Best Way to Keep Rust off Molds?

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  • Last Post 28 January 2014
John Alexander posted this 23 January 2014

   I thought I had the perfect way to store molds.  I have been keeping them in a metal ammo can with a pan of desiccant.  This has worked for years and I bake the desiccant for three hours at 300F every so often to rejuvenate it.  However, the desiccant I have doesn't change color when it needs to be baked and I am not the most diligent when it comes to maintenance.

  The inevitable has happened and I apparently waited too long to bake and a mold rusted.  Just one of many and only surface rust but now I am wondering if there is a better way that doesn't involve cleaning the molds before they will cast properly.     Any suggestions.    John

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Ed Harris posted this 23 January 2014

I use pure USP mineral oil, applied with a paintbrush. This sublimes away when the blocks are pre-heated on a hotplate, and you can cast immediately, as it leaves no residue.

73 de KE4SKY In Home Mix We Trust From the Home of Ed's Red in "Almost Heaven" West Virginia

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LWesthoff posted this 23 January 2014

Ed: Where should I look for pure USP mineral oil? Drug store? Hardware store? Paint store? So far I've been lucky and haven't had any rust problem, but your method sounds like more peace of mind than mine does.

Thanks, Wes

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Paul Pollard posted this 23 January 2014

I looked under the kitchen sink, and my wife got hers at Rite Aid drug store. Don't know if they are west of the Mississippi River or not?

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R. Dupraz posted this 23 January 2014

For many years all I have done to store molds is to coat with oil, put them back the paper boxes that they came in, if no box, wrap in a paper towel or plastic bag. Or back in the now plastic box and store them in good sealing .50 cal, ammo cans. Nary a hint of the red demon. I have some that I bought new nearly 50 yrs. ago. Still look like new.

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Brodie posted this 24 January 2014

I have always stored mine in an air tight ammo box with VPI ppowder (vapor phase inhibiting powder).  It has worked well for me for for 46 years.  Most of those years were in high humidity in LB Ca.  Brodei

B.E.Brickey

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Loren Barber posted this 24 January 2014

John, steel does not corrode if the atmosphere can be maintained in an alkaline (amine like) state. There are VCI (vapor phase corrosion inhibiting. Paper wraps . I haven't looked for these recently, but I believe that they are available. I always leave a cast bullet in the mold. One might try spraying WD-40 on the mold a,fter use. WD stands for water displacing if I recall correctly. LB

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joeb33050 posted this 24 January 2014

I was advised to leave bullets and sprues in the unopened mold, and never had one rust inside yet. Sometimes they'd rust a little outside, a brass brush fixes that quick. If rust is a problem, why not just put the mold in a 1 qt. ziplock bag-no humid air = no rust.  

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John Alexander posted this 24 January 2014

Thanks for all the suggestions.  I will try a couple of them.  Maybe  a couple as a combination. RD,  What oil do you use so you don't have to go through the irksome cleaning drill? I used to leave a bullet in the mold as perhaps the simplest solution but stopped and although I can't remember for sure I believe I stopped because I got a rusty cavity.  Has anybody else had that experience?  I have lived in some humid places but none probably as humid as where Joe lives??? John

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Tom Acheson posted this 24 January 2014

Been storing mine in the gun vault (with Golden Rod dehumidifier rod) for years. No bullet left in the cavities, no gunk, no messy prep steps. Have about 40-moulds in the bottom shelf like that. Tom

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Ed Harris posted this 24 January 2014

John Alexander wrote:What oil do you use so you don't have to go through the irksome cleaning drill? Plain USP Mineral Oil from the drugstore.  Apply a light coat with a paintbrush, then cook it off when pre-heating the mold on a hot plate.  Leaves no residue.

73 de KE4SKY In Home Mix We Trust From the Home of Ed's Red in "Almost Heaven" West Virginia

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R. Dupraz posted this 24 January 2014

John:   For long term storage, one of the best oils is common motor oil. It has all the characteristics that we want, rust inhibitors, film strength etc.   For the molds that I use fairly regularly, a heavy mist of WD-40. Then all I do when reusing is to scrub the mold with brake cleaner and a  military gun cleaning brush. similar to a stiff nylon tooth brush. A scrub or two and the mold is up and running again.

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RicinYakima posted this 24 January 2014

Joe,

When my brother and I started casting bullets for the Civil War Centennial in 1961, the word then was to leave a bullet in the mould. This was in Ohio, right along the Ohio River, and the humidity is high in the summer. The moulds were left on the work bench in the barn. Every mould rusted the cavity with a bullet left in it, the one we forgot and was empty, remained rust free. I've never left a bullet in the mould and never had another rusted one.

Ric

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fa38 posted this 24 January 2014

I stopped leaving a bullet in the mould after I had two moulds rust that had been put into an ammo can after they had cooled.  I have been using WD 40 and have to scrub the blocks with dawn and a toothbrush have to cast six or more sets of bullets before the bullets come out wrinkle free. 

I will try the USP mineral oil the next time I cast with my iron moulds.

Just what does USP stand for or mean?

For long term I use a shaving brush dipped into RIG and coat the entire mould.

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Paul Pollard posted this 24 January 2014

From Wikipedia, US Pharmacopeia:

USP establishes written (documentary) and physical standards for medicines, food ingredients, dietary supplement products and ingredients. These standards are used by regulatory agencies and manufacturers to help to ensure that these products are of the appropriate identity, as well as strength, quality, purity, and consistency.

Prescription and over-the-counter medicines available in the United States must, by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Code>federal law, meet USP-NF public standards, where such standards exist. Many other countries use the USP-NF instead of issuing their own pharmacopeia, or to supplement their government pharmacopeia.

