A small rant

[CWLONGSHOT]

It is unfounded, so just my opinion here. I prefer Brake clean over Carb Clean. My thinking is Brake Clean is cleaner. Meaning les deposits left on material. I use either/both for gun cleaning. But only Non Chlorinated for my Molds. I use it liberally and find it the best product to flush oils and residues from cavities and spure plates.

CW

 

[Ian]

Most carb and choke cleaners contain lubricants for throttle linkages and butterfly shafts. Brake cleaner leaves a residue, albeit slight. If you want to know how good your degreasing agent is, try to clean a mirror with it, you'll find out really quickly what works and what doesn't.

If you're trying to dissolve gunk, carb cleaner is pretty good. B-12 chem dip is good too but you may find certain parts vanish when immersed in it.

Another thing the FA mould release spray is good for is filling small pits in rusted moulds, I tried this recently and it is working very well, however I applied it with a toothpick and clamped a cast bullet in each cavity on top of the liquid and then put it in the sun for a whole day so it only filled the area of the pit.

I will get some heat for this from you accomplished bullet casters, but the physics of the matter is a fact: Free-machining brass has a thermal coefficient about three times greater than 6061 T6 aluminum. The reason not all will agree that brass both gains and loses heat faster than iron or aluminum is that most brass moulds are pretty massive and have thick, steel sprue plates. If brass moulds were the size of Ideal single cavity moulds, you'd have to have a 500-grain .45 bullet to keep them hot.

 

[Tomme boy]

I let the all knowing Larry on the other site use a mold I had designed for the 54R Russian. He wanted to try it as I had very good results with it. It came back with the Midway spray stuff all over the mold in and out. He said it was sticking and could not get it to release the bullets. Well if he would have just got a little more heat into it they fall out by opening the halfs. You just don't do that to other persons molds unless you call and talk to them about it and maybe find out why it might be doing it.

A lot of brake cleaner and carb cleaner and a old tooth brush and almost all has come out. But I lost all respect for him after that.

 

[porthos]

is "sooting" the cavaties with a butane lighter ok? or a match?

 

[david s]

Where I work, we have Lawson NON chlorinated brake clean that's used as a degreaser. It did nothing to remove the Midway mould coating I sprayed on the Lee mould. A total failure. Again, this was non chlorinated brake cleaner.

 

[Rockydoc]

is "sooting" the cavaties with a butane lighter ok? or a match?

Lee Precision recommends smoking their molds. This is not very uniform, cavity to cavity, and is temporary. I have found it better to “season” the molds by scrubbing a new (or old) mold with Dawn and hot water then boiling the mold in water with Dawn for about an hour, then rinse in clean hot water, then heat cycle in the toaster oven @ 400* . I assume this forms an oxide layer on the surface of the aluminum.
Whatever it is I usually get good bullets from the very first cast.

I read of this technique somewhere, written by Ed Harris. So you would just expect it to be good

 

[Kevin Stenberg]

Porthose a little is (could) be a good thing. But all surfaces of the mold and sprue plate were black. An not smoked black but painted black.
Today i finished cleaning the mold. I took a small piece of pine sharpened 1 end. And I scraped every inside corner with the stick. It removed alot of gunk that was still hiding in all of the corners of the bullet. I had to resharpen the tip after every cavity because the tip got coated with gunk and just spread it to other places.
When I cleaned the underside of the SP it was dead flat. So All I had to do was to put a slight miter on all edges of the SP.

 

[Ian]

Larry used beeswax to lubricate Lyman mould I loaned him, left a burned, goobered mess around the alignment pins and actually Beagled the mould about .002". All I can say is "suspicions confirmed". It was a pain to clean off but not like FA stuff on aluminum.

 

[pcmacd]

I used to use a white spray graphite from the now defunct Leeds Engineering Tool Service - LETS from Missouri. I've since discovered that conventional "lock grade" spray black graphite with a completely volatile carrier just rocks and rocks. It is good for the sprue plate and hinge, also.

