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Originally Posted by hawnjigs
I've tried WD-40, wood dust, powdered charcoal, paraffin, even dried grass & leaves, and have settled on beeswax as a personal choice. Other opinions?
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Hey Hawnjigs, could you give us a run-down on your own experience with those fluxing materials?
I have used parrafin wax for a while now, as it's easy to work with and inexpensive. It will flame up, but to me that's better than lots of smoke (the flames incinerate and substantially reduce the smoke).
I have also used sawdust, and it works OK. Some folks seem to prefer it to other fluxing materials. I don't have a ready supply of sawdust, and don't wish to store any, so it's not a convenient option for me.
I once had some rosin on hand, and used it to flux a few batches of lead. Works extremely well! However, rosin smokes like a pile of wet leaves, so for me....... no more rosin!
I have used old cooking oil on many occasions, and it works great. A little messy to use, since it's a liquid, but it fluxes very well and flames up which is good (smoke bad, flames good). Free and effective is good too! However, the french-fry smell may give you the munchies while melting down scrap lead, which is not good (munch first, melt lead second, and not the other way around).
I think the first flux I ever used was Brownell's Marvelux flux. It is a white powder (looks like salt) that comes in a jar, and a little bit of it goes a long way. It will not flame-up at all, won't smoke, and is nice to work with. It is claimed that it will reduce or prevent rusting on the sides of the melting pot. However, it's less readily available and more expensive that parrafin, so I no longer use it. Parrafin works as well for me, and since I melt outside, a few flames are of no concern. However, for anyone who pours lead inside their shop and wants to avoid smoke & flames, Marvelux may be the way to go. Here's a link:
MARVELUX® BULLET CASTING FLUX at Brownells
