Nasty mess

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Melted down a bucket of cast bullets that had been lubed. Not a pretty sight.
I also melted down a pile of dross that had been scraped off a pot. This was collected over time by Paul.
The melted lube was removed with a small addition of oil dry compound. Worked quite well.
Got about 175 pounds of ingots. One more bucket to do.
 

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Ian

Notorious member
"Oil dry compound" AKA Hans' toilet.
Didnyou try to set the mess on fire? Sometimes a splash of paint thinner or diesel and a match helps get all that lube burned off and floated to the top.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
I added some sawdust and lit it. It was gonna take forever to burn off. I did 6 pots so even 5-8 min per pot for burn off was gonna add too much time.
I used sawdust on a few pots as an absorbent material but it wasn’t working as well as I wanted. I had some oil dry so I tried it. Worked far better than the saw dust.
 

S Mac

Sept. 10, 2021 Steve left us. You are missed.
Stinky job. I, along with most others skim my casting pot and collect it until a rendering session. I have often wondered how much tin ends up there, many times I don't add wax and stir, just skim the top and go.
 

Rick

Moderator
Staff member
Coulda put the lubed bullets in a bucket, fill with enough water to cover the bullets and boil. Let cool and pick the lump of lube off the top.
 

Ian

Notorious member
According to popular opinion at one time , skimmed dross should be loaded with excess tin oxide. However, some time back a CB member who does xrf testing did a test in rendered dross and but was basically the same as the parent alloy. I have done SG tests on MY rendered dross and found it to have less mass than the parent alloy, so take that for what it's worth.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
Coulda put the lubed bullets in a bucket, fill with enough water to cover the bullets and boil. Let cool and pick the lump of lube off the top.
Considered it except I would have multiple pots to deal with. I also hate wet lead.
Much as I disliked the mess I had I decided it was better than the alternatives. The ideal to me would be a bit cast iron pot over a fire in a wide open space. No need to worry over mess or fire.
 

Brad

Benevolent Overlord and site owner
Staff member
According to popular opinion at one time , skimmed dross should be loaded with excess tin oxide. However, some time back a CB member who does xrf testing did a test in rendered dross and but was basically the same as the parent alloy. I have done SG tests on MY rendered dross and found it to have less mass than the parent alloy, so take that for what it's worth.
I kept the ingots from the dross separate just in case.
 
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Rick

Moderator
Staff member
According to popular opinion at one time , skimmed dross should be loaded with excess tin oxide. However, some time back a CB member who does xrf testing did a test in rendered dross and but was basically the same as the parent alloy.

That's been my experience, in fact could have been the same testing. Bullets cast from it also weighed very close to the parent alloy
 

abj

Active Member
The sawdust should have worked good. When I do sheet lead coated with tar, I dump pine kennel bedding and it soaks up all the liquid tar.
Tony
 

Tomme boy

Well-Known Member
All that oil and lube looks just like what I went through melting down someone else bullets last week. Even after it was burned off and would not lite back up with a torch it looked like that. I ended up putting a bunch of saw dust on top and let it soak up then scooped up. The pan still smoked for about 20 minutes afterwards.

I have a coffee can heaping full of dross I need to see if I can reclaim anything out of it. Thing weighs about 50lbs
 

Ian

Notorious member
You guys should try melting down a big batch of bullets lubed with Ivory soap lube.
 

CZ93X62

Official forum enigma
I've only done this once. Never again, all at once. Cat litter kinda worked.
 
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