What Do You Use For Flux?

R

riverwalker76

New member
I've been using Marvelux for awhile now, and I'm not all that impressed with it.

There are several things I don't like about Marvelux.

1) It attracts moisture. If I leave a skimming spoon out in the shop overnight after a smelting session .. my spoon is full of moisture the next day. There is literally a moist area on the bench underneath my spoon.

2) It doesn't seem to want to spread out like some of the other fluxes like candlewax, etc ... It stays in one place.

If it weren't for the moisture attracting aspect of it ... I could live with it. As of now ... I'm looking for something else.

Any ideas?
 
http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=260495

This is what I use for casting bullets. It seems to smoke and flame up less, and is effective at cleaning the metal.

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=593033

I got some of this stuff also. I thought maybe it was the same stuff as marveluxe, sold by Brownells. It is! I tried it ONCE! I will use it for smelting, as I'm not too concerned with the dutch oven rusting, or the ladles. The hygroscopic nature of the clean cast and the marveluxe, can eat right through the thin steel pot on a lee.

I suspect that beaver stuff is the same stuff as the marveluxe.
 
Sawdust with just a *little* old motor oil mixed in.
Crisco also works pretty good, but don't use much.
If you want something that won't flame up, try soap shavings.
 
Frankford Arsenal CleanCast Lead Fluxing Compound 1 lb. Clean, no smoke and good mix. A little goes a long way.

http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=593033

1) It attracts moisture. If I leave a skimming spoon out in the shop overnight after a smelting session .. my spoon is full of moisture the next day. There is literally a moist area on the bench underneath my spoon.
Click to expand...
Now, to be fair, many will do this in it's unsused state but once you put it into your mix, and stir it up and it evaporates, it losses this property. I mostly use it in my smelting process and those cast iron pots come clean and no rust. Perhaps just a pinch in my casting pot with the same results. There may be better but it works. Back in my Buckskinner days, I only used bees wax.

Be Safe !!!
 
I use a pinch of walnut media, I then light a kitchen match and drop it into the pot, very little smoke, stir with a wooden spoon. Skim with an old table spoon. It works just fine for me.
 
I purchased lead from a scrap iron and metal place in Yonkers, NY, more times than not when I purchased 100 lbs. + it case with flux, free, no one wanted to scrap it off because it came with the plumbing that was connected to the toilet in the form of a ring, good stuff and nothing like hitting a skunk smack dead in the middle of the road because this stuff does not smell to high heaven.



F. Guffey
 
I like hardwood sawdust,I put a couple heaping spoons fulls to the pot stir it in good and just leave it on top till the pot gets about half empty to help eliminate oxidation,when the pot is half empty I skim it off add more metal and repeat the process.
 
I have an old block of beeswax that must be over 50 years old that I am still using. Sawdust to begin with then after most of the dross is gone I switch to the wax for my final skimming. I make lots and lots of smoke and I love my ventilation fans.
 
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