DIRTY LEAD

[APG]

I've been using a new source of lead, cheaper, than in the past. It says that it is pure, clean lead but doesn't say that it is 99% pure like my other supplier did. One is a private person the other a metals supply company. $1.90 per pound compared to $2.59. My question here is that the sludge looking stuff in the pictures is it from impurities or what? When using the lead from the company after I get it all melted and up to the right temperature I skim off the sludge and don't have to do it until I add more lead. The stuff from the private personI have to skim it several times and the minieballs come out with little imperfections even though it's at the correct temp. So is the sludge from impurities or what?

 

[deerstalkert]

with all respect, where do you store that pot? looks like it is stored in a rain barrel!
the slag looks like a small amount of tin cooking out of the lead.
see if you can somehow get rid of the rust. that will cause imperfections in your pours.

 

[TreeMan]

All of the lead I acquire from the 500lbs of old lead pipe I have looks like that. I just skim, stir, skim, stir until I get it all out. The lead pipe I have was buried for 80 years so it’s imbedded with all kinds crap. Before you melt it try to scratch the lead with your fingernail. If it scratches a sliver off it’s good to go. If your lead is that dirty melt and clean it in a separate pot. All that mess will clog up a bottom pour pot.

 

[Idaho Ron]

It's dirty but. To me in the pictures it looks like I can see colors. Blue, and green under the crud. If you can see colors like gold, blue, green. That means lead is fairly pure.

 

[hawkeye2]

I've reclaimed hundreds of pounds of lead; lead pipe, flashing w/roofing cement on it, pipe joints, battery terminals, backstops, wheel weights, unknown and even glue and other tubes back when it was packaged that way, never had problems. Everything I use has been melted, fluxed and cleaned and poured into ingots before it goes into the pot for a casting session. I have an old spoon I bent and use to scrape the walls of the furnace once in a while as I'm casting. It's sometimes surprising how much crud I can find by doing that. I probably flux more often than I need to but an old candle works and they are cheap. I've heard some of the commercial fluxes promote rust in the pot but I can't say for certain. Looking at your pot I would suggest you empty it and clean the rust out before the next session. A mix of molasses and water will do a fantastic job and is cheap. Fill it and let it sit for a few days then rinse well (and dry).

 

[Jaeger]

If you skim it, it should be good.

 

[tenngun]

I like to flux old less like that. You can buy flux, a pinch of lard works and repeated a time or two brings up a lot of impurities…. Or jus bits of burned lard.

 

[APG]

with all respect, where do you store that pot? looks like it is stored in a rain barrel!
the slag looks like a small amount of tin cooking out of the lead.
see if you can somehow get rid of the rust. that will cause imperfections in your pours.

Stored in a cabinet in the garage. Funny thing is that it looks far worse in the pictures than in real life. I did empty and clean it though.

 

[APG]

Stored in a cabinet in the garage. Funny thing is that it looks far worse in the pictures than in real life. I did empty and clean it though.

Looks like I need to scrape it a little more.

 

[APG]

It's dirty but. To me in the pictures it looks like I can see colors. Blue, and green under the crud. If you can see colors like gold, blue, green. That means lead is fairly pure.

It did have the colors on top but a bunch of other crap as well.

 

[APG]

I like to flux old less like that. You can buy flux, a pinch of lard works and repeated a time or two brings up a lot of impurities…. Or jus bits of burned lard.

I have bees wax that I use to flux.

 

[Rifleman1776]

I gave up using 'stuff' to flux decades ago. I just stir frequently and skim crud off top. What OP shows looks like normal impurities floating to the top waiting to be skimmed off. As for his rusty pot, I had a Lyman in dry storage for a couple years. When I recovered it it fell apart it was so rusty.

 

[APG]

Clean pot finally.

 

[ZUG]

I use a separate pot to melt and clean my lead then make ingots from the clean lead. It may take several times in the pot to clean up the lead depending on how much junk is in the mix. I use wax as my flux. I would use a wire cup brush in a electric hand drill to scrub your pot. You can also get a replacement insert from LEE for practically nothing - they sent me one for FREE.

 

[Sidney Smith]

I'm with Rifleman regarding Flux. I used to use paraffin wax as Flux. All it seemed to do was instantly burst into flames and no more crud came to the surface than when simply stirring. Now I just stir a few times then start pouring.

If using a bottom spout melting pot like the Lee one. Just stir and pour. The crud floats on top of the lead and the spout is at the bottom so you're not getting any in the mold.

 

[Woody Morgan]

I'm with Rifleman regarding Flux. I used to use paraffin wax as Flux. All it seemed to do was instantly burst into flames and no more crud came to the surface than when simply stirring. Now I just stir a few times then start pouring.

If using a bottom spout melting pot like the Lee one. Just stir and pour. The crud floats on top of the lead and the spout is at the bottom so you're not getting any in the mold.

Not necessarily. I bought a used bottom pour and had to completely dump it as a brown dust was clogging the pour spout.
Once cleaned a 1/16 drill but cleaned out the spout and runs like new.

wm

 

[Idaho Ron]

I have switched from wax, and motor oil. I now use a super dry stick and scrape the sides and bottom. But I only do that when melting pigs into pucks.

 

[Idaho Ron]

It did have the colors on top but a bunch of other crap as well.

Like I said the colors mean it's pretty much pure.

 

[oldwood]

Lots of you guys are soooo fastidious. I envy you. I run all my lead through a 20 lb. pot first , scooping off the dross , as I dump the lead out into ingot molds. Each gets a thumbnail test , and good to go. Once a research metallurgist gave me a handful of antimony bits and pieces. He said put a few in your "unmentionable " bullets . He said it should work good to "condition" my cast lead bullets. Yea ,they were "conditioned" to be like armor piercing , and bounced off most hard stuff , including Dad's NRA metal belt buckle , we were shooting at a large flat face cherry block at 25 ft. and one bullet bounced back. Another hardness test is to hold a chunk of potential usable lead up and hit it with a ball peen hammer. If it rings like a bell ,it won't make usable balls. If it goes "plop" , or clunk ,should be good. Happy casting...............oldwood

 

[mmb617]

I gave up using 'stuff' to flux decades ago. I just stir frequently and skim crud off top.

Thank you for confirming what I already suspected. I'm new to casting and for the life of me can't see the benefit of adding that piece of beeswax. Everything seems to work fine without it.