Wow! Tons of good info and I”ve been sifting thru it all! LOL.
My first melt (smelt) is complete and I’m fixing to begin my test casts. That said, I”ll share what my first experience smelting (melting).
All SOWW and were very dirty. I’ll cut it short. Had about 40 lbs in a Dutch oven and once all lead was liquidus (ah, another big word), I added a healthy cap of fresh sawdust from a local shop. I allowed it to ‘blacken’ and I begin working it into the mix and stirring. The dross/dirt, etc. began floating and I was scooping it out on the reg. I only added flux (sawdust) twice during this melt and low and behold it all yielded nice ingots! Thanks to all for the great sticky about FLUXING.
As I begin casting, I’ll only use beeswax pastilles to reduce. I have a bottom pour. Thanks again to all!