I don't want to sidetrack another thread, so I thought I'd ask here..
I have two double bagged bags of powder I've had for several years, kept out in the garage workbench storage.
I tried to coat some bullets the last two evenings, with almost zero success. This powder coated pretty well when I bought it.... can't remember exactly who I bought it from... I think it was Powder by the Pound, but can't be certain...
These bullets were cast about 2 days prior to attempting to coat. They have not been handled, just sitting in the little plastic bullet boxes I put them in.
I have a bowl shaped plastic tub... #5 plastic.
I put a layer of black airsoft bb's in the bottom, and about a half teaspoon or so of powder. I put 25 of my heavy 357 bullets in and did the shake thing.... circular for about 45 seconds or so, then up and down for about 30 seconds or so, then circular again for maybe 20 seconds. Each time I changed directions of shaking I would look through the clear lid, and never saw full adhesion.... only speckled partial coating.
Needless to say, after baking, they looked pretty crappy. The surface is mostly rough, incomplete coverage, basically crap. I even tried double coating.... same thing, just a double layer of crap, still incomplete coverage...
Long lead up to my main question.... how does powder "go bad" ? Does it get moist? What else could cause the lack of static attraction?
I have two double bagged bags of powder I've had for several years, kept out in the garage workbench storage.
I tried to coat some bullets the last two evenings, with almost zero success. This powder coated pretty well when I bought it.... can't remember exactly who I bought it from... I think it was Powder by the Pound, but can't be certain...
These bullets were cast about 2 days prior to attempting to coat. They have not been handled, just sitting in the little plastic bullet boxes I put them in.
I have a bowl shaped plastic tub... #5 plastic.
I put a layer of black airsoft bb's in the bottom, and about a half teaspoon or so of powder. I put 25 of my heavy 357 bullets in and did the shake thing.... circular for about 45 seconds or so, then up and down for about 30 seconds or so, then circular again for maybe 20 seconds. Each time I changed directions of shaking I would look through the clear lid, and never saw full adhesion.... only speckled partial coating.
Needless to say, after baking, they looked pretty crappy. The surface is mostly rough, incomplete coverage, basically crap. I even tried double coating.... same thing, just a double layer of crap, still incomplete coverage...
Long lead up to my main question.... how does powder "go bad" ? Does it get moist? What else could cause the lack of static attraction?