a lead bullet with lapping compound" and spin it in the cavity?

[docone31]

Yep.
Works real well. Go slow, do both the same. Make them even.