New guy here..Quick question

[jpsw44]

Hi All,

Just registered so hello to all..Glad to be here. I took a little break from casting and have recently come back..I did some smelting yesterday and have a few questions..I had about 40 or 50 pounds of lubed commercial cast boolits that I purchased a while back before I started casting. These were all calibers that I no longer reload for so i figured why not melt them down and reuse them..Well after they all melted down I had a pool of lube that floated to the top that i could not get rid off...I shut down the melt and tried to drain it off but made a complete mess..Anyway, if I continued to smelt would this lube eventually burn off? Or, If I turn off the heat and let it cool will the lube harden so i could just scape it off? Any suggestions? Thanks in advance

[Trey45]

A spoon wouldn't scoop the melted lube off the top? I would just let it harden at this point and scrape it off.

Welcome to the forum, and welcome back to the addiction!

[jpsw44]

Hi Trey,

I tried the spoon but there is quite a bit and I really couldnt get a good angle to fill the spoon...If worst comes to worse I will do that..Ya know, its been real hot and humid here and I probably shouldnt have bothered with it yesterday but I was bored..As I got started I was soaked with sweat and really wanted to finish quickley..I really made quite the mess.

[Trey45]

If you have an old pot that you're never going to cook food in again, it might be a good idea to boil the remaining bolits to melt the lead off before throwing them in your smelting pot. It's a pretty easy task to skim the lube off the water instead of from inside a smelting pot. garage sales, yard sales, salvation army stores etc all might have a decent used cook pot to use if you don't want to mess up one you have already.

[theperfessor]

Skim off most of it. Use what's left floating as flux, or burn it off when it starts smoking.

[MtGun44]

Mix in this commercial alloy as an 'improver' for batches of wwt metal that do not perform
well in casting or that you want to harden some.

Burn off the old lube when hot like the candle wax that it mostly is.

Welcome to the forum!

Bill

[jpsw44]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys...I really should have put a little thought into it before rushing in..

[462]

jpsw44,
I re-melted about 2000 lubed boolits. Used a spoon to get rid of as much as possible and lit the rest when it started to smoke. Takes a while, but the added lead is a benefit.

[Edubya]

jpsw44, Welcome to the forum.

Every once in a while I'll want to empty my pot so that I can use a different alloy. I turn it on (an RCBS Pro-Melt) let it get hot, but not melting the lead, then turn it upside down onto an old skillet that I use. After ten minutes or so the entire lead will drop out and I can refill with my desired alloy. Now I know that you're not needing to replace all of your alloy but couldn't you just heat it to 300 degrees or so and turn it on it's head and be rid of the unwanted flux?

EW

[lurch]

Maybe a dumb question and I don't mean to be insulting, but did you try bending the spoon? Bent at a 90 degree angle, they are a lot easier to use to get crud off the top of the melt...for me anyway...

[jpsw44]

The spoon worked it was just kind of a pain...I wasnt sure if there was an easier way..Not insulted at all about the bending. I should have thought of that..Im gonna wait till the weather breaks and re-fire..I was just impatient and rushing things because i was so hot..It never occured to me how much lube there actually is after it all melts down..It was a REAL smokey gooey mess my friends..:mrgreen:

[Hardcast416taylor]

Let the pot start to cool down, the lead will take a set (harden) then skim off the lube of burn it off with a torch.Robert

[Crash_Corrigan]

If you are using a bottom pour pot just let the stuff sit there. It is not going to interfere with your casting and the layer of lube floating on top will prevent your alloy from oxidizing completely.

It ain't broke...don't fix it.

[lwknight]

I would just turn up the heat till it started smoking real good then throw a match in to light the fire and stop most of the smoke.

Its easier to boil off the lube before smelting though.

[WHITETAIL]

jpsw44, Welcome to the forum!
And yes to the idea of just let
the lead melt and when the
lube starts to smoke put a
match to it.:holysheep

[qajaq59]

If you add some saw dust to it while it is melted it will skim off easier.