Smelting on a camping stove?

[lts70]

I have a camp chef expedition 2x two burner camping stove set up I use for the yearly family camping trip. I have been collecting ww and scrap lead for the last year and have around 500ibs I would like to melt down into ingots. I was planing on using the camp chef setup to do this but wanted to check and make sure that I was not making a big mistake by using a stove I plan to cook food with to melt down lead.

I assume I am fine as I will be using separate cook ware but I have been wrong before and wanted to check with you guys first. Any advise?

[Mooseman]

As long as you dont cook food in the same pot as you melt lead in...you will be fine.
I use a 2 burner coleman camp stove and a cast iron teakettle and it works just fine.
Rich

[cf_coder]

Yes, it can be done. I'm currently using a coleman propane stove to cast from. I have a separate Bass Pro fish fryer that does the heavy duty smelting... but for 10-20 pounds at a clip the little one will get it done. I tried plopping my 6 quart dutch oven on it to smelt and it just didn't have the horsepower. What is the BTU value of the burners for the Expedition? If it's anything like the 3X which is rated at 30,000 BTU, it should be fine, even for the big stuff.

[stubshaft]

I started out years ago with a two burner Coleman gas camp stove. It was good for about 400lbs of lead a day at least.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

This is just an opinion for what it's worth. In your case, you already own the camp stove and they work perfectly well. If you had to run out and buy one, the turkey cooker for the same or less money is probably a better choice.

I would suggest a small cast iron or stainless steel pot. No aluminum. You biggest consider is once the lead is on the stove, can the stove's brackets support it? So don't go too large. Lead is kinda heavy and you don't want that lovely silver stuff flowing everywhere after your stove has collapsed due to excess weight.:shock:

[Wayne Smith]

Couple of thing - having done this with a Coleman. The Coleman had 1/4" pot support rods and could hold a 1 qt pot full of ww or lead. However I found this a messy process and got lead spatter all over the stove. From then on it was dedicated to lead. LOML didn't like the idea of cooking on it! If your stove is needed for camp cooking or has smaller pot supports don't do it.

[firefly1957]

What Wayne says I have used a coleman stove for years just cast a couple hundred NEI-429310 bullets on it yesterday and you can not keep that lead off the stove do not cook with it after smelting/casting with it . It is quite cheap to use a gas stove for melting lead Propain cost a bit more, You could make a shield for your stove to keep it cleaner how ever I would not count on it.

I do not what to raise the fear of lead to a high standard with you but when smelting there is more than lead involved and just a poor idea to prepare food on same stove. Lead often contains many things in small quantities like tin and even arsenic especially if you recover or use shot for your lead source.

[kenyerian]

I started out using a coleman stove and basically ruined it for anything else. When turkey fryers came along I switched to it. Propane is much easier than white gas.

[mold maker]

You will have lead splatters all over the stove. I bought 2 Coleman stoves at flea markets and abused them both to death. The pot grid will not stand the weight of a cast iron 6qt pot full of lead with the heat on full.
They will serve you well to cast with a small pot. The heat isn't as controlable, due to fuel level and pumped pressure, but it can be done.
I'd recomend you get a used stove and dedicate it to lead use. If you have to buy new, a LEE electric pot will cost about the same.

[1Shirt]

They work, but not as well as many other things. Have used one in the past, and agree with most of the comments. That said, recommend you save your change until you can afford at least a Lee pot of some type. Better yet, a lyman or an RCBS. Expensive, but well worth the long run effort.
1Shirt!:coffeecom

[mdi]

No offence fellers, but if you use common sense, how can you ruin a camp stove for other than smelting? If you're sloppy and get lead splatter (not that common an occurance) how does that remove a camp stove from food prep. duty? I use only pots and pans to cook food in on my camp stove when I'm not using it for smelting in a 2 1/2 qt. steel home made pot. Please let's don't scare someone away from casting with "toxic, dangerous to anyone within a 50' radius (wemmen and children 100'), horrible death" stories/implications...

[W.R.Buchanan]

I started Smelting with a single burner Coleman stove, and a single burner Coleman Extreme Backpacking stove. I used a 10lb pot on the bigger stove and a 5 lb pot on the backpacking stove.

Now I think about it, I also used my GI Coleman stove once too.

Since these are all one burner stoves there is little room for spatter to accumulate, and I had no problems at all.

BUT,,, and this is the BIG BUTT! It took forever.

I usually Smelt lead on the 4th of July ( just a quirk I have) I smelted one 100 lb bucket of WW in one 8 hour day using all three Coleman stoves.

