Welcome to the hobby!
1. Thats the way I do it. This keeps the trash out of your casting pot.
2.I would stand pieces of the pipe up in your pot before you light the burner. Any moisture should be gone before the lead melts. 3 inches pieces are not necessary. Whatever will stand up in the pot. 12 inches, 16 inches, ect.
3. Your lead pipe should be dead some, clots to pure. I would start with 10% oe even 20% linotype and go from there.
4. I like the lube sold under the White Label Lube brand. Google with that name or Lars Stuff. He is local to me and makes a good product at a reasonable price. He offers both Hi-temp (hard) lube and soft lube.
5.Alox is just one type of ingredient for one type of lube. It works ok.
Helpful comments in no particular order;
1. Browse through the Cast Boolits site and read the stickies.
2. The link that Digital Dan listed is a good source of info too.
3. Read the books that you have and come back and ask questions.
