First time using sawdust

[shadowcaster]

Go to something like a Wal-Mart, go to the pet section and buy the pine bedding. Somewhere around $3-4 for more than you will need for a while.

+1

At my local Walmart I get a 10 pound bag for under 3 dollars.. works great and is already dry.

Shad

[TES]

Find any flooring company that offers sanding and get that. It is finer and dry. They will give it to you for free. Only get the tailings from wood not a refinished floor that has old polyurethane finish mixed in as well.

[cbrick]

Last weekend Goodsteel stopped by my place for a visit. While here he mentioned that he had access to a fancy machine at work that would tell me the percentages of what's in my alloy. I flux exclusively with saw dust and I'm a bit anal about it, plus no wood sticks under the melt just saw dust on top and a stainless spoon to bring everything up to the saw dust. I flux when making ingots from the WW, I flux the pot when I add an ingot to it and I flux after heating up the pot (I keep it full).

We all know that WW alloy is scrap alloy, even new weights are made from used weights and who knows what else such as batteries, it has to have such things as copper, aluminum & more in it. Being anal about the fluxing seems to pay dividends. Here are the results from Goodsteel from samples I gave him cast of clip-on WW with 2% pure tin added.

Pb= 95.1%
Sb= 2.6%
Sn= 2.2%

That's 99.9%, the report didn't say but I assume a good part of the remaining .1% is arsenic. Yep, sawdust does flux not just reduce and it seems it does it very well. Any possible other contaminants were well under 0.1%. It's free, it's plentiful and it works as well as it's billed to work. Gotta love the stuff.

Rick

[jmort]

That is hitting the mark, no doubt. Very nice and useful alloy. Very clean as well, foundry clean. Wish I had access to free lead/coww. If you don't have a handy neighbor like Goodsteel, Rotometals will do an analysis for $50.00. I'm going to try it to test my fluxing skills. You got an A+.

[geargnasher]

Simple chemistry.

I've gone as far as reducing the oxides that my sawdust has removed using more powerful agents and determining the sg of the metal so produced, last time I did it the results were slightly under seven. Must have been a lot of aluminum in that batch.

Gear

[jsizemore]

Last weekend Goodsteel stopped by my place for a visit. While here he mentioned that he had access to a fancy machine at work that would tell me the percentages of what's in my alloy. I flux exclusively with saw dust and I'm a bit anal about it, plus no wood sticks under the melt just saw dust on top and a stainless spoon to bring everything up to the saw dust. I flux when making ingots from the WW, I flux the pot when I add an ingot to it and I flux after heating up the pot (I keep it full).

We all know that WW alloy is scrap alloy, even new weights are made from used weights and who knows what else such as batteries, it has to have such things as copper, aluminum & more in it. Being anal about the fluxing seems to pay dividends. Here are the results from Goodsteel from samples I gave him cast of clip-on WW with 2% pure tin added.

Pb= 95.1%
Sb= 2.6%
Sn= 2.2%

That's 99.9%, the report didn't say but I assume a good part of the remaining .1% is arsenic. Yep, sawdust does flux not just reduce and it seems it does it very well. Any possible other contaminants were well under 0.1%. It's free, it's plentiful and it works as well as it's billed to work. Gotts love the stuff.

Rick

Maybe next time you could compare pre-flux and post-flux samples?

[Carolina Cast Bullets]

Was already mentioned but worth going over again. If you use pine sawdust, make sure its from pine lumber and not plywood or particle board. The ply/part has resin glue in it and lets off some very obnoxious fumes. I'm not sure they are not harmful as well.

Jerry
Carolina Cast Bullets

[TES]

Jerry I miss SC. What part?

[Carolina Cast Bullets]

North Augusta, just across the river from Augusta GA

[cbrick]

Maybe next time you could compare pre-flux and post-flux samples?

That would be interesting BUT . . . There's always a "but" isn't there. I took all 800 pounds of my clip-on WW and blended it all into one homogenous lot fluxing away as I went a few years back. Down to about 500 pounds of that now.

I do have another sample I would like for him to test. Many, many dozens of fluxing's it took to fill up two coffee cans with the ash, I melted out the metal from this used flux and made a four pound ingot with it. Wish I would have thought about that ingot while he was here, I would love to know what's in that. Gotta be a lot of lead given the size & weight of it but what else is in it? Curious minds want to know.

Rick

[jmort]

"...but what else is in it?"

Yes, it would be nice to know what was in there.

[jsizemore]

I would donate a SFRB full of sorted COWW to a "scientific" look at alloy content before and after. If we could get some others from around the country to donate, maybe we could prevail upon Rick to conduct the experiment.

[cbrick]

I would donate a SFRB full of sorted COWW to a "scientific" look at alloy content before and after. If we could get some others from around the country to donate, maybe we could prevail upon Rick to conduct the experiment.

Hhmmm . . . Rick is confused. I don't have the equipment to analyze the alloy, that was Goodsteel that took it to work with him that did this, I only supplied the sample.

Rick

[Bohica793]

I would like to obtain some Pine sawdust but there are no Lumber Mills in my Town or cabinet shops listed. Any idea where I can obtain some?
Thanks

Go to Home Depot or Lowes to the section where they cut lumber. Take a couple of plastic bags with you and ask for their sawdust. They usually are happy to get rid of it.

[jmort]

Is $3 or $4 too much for a large supply of pine wood/pet bedding/pet litter? You will get a mess from home depot and 100% pine for a small amount of $$$.

[jsizemore]

That would be interesting BUT . . . There's always a "but" isn't there. I took all 800 pounds of my clip-on WW and blended it all into one homogenous lot fluxing away as I went a few years back. Down to about 500 pounds of that now.

I do have another sample I would like for him to test. Many, many dozens of fluxing's it took to fill up two coffee cans with the ash, I melted out the metal from this used flux and made a four pound ingot with it. Wish I would have thought about that ingot while he was here, I would love to know what's in that. Gotta be a lot of lead given the size & weight of it but what else is in it? Curious minds want to know.

Rick

Sounded like Goodsteel was in close proximity to you and you are "anal" about your fluxing with a proven clean alloy. Since your down to 500lbs, it sounded like a win-win for you and the rest of the board.

[Carolina Cast Bullets]

"Go to Home Depot or Lowe;s to the section where they cut lumber. Take a couple of plastic bags with you and ask for their sawdust. They usually are happy to get rid of it."

Be careful about using this sawdust. If there is a plywood or particle board sawdust in there, the glue will release some nasty fumes that MAY be dangerous to your lungs as well as stink. Lowe's and Home Depot are not always careful with what they cut. Better to find a home or job site where the crew is framing and cutting studs from 2x4. That's the kind of sawdust you want and need. Most likely they would be glad to have you cart it off.

[Garyshome]

Great stuff! Got a whole pile of it under my table saw![That's where i store it] and the price is RIGHT!!!

[bangerjim]

Wood saw dust (any kind) works. Just do not use man-made wood products due to the chemicals in there. I use walnut/alder/pine.

On smelting, the last time I use wood and a hunk of paraffin candle wax. The two together do the final cleaning/fluxing and reduce any tin and others back in there. Final pours are 100% clean.

banger

[cbrick]

Banger, if you drop the paraffin wax from your flux the only things you'll miss is the extra smoke and extra gunk in your pot. The sawdust both reduces and fluxes while the wax can only reduce, it cannot flux. Using just saw dust your alloy will be just as clean and as a side benefit so will your pot.

Rick