Casting round ball-flux

[HighUintas]

I'm not sure if this should go in the over the back fence forum or.if this location is appropriate. I picked this one.

When casting round ball with pure lead and using a ladle, when and how do you flux or reduce the skill n on the surface?

I've read too many conflicting statements on the cast boolits forum. Anyway, putting some pine sawdust in for a few minutes while stirring it around a bit and then skimming the top dross off seemed to be work the 1 time I cast projectiles.

[Pukka Bundook]

I just drop a bit of beeswax in and stir to bring the dross to the top, skim it off then cast, H-U.
Seems once is enough.

[fishdfly]

I use the wife's old candles after she is though with them.

[Maven]

Yes to the above!  However, if you cast outside, try sawdust for it is excellent.  OTOH, if you [must] cast inside as I do, I use Marvelux or the version of it Amazon sells.

[Pukka Bundook]

Maven,
I sometimes wonder if I cast the balls out of sawdust.....

[Daryl]

I've used marvelux, beeswax, tried cedar chips and paraffin wax. I am currently using beeswax & prefer it. I've been casting balls for muzzleloaders since 1972 and bullets for the other kind of rifles since 1973. Gone through 4 or more tubs of marvelux, used to like it, but it will create a built-up coating on the inside of the pot which reduces the capacity. This also makes scraping while stirring/fluxing produce more dirt on the surface. That is why I stopped. Someone on the air gun forum I frequent, or maybe here, noted that marvelux produces toxic fumes.
When casting balls, the temp is high enough that the wax usually catches fire- NP- keep stirring. I wear heavy insulated leather gloves when casting.

[Dphariss]

I have used commercial flux an am using it currently. However, beeswax is as good if not better. Beeswax you can stir in with the ladle. I use an old serving spoon for the commercial stuff. Lymans cast bullet handbook covers casting pretty well.

[HighUintas]

I may have to try the beeswax sometime if you can stir it in with the ladle. I have been planning g to get the lyman casting manual... I have their loading manual and it's pretty good.

[HighUintas]

I decided to try some ground charcoal yesrerday that I had on hand. It seemed to work pretty darn well and wasn't smoky! But, it was ground to airfloat, so it did want to wait around while stirring.

[recurve]

saw dust or bees wax the wax smells better

[snapper]

I use bees wax.

Fleener

[TDM]

Beeswax here too.

[Daryl]

All of my stirring and cleaning the dirt and $#@* off the top of the melt, is done with a large table spoon.

[Don Steele]

Beeswax. My Father got me started out helping him casting when I was young. Eisenhower was the President and all was well. Many years later I tried Marvelux once… ONCE.
Staying with beeswax.

[Habu]

During the years I had a cast bullet business I experimented with fluxes a bit.  I found that stirring flux with the casting ladle often resulted in variations in weight of the first 20-30 bullets cast using that ladle.  As Daryl pointed out, a large tablespoon works well for stirring. 

I had the most consistency and fewest rejects when using sawdust as flux.  Bandsaw sawdust (hardwood, softwood, mix--didn't matter) worked best.  Bill Knight said it was due to the size of the particles.  Unlike other fluxes, sawdust didn't crud up my lead pot.  Dump in a handful of sawdust, stir and scrape the sides of the pot, take the dross off the surface and throw in some more sawdust to carbonize on top to cut down oxidation.  Weight range on 500+ grain projectiles (e.g. Lyman 457121) is usually less than 1 grain.

[Daryl]

Where the spoon does a good job, is scraping the sides of the pot and for getting ALL of the "dirt" foo the top of the lead.

[yellowhousejake]

I got a 6" dia by 12" tall candle about thirty years ago at a garage sale. It is only 2/3 gone. I have multiple pots with different alloys in them, top and bottom pour, my pure lead pot is a ladle pot.

I would like to try sawdust because I hear good things and I have a ton of bandsaw dust. Do any of you using sawdust use a top or ladle pot? Is there a problem with the sawdust getting into the ladle?

DAve

[Habu]

I spent a lot of time working out a method that lets me get consistent castings using a bottom pour pot. . . and then days like today I use a ladle pot. If you cover the surface of the lead with sawdust charcoal, when you dip the ladle you need to sort of float the ladle on the lead, then stroke backwards to clear the surface before submerging the ladle to fill it.  Takes a minute or two to figure out, and a couple more to get the rhythm right--after that you don't notice. 

If you've got large quantities of sawdust, make sure it is dry before using it as flux.  Sometimes it can feel damp--I just put it in a pie pan and set it on top of the pot while the lead is coming up to temp. 

[yellowhousejake]

That makes perfect sense to, thank you. I will give it a try.

DAve