I know there are users that just take them out and use them right out of the box. I tried that on my first brass mold I bought here on a group buy. It tinned really badly. I had a heck of a time using wooden sticks and wax along with other methods not recommended by the cast boolit community. Finally got all the tinning out. Second mold I heated in the oven a half dozen times. Still got tinning. I know I over heat my mold which is the culprit imo. I run it fast and hot. My 4/20 pot heat setting is around 8.5. Well I got my group buy 10mm mold yesterday. Figured I’d try something different to ge5 some extra patina on it. I first cleaned it like always and heat cycled it four times in my oven. Didn’t look like the color hardly changed. I have made patina on my brass 1917 sling with fumes from a mix of hot vinegar and salt mix. Figured I’d try it on my mold. I made the mix and poured it into Tupperware that has separate compartments. That way I could set my mold halves in a compartment next to my salt and vinegar mix without getting the solution on the mold. I then covered it. About 20 min later I already had some dark spots on my mold from the condensation. I took a napkin and dipped it in my vinigar solution. I then wiped the mold down to remove the darker spots and covered it back up. About an hour or so later I took the mold out and cycled it in the oven one more time for about an hour and a half at 400 degrees. Hopefully it helps from tinning during my hot casting sessions. I’ll try and keep the temp down a little this time around.
Brand new…
Different lighting but all the same Afterwards…
Whether it works or not I figured I would take a little bit of time and try and build up some Pantina. I didn’t do the pins but will end up just running them as is.
I know a lot of users heat cycle. I figure I’d try a vinegar and salt solution mix and give it a try figured it wouldn’t hurt and cost anything but my time since I already had both on hand. It sure puts a nice deep patina on the mold in an hour or two. I don’t think the extra last bake in the oven did any more justice. A good 2 hours in a container suspended above a salt and vinegar solution will put a heck of a patina on a mold. I did have some turquoise color starting in spots so I wiped them off with a with paper towel dipped in my solution.
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