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Hi all, I am very new to pouring my own sinkers. I have read through some of the other threads regarding oxidation layers rising to the top of my lead pool. I am using the small Palmer Hot Pot Melter 2 to make sinkers. There is a significant amount of orange colored oxide forming at the base of my melting pot. It looks like Iron Oxide (Regular rust), but could it be oxidized lead? I am worried that I am going to corrode out the bottom of my pot and have a lead spill... I notice that at a certain point in heating, the oxidation layer begins to rapidly rise to the top. Each time I spoon it off, a new layer has already formed. I also noticed that if I scrape the bottom of the pot very lightly with the spoon while the lead is at this temperature, some of the oxide powder seems to be liberated from the base of the bowl and rise to the surface, where I spoon it off as well. I was thinking it could just be other metal impurities that have become snagged on the bottom of the bowl, but when I pour all of the lead out there seems to be quite a bit of that orange colored oxide all along the bottom of the bowl. To mitigate any potential rapid corrosion I have been unplugging the pot from the wall as soon as the oxide layer begins to form faster than I can spoon it off (no temperature control; the manufacturer claims the element gets to the 'perfect temperature' by just plugging it in...) Just want to be safe. Any help is greatly appreciated!!!

I've been pouring lead baits for about a year now & I've become pretty comfortable with the process. Far from a master, but I'm not unhappy with where I'm at. But my lead pot, that sucker is frustrating me. I first started with a Lee bottom pour pot, but gave up on that due to constant clogging. I switched to a 5703 Lee Precision Melter & ladle pouring & I'm happy with that method. My question is...how do I keep the pot from getting rusty/crusty on the inside? The inner walls are covered with rust crumbs & my lead (after being hot for a bit) often gets a rust colored crunchy film layer on top. I do flux & it helps a bit , but the contaminants on the inner walls of the pot just keep dirtying the lead back up. I am using what I believe to be clean soft lead, I buy it from Lure Parts Online. I don't often have issues with incomplete pouring, but I am looking for ways to keep my furnace & lead cleaner. I don't want to rebuild/replace my furnace every 6-12 months. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.