Casting checklist - First bullets cast! Pg 4 update

Mint Hill Mule · Post by **Mint Hill Mule** » Wed Jan 19, 2005 4:02 pm

rk4570,

Why do you say to stay away from Marvelux? I thought it was better and cleaner than bees wax I'm just starting and want to start off on the right foot.

Mule

Lead Pot · Post by **Lead Pot** » Wed Jan 19, 2005 4:49 pm

Hey dont forget that water boils at 212 degrees at sea level uncovered.
I use a rosin for my flux it wont rust your pot or mould.

Kurt

Omaha Poke · Post by **Omaha Poke** » Wed Jan 19, 2005 5:51 pm

Mule, one of the biggest problems with Marvelux, other than the fact that it doesn't work to flux very well, is that it is hydroscopic. In plain english, it draws moisture. It also will gum up your casting ladle and fluxing spoon if you use one.

After these tools are cruded up with the Marvelux and you leave them overnight, and then try to use them the next day, the moisture that they have absorbed will bubble and pop in your lead, which is not safe at all. The more you use it, the heavier build-up you will get on your pot and tools.

There is only one way that I know of to clean this mess up, and that is to boil water in your pot with your tools immersed in the water, and then go over everything with a stiff wire brush. This needs to be repeated a couple of times before you can get your pot and tools as they should be. Clean!!!

Some people like this product, but most hate it with a passion, I am one of the latter, and I have tried using just the smallest pinch of it on up to a half tsp of it. In my oppinion, it just isn't worth the cost or time and effort when plain wax, candle wax, bees wax or any number of other products work so much better. Hope this answers your question, Randy

granute · Post by **granute** » Wed Jan 19, 2005 7:11 pm

For those interested - Bill Ferguson of Sierra Vista, Arizona -offers lead
alloy as needed as well as pure tin. He also has a 'production size' iron
pot that holds 40# and uses a conventional propane tank. He has a website at : www.schutzen.net/ferguson.htm

I find his 20:1 IS 20:1 ! All his alloys are TOP NOTCH.

Without good consistant alloy, all your efforts will fall short...

powderburner · Post by **powderburner** » Wed Jan 19, 2005 7:18 pm

I was out casting with a friend the other day and all he fluxed with was a wooden stick about 3/4 square .he would just stick it in and stir occasionally it chared up and smoked slightly but no mess at all it was just a chunk of scrap and his alloy looked real good .We cast all day and it was all he used .In the evening his pot was cleanest of all pots ....Dean

wolfie · Post by **wolfie** » Wed Jan 19, 2005 8:38 pm

what kind of wood did he use?

powderburner · Post by **powderburner** » Thu Jan 20, 2005 12:46 pm

looked and smelled like fir or pine just a scrap of trim . I know it wasnt hardwood,no such thing around here ,or at least none you would waste stirring a lead pot with . I am casting today and am going to try it out I have some old branches I usted to use for mould hammers I'd thought I'd try...........Dean