Melting Lead Question

[andrewlamberson]

I managed to find about 30lbs (guess) of "panning lead" at a Plumber's Shop in Winona and I've been melting it down all day and pouring it into a 3/8oz football jig mold to make good quality lead "pellets" to use later.

This lead was really old...and had a lot of oxidation and misc. stuff from hard water on it. As I was melting it down it had a lot of crude come to the surface which I skimmed off with my ladle. The resulting 3/8 oz. "pellets" I now have are really bright and shiny and are really soft lead. I now have 14.5 lbs of nice looking lead (that should last me for a few years!)....with more to process tomorrow.

Some questions:
1.When I was skimming it there was still a skim of gold colored material on the top which was fairly hard to keep off. Any idea what it is...and how to easily get rid of it?
2. Should I flux the lead when I remelt it again? Or since I got some really nice shiny soft lead ...no worries?
3. Seems like a small piece of bee's wax is a popular flux. Any issues doing that in my 4lb melting pot? Should I expect very much flame or smoke?

Thanks,
Andy

[gone2long]

I've only been pouring a few month's but here's what I've learned

1. Plumber's lead is dirty as all hoot
2. When making ingots for re-charging your pot flux well
3. When re-charging your pot it doesn't hurt to flux again but keep your face away from the pot it will send a flame a couple feet in the air
4. I've read that if you heat your lead to high you can actually affect the metals alloy composition
5. Did I mention plumber's lead was dirty as all hoot, no kidding when I melted the 100 lbs of pig lead (already in ingot form) I fluxed 3 times during the first melt before pouring my re-charging ingots and my pot still had a load of crapolla, stuff needs lots of cleaning for sure.

[pjmcla]

That's interesting.  I have purchased pure lead ingots from a plumbers wholesale supply for about 10 years now.  It is 99.5%+ pure virgin lead and has almost no impurity or fluxing issues.  A little light skimming after a while in the pot is all that is required.  I also use some 30 to one lead tin alloy from Midwayusa ( bullet casting lead ) for some small jig heads.  No issues with this alloy either.  A little tin can help the lead flow better if alloyed correctly.

[Jerry V]

gone2long has you pointed in the right direction for sure...

I don't feel that you can flux too much Andy, but I don't flux unless I think I have to.  If I'm having problems with a bottom pour furnace or notice excess slag in a melt then I'll flux it again.  With bee's wax I doubt that you will have excessive flames.  That's pretty pure stuff.  More flames usually comes with recycled candles or other waxes that have other ingredients added, but you should always prepare youself for a flame or two even if it doesn't happen. 

I think the important thing is to add only a small amount at a time.  You can repeat that process as many times as you see fit, but only a small amount at a time.  In your 4 lb pot I would stir in something smaller than a pencil eraser at one time and repeat if you experience more slag.  If you're able to pour good castings with out more fluxing I wouldn't worry about it.

[gone2long]

Yes clarification: Paraffin wax is what I'm using. I have had my pot for all but a few months now and my "virgin plumbers lead" was fluxed and made into nice "Shiny" ingots, charged my pot and used it 3 times with perfect results, on the forth try I had a pretty annoying dripping issue so I decided to empty the pot to see what was going on, to my surprise I found what I can only describe as garden dirt in the bottom of the pot I mean like a 1/4 cup of the stuff and this is lead that I fluxed 4 or more times while prior to and during me making the ingots. To say the least I was surprised at the amount of slag/dross in my pot, now I must admit I now know I was running my pot way to hot which again I'm finding out can cause your lead to deteriorate quickly and I'm thinking that the crapolla in my pot was caused by that.

I know a guy who makes jigs for a living and offered this advise, he swears plumber's lead is crap and he wouldn't even take 100 lbs for free, I'm starting to very much agree with him in terms of making jigs but it is more than acceptable for larger sinkers and the like.

[ctom]

Andrew that golden sheen you see is nothing to worry about. I think its caused when cool air with moisture passes over the hot metal. It does nothing to affect you final product.

The only time I have fluxed anything dealing with lead is when I soldered something. My jigs pop out of the molds easy and are, as you state, shiney and nice. Each time I get the pot hot for casting I use a screw driver and run it round the edge of the pot all the way to the bottom to dislodge and oxidation that might be clinging to it and just skin whatever pops up off before I begin the actaul casting.

[Shane]

I use marvelux casting flux  and have had zero problems getting clean lead.  It was marketed towards bullet casting and is the best I have tried.  Its really nice if you are using alloyed lead as it allows the alloys to mix back in the mix before skimming.