[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?

[Fatman]

Hawn,

You know to tell the truth I've been melting lead since I was a kid and I have NEVER fluxed my lead!!!

Truthfully I'd have thought WD40 would cause a fire.

I've seen all the posts about it but never tried it.

Fatman

[hawnjigs]

Fatman, until I joined TU I never fluxed either with the exception of spraying WD-40 into heated lead free slag which helped separate the remaining metal from the oxides. And yes, it did flame up. But after reading TU posts about fluxing lead melt with wax I found that the pouring quality seemed to be improved. Sludge contaminants in the melt converted into powdery floating residue easy skimmed off the melt surface.

[sagacious]

I use paraffin wax. It's the most widely available, consistent, and cheapest melting fluxing material I've found-- and it fluxes all lead alloys very well. However, most any oil will work fine, and old cooking oil or animal grease will certainly flux lead (but it's messier to handle than a chunk of parrafin). Bulk parrafin is easy to find, and even old candle ends are usually very easy to come by.

I use beeswax for making bullet lube, and it's much more expensive than parrafin, so I reserve it for that use.

Fatman,
Yes, fluxing will make a difference. I've met several people who had never fluxed their lead during a lifetime of pouring. Lo and behold, after trying it, they no longer had those problems they figured were just a part of lead pouring! Give it a try.

[sagacious]

Originally Posted by Fatman

...
You know to tell the truth I've been melting lead since I was a kid and I have NEVER fluxed my lead!!!

Not fluxing your lead is like cooking fried eggs on a cast-iron skillet, but with no butter or fat. Possible, but not the best practice!

Truthfully I'd have thought WD40 would cause a fire.
...
Fatman

Yes, it sure will. As will any othe flammable fluxing material such as wax. Use caution. But the flame pesists only for a short time, and it helps with the fluxing process anyway.

[SeniorChief]

Let me see if I have this correct......add some paraffin wax directly to my melting pot? I pour quite a few large cannon balls for halibut and ling fishing (16-40oz) as well as smaller for Sturgeon and Salmon (1-6oz). Will this help to get a smoother pour and release?
Thanks,
Chad

[sagacious]

Originally Posted by SeniorChief

Let me see if I have this correct......add some paraffin wax directly to my melting pot? I pour quite a few large cannon balls for halibut and ling fishing (16-40oz) as well as smaller for Sturgeon and Salmon (1-6oz). Will this help to get a smoother pour and release?
Thanks,
Chad

Yes, exactly. Just drop a chip of wax about the size of a marble onto the surface of the melt. Be ready to stir it in thoroughly with a long-handled spoon or ladle. Also be ready for the wax to catch fire and flame-up for a few seconds. Keep stirring until you see a bunch of powdery black crud floating on a surface of silvery, shiny metal. Skim off the black crud, and start pouring. When you add more lead or ingots, you should flux again. Only takes a minute or less, but avoids a lot of frustration later on.

A basic rule-of-thumb that virtually all highly-skilled lead pourers adhere to is:
Head-off any problems before you start pouring. Fluxing is an integral part of that strategy.

After fluxing, you should see that the melt has a smooth mirror surface. It certainly should help your pouring go smoother, as long as you're doing everything else right. I used to pour a lot of salmon balls in 1.5, 2, and 2.5lb sizes. By removing the lead oxides on the surface, and making the melt less likely to form oxides, fluxing will help make sure the metal is as fluid as possible, so pours go easier.

But please read up on fluxing before you do it. There is plenty of info here if you do a quick search for "flux".

Now, as far as helping the lead molds release the lead castings, well, that's a different issue. First, inspect a cooled cannonball sinker from your 'sticky' mold, and you'll likely see some scuff or scratch marks along the mold part lines. There's a burr on the mold edge that's causing those marks, and that's your culprit. Locate that area on your mold, and file, scrape with a knife edge, or sand down the offending burrs. There may be several, and they may be small, so search carefully. This problem is very common on large cannonball molds, as they often see a lot of hard use and abuse-- but the good news is that it's fairly easy to fix.

Also, be sure to smoke the mold cavities thoroughly with a sooty flame (again, part of the "avoiding problems before they start" rule). This will help with both fill-out and mold release. These several changes to your pouring practice should make a big difference for you. Let us know how it goes.

Hope this helps, good luck!

[sagacious]

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?

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

[Spike-A-Pike]

This a pretty good thread even if you never intend to melt lead or pour it - a read like this goes under the heading of something new I learned today.Thanks sagacious for some timely information. I hope that others that read this will add it to their melting and pouring processes; add to this, be sure to wear eye protection and welders gloves, keep food and drinks away so you give yourself lead poisoning, and make safety an active part of your processes, and I think that pretty much covers most of the bases. Good job guys!

[cadman]

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?

I originally started with candle wax, I had laying around the house. It was excellent. Then I bought a candle at a store to replace it, and to my lack of knowledge at the time, I put a small piece in, and it flamed up and I almost got burned. Stupid me, tried to see what the wax was going to do. Not all candles are made the same, Hence the mishap above. After that I started to use beeswax, and have done that to this day. The only thing the beeswax does is when its dropped in it smokes a lot.