Wood Fired Smelter

[cat223]

Used it once and the lead was a little thick. Need to make a forced air system and buy a thermometer. All in all I'm pretty pleased with my first attempt at building a smelter.

[BK7saum]

A squirrel cage fan or a small shop vac that has a blower outlