wood chips and sawdust flux

[oley55]

Could the black stuff be coming off of your ladle? Seems like that might be it.

I don't think so. Aside from some very light surface rust powder it was/is clean. I thoroughly cleaned prior to and during my next batch of COWW and still seemed to get a little black soot popping up. The amount of black popping up is small but irritating in that, "where did that stuff come from?" I'm probably being just too anal again.

[dondiego]

I don't think so. Aside from some very light surface rust powder it was/is clean. I thoroughly cleaned prior to and during my next batch of COWW and still seemed to get a little black soot popping up. The amount of black popping up is small but irritating in that, "where did that stuff come from?" I'm probably being just too anal again.

Does the carbon come up when you use a different stirring device? Maybe try a paint stirrer.

[gwpercle]

I'm a little late to this party ...hurricanes and such ... but an ideal source of wood shavings is old fashioned wood Pencil Sharpeners ... pencils are made of Cedar wood , the sharpener shavings are a nice size and thickness , just right for flux and nice smelling . The little bit of graphite doesn't hurt .
I empty the sharpeners at my office and at home and if you know a teacher she/he can score you all the Sharpener Shavings you need ... a lot has changed but a lot of writing still goes on with a number 2 wooden pencil .
Gary