The next year I smelted 10, 100 lb buckets full in 5 hours with a Turkey fryer and a 50 lb pot.

You can find a turkey fryer at most big box stores on sale for $29.95, and I used $20 in propane for the 5 hours of continuous smelting. I bet you could find one on Craig's List for less than $20.

Point is you can use a Coleman stove and it will do the job ,,,,eventually.

But if you are going to get serious then either a Turkey Fryer or a Plumbers Furnace are the best tools for the job. (500 lbs is approaching serious)

Plus with a Turkey fryer since you won't be using the aluminum pot, you can also fry turkeys, and steam clams and cook chili, make large quantities of chicken noodle soup, and a variety of other things. A few spatters of lead on the burner aren't going to hurt anything.

My .02

Randy

[lts70]

Thanks everyone. Here is a link to what my stove is. It is propane and 30K btu. I think most thought I was talking about a liquid gasoline stove.

http://reviews.outdoorcooking.com/product-reviews/Stoves-Ovens/Expedition-Series-Stoves/Camp-Chef/p/YK60LW10-Camp-Chef-Expedition-2X-Double-Burner-Stove.html

[zxcvbob]

I use an electric hotplate. I tried a Coleman stove and it worked, but the hotplate is faster and cheaper to operate.

[shadowcaster]

I've tried using a smaller stove but it just didn't have the Uumph I needed. I graduated to a 58,000 BTU turkey fryer and have been very pleased with the upgrade. It's capable of doing both large and small batches and is affordable.

Shad

[Ecramer]

I smelt on a 60,000 BTU gas "turkey frier" burner, that I also use for home brewing. I use an ancient yard-sale-acquired cast-iron dutch oven as the smelting pot, and pour into a pair of Lee ingot moulds that make both 1 and 1/2 lb. sizes.

You should be fine so long as you're using separate cookware, although it might take awhile -- one thing I like about my burner is that it gets up to temperature fast.

[59sharps]

i have a camp chef expedition 2x two burner camping stove set up i use for the yearly family camping trip. I have been collecting ww and scrap lead for the last year and have around 500ibs i would like to melt down into ingots. I was planing on using the camp chef setup to do this but wanted to check and make sure that i was not making a big mistake by using a stove i plan to cook food with to melt down lead.

I assume i am fine as i will be using separate cook ware but i have been wrong before and wanted to check with you guys first. Any advise?

get something else....

[beagle]

I once used a two burner Coleman for several years and it worked all right. Yeah, it got spatters of lead on it but I usually was able to keep my cooking in the pan and away from the spatters.

My only objection and a point of safety was that the support for a pot full of lead was kind of fragile in my case. You might look at some way of supporting the melt a little better./beagle

[zxcvbob]

I looked up "Camp Chef Expedition 2X" and the burners look big enough for melting lead, but the legs look a little small and tippy to be balancing 100 pounds of molten lead on top.

Also that's a really nice stove; are you sure you want to ruin it? (my dedicated lead hotplate looks like **** from the splatter and from overheating)

[runfiverun]

Thanks everyone. Here is a link to what my stove is. It is propane and 30K btu. I think most thought I was talking about a liquid gasoline stove.



they were.
that's pretty close to what i use.
i figured 30-35k btu's for melting lead.
i raised the burners in mine about 1-1/2"s and it is a bit more efficient.
build a wind screen around it and a cover and it will be more efficient.
i run both burners and get a pot emptying and one melting with the two burner set-up.

[DLCTEX]

The posts that mentioned getting electric casting pots for smelting are looking for trouble IMHO. If you smelt in your casting pot you will have trouble with the junk that will cling to the sides of the pot and clog the valves. I have smelted in my pots, but know I'll have to pull them down and clean and reseat the valve rod. Better to smelt in a designated pot. The bottom pour rods and such really get in the way when bailing out clips and debris, also.

[Elkins45]

My only objection and a point of safety was that the support for a pot full of lead was kind of fragile in my case. You might look at some way of supporting the melt a little better./beagle

I had to beef up the grate on mine because I got too ambitious with the amount I tried to smelt in one batch. The same heat that melts the lead also softens the steel pot supports! I made some U shaped supports to transfer the weight directly to the bottom of the stove and then down to the bench.

[Shiloh]

Seen it done a few times. The fellow made a tripod or four legged stand to get the smelting pot a few inches away from the burner and well as having a sturdier base.

SHiloh