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NOW WE'RE COOKIN' WITH GAS: Add heat from the top to speed things up if you wish. Keep adding dry weights as they melt down. |
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SKIM: Skim off the steel clips as they float to the top with a slotted spoon. I've heard tell that some pards use a magnet here but I've never felt the need, and the occasional brass valve or stone will need skimming anyway. Here is where the dreaded Zinc weights are supposed to float up also (higher melting temperature) but I've never found any. |
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AIN'T THAT PURTY!: Now it’s time to flux the beautiful melt. Basically fluxing is just stirring an organic material through the molten lead . I use beeswax as I have a lot of it, but people use candles, sawdust, motor oil or wooden sticks to flux. Most flux will ignite with a *POOF* so don’t let it surprise you. The lead is holding impurities (road dirt) against the bottom and sides of the pot and your job is to scrape it loose so it can be skimmed off. Some (Lyman and others) say that precious TIN is floating on the top and must be stirred back in some suggest otherwise. I've heard arguments both ways, so suit yourself. |
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STIRRED, NOT SHAKEN: Stirring flux and air into the melt seems to bring crud up and out of the lead. If your ingots are a little dirty and rough you didn't do this enough. |
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