USP's standards for food ingredients can be found in its Food Chemicals Codex (FCC). The FCC is a compendium of standards used internationally for the quality and purity of food ingredients like preservatives, flavorings, colorings and nutrients. While the FCC is recognized in law in countries like http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia>Australia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada>Canada and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand>New Zealand, it currently does not have broad legal recognition in the United States. USP obtained the FCC from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_of_Medicine>Institute of Medicine in 2006. The IOM had published the first five editions of the FCC.

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porthos posted this 24 January 2014

i quit shooting rifle and handguns in 1992. went back to trapshooting. at that time i stored my molds (around 35 of them) in a 50 cal. ammo can. the molds were wrapped in vpi paper. what didn't fit in the ammo can; went in a tupperware container. i did check on them every five years or so .  the molds were put away with nothing on them, other than the the vpi wrapping.NO RUST . now that i'm retired now i'm shooting lead again , along with trap ,by the way the molds are not aluminum. brownells sells the vpi paper

results may vary

porthos

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joeb33050 posted this 25 January 2014

Oil on a mold makes for wrinkley bullets. As we know, no oil sublimates because there's no phase skipping. ("Sublimate"is from the Ecuadorian “Sublimato", meaning “skip-a-phase".)Iron molds like to rust, so if your mold has iron in it, it's prone to rusting. Switching to aluminium or brass or carbon molds will cure the entire rusting problem.If you insist on iron bearing molds, here's how they rust.  Iron molds rust because they get water on them. If there's no water, there's no rust. Iron stuff in the Sahara desert doesn't rust. Moving to Chad will cure mold rusting. Spraying, hosing or dipping with or in water will cause mold wetness and associated rusting; and is to be avoided.Absent the spraying etc., how do molds get wet?The air has water in it, and the warmer the air the more water in it. On earth. Now, when the air cools down, it can hold less water, the water has to get out of the the air so it does and we call it dew or the water on our cars early in the morning. Dew gets on our cars because our cars are frequently dark in color and radiate heat away at night, most when it's not cloudy. The cars, and your molds, radiate like the dickens, get cooler than the air, the air comes by, gets cool from the mold, water must leave the air and it goes onto your mold and your mold rusts. Chrome plating or painting the outside of yhe mold white will reduce the bothersome radiation, keep the molds cooler, less temperature delta mold-air and less water and rusting. And, bright molds.The only way the mold is going to get wet is from the air, absent sprinkling etc. No air, no wet, no rust. Casters on the moon have NO mold rusting problems, although Chad is somewhat more inviting.Or, if the mold were put in a ziplock bag or a mayonnaise jar or a nitrogen-filled welded steel box, it wouldn't rust. No air = no rust. But wait! There's air in the mayonnaise jar! Correct, and to get rid of the water in the air in the container-dessicants!Dessicant is derived from the Algonquin word “dessicant", which means “rice". Since 1637, every salt shaker south of Calgary has been required to have some rice in it, by law. The rice, or dessicant, sucks the water out of the air in the salt shaker so the salt doesn't cake up and refuse to come out. That same rice, or dessicant, put in the mayonnaise jar or ammo can or welded steel vault will suck the water out of the trapped air and the mold/s will refuse to rust. Merely take the rice out every time you change your fire alarm batteries, heat it to 164.8 degrees F for 16 minutes and 11 seconds, and put it back. Or make paella with it and put in new rice. (All dessicants are made from rice.)Keep your eye out for an inexpensive egg incubator, these will keep the molds warm and dry without the need for rice, and could be the start of a whole new career.Some experienced shooters keep their molds in a container built into the annealing machine; the constant Bernz-O-Maticing keeps the molds hot and rustless. Or, wrap the mold in an oily rag and it won't rust.More to come after I finish telling about how I scored a big plastic pail of wheel weights.

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delmarskid1 posted this 25 January 2014

I got so tired of one mold rusting that I used Birchwood Casey Plumb Brown on it. I finished cleaning 410 pounds of wheel weights last weekend. None of the weights was rusted. I think I'll store my molds in a bucket under the stairs.

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giorgio the slim one posted this 25 January 2014

Beg your pardon,gentlemen, but I am mostly using good quality aluminium gang moulds. A little oil or bullet lube on the small steel parts, and all the rust problems are over.

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Ken Campbell Iowa posted this 25 January 2014

geeezus Joe3, you made me choke on the chocolate licorice stick my wimmin critter brot home .


for long term storage RIG is extremely good but my current favorite is _ Liquid Film _ at napa ... waxy lanolin, it stays wet and is aerosol. i have to mention this once a year. it sprays torrentially, i can spray my 13 in hobby lathe in 8.6 seconds ( that's for you, joe3 ( g ) ) .

keen i mean ken

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frnkeore posted this 27 January 2014

I live in Southern Oregon. It's not very humid here, although we have rivers, lakes and ponds.

Condensation is what rusts steel and molds in my area. I just keep my molds in my loading room that is kept at the same temp as the house.

one thing that hasn't been mentioned is keeping molds in a box of some sort and using a incandesent light bulb to keep them dry and warm. Welders usually use a old refigerator to keep the welding rod dry, it could be used for molds also.

Frank

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Tom Acheson posted this 27 January 2014

Light bulbs in a gun vault work also. Just need to lower the humidity level in the area.

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j35nut posted this 28 January 2014

Ed Harris wrote: I use pure USP mineral oil, applied with a paintbrush. This sublimes away when the blocks are pre-heated on a hotplate, and you can cast immediately, as it leaves no residue.

You made a post on this forum several years ago, that you knew a museum curator that used mineral oil to protect and preserve artifacts.

Since i read that post I have been using mineral oil on my molds and it works really well, i use it on all my hand tools not just casting and reloading tools, i like the fact that it is non toxic, cheap and works well.

Thanks ----J

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