This does absolutely nothing to the heat transfer - it just lets the bullets fall easily.

 

[fiver]

Porthos.
it works but will need re-applied every so often, it's like putting a band-aid on your thumb then washing the dishes.
the regimen Doc applies is a good don't hurt nuthin, and probably helps a good bit, way to get an aluminum mold underway.

 

[Jeff H]

Most carb and choke cleaners contain lubricants for throttle linkages and butterfly shafts....

Good to know. Thank you.

I'll save it for the throttle-bodies.


On the note of loaning moulds - mould are one of those things I don't loan to anyone, except my best friend, who has trusted me with ALL of his moulds over time, and for a long period all at once. He knows how to treat a mould. When I was "babysitting" his entire collection for a year or so, I spent more time fussing and checking his moulds than I did my own. I also added set screws to a handful of LEE moulds he had while I had them. He and I have shared a number of very collectible gun books over the years as well, and those are another thing I only share with him. Worst thing that can happen is they come back with the pleasant perfume of a decent cigar enjoyed during the read. Doesn't seem to hang on the moulds, but does a book wonders.

Now, my axes,... NO ONE borrows, handles or touches my axes, ever, period. I don't even hand one over just for a visual look-over.

 

[Tomme boy]

I hear you on the axes!. I was collecting them for awhile. Made new handles for a few and bought many from Beaver-tooth handles and house handles. I really like the octagon handles from house. I used to hit up a;; the garage sales and auctions around here for years buying up old axes.

I had GB small forest axe before they became really popular I got it from Ray Mears for $75 delivered from England. I sold it a couple of years ago on ebay for $195. Someone wanted it bad.

 

[Brad]

Way I heard it was that you don’t loan your chainsaw to anyone you wouldn’t loan your wife to.

 

[Ian]

Don't forget trailers. Never loan a trailer.

 

[JonB]

I'm not keen on borrowing a mold out, BUT I became good friends with one fellow from TX (not on this forum and he has been absent from the other forum for some time), anyway, I borrowed him a couple molds a couple different times. One was a Lee 2cav mold (44 RN) that I didn't like, and the other was a Lyman with handles (don't remember the flavor). They both came back with some adhesive type stuff on the handles...it cleaned off easy enough with WD40, so no harm, no foul.
BUT yeah, when you borrow stuff, it rarely comes back in the same shape...So borrower beware!

 

[Jeff H]

I hear you on the axes!. I was collecting them for awhile. Made new handles for a few and bought many from Beaver-tooth handles and house handles. I really like the octagon handles from house. I used to hit up a;; the garage sales and auctions around here for years buying up old axes.

I had GB small forest axe before they became really popular I got it from Ray Mears for $75 delivered from England. I sold it a couple of years ago on ebay for $195. Someone wanted it bad.

Brother! The long , lost one I never knew I had!

The octagon handles are exquisite!

I could have sold my Les Stroud Wetterlings for a couple hundred, but one of my sons in law picked it when I laid out a bunch and had him pick one. Wasn't the greatest axe, but the fat oval handle was nice - like a Hults. Actully paid $75 for that one too.

 

[Brad]

I don’t know much about wood cutting tools and am afraid to axe…..

 

[Jeff H]

Don't forget trailers. Never loan a trailer.

LOL! I have that one worked out perfectly!

I "loaned" mine to my neighbor (best of neighbors) and just call and ask if I can borrow "his" trailer when I need it. I don't have to mow around it and it's already at his place when we go to his woods to cut my firewood.

I did let my best friend's boss borrow my trailer once and he bent the heck out of the tongue jack, stuck a ten-dollar bill in the ball coupler and never said a word - to include "thanks."

Some people treat a trailer like it had messed with one of their kids.

 

[Tomme boy]

I still have about 7-8 axes I kept. I still have 2 double bits that need handles. One is a Michigan and the other is a California or peeling

 

[Creeker]

I never use anything in my cavities unless for long term storage. I don't loan my saw or weed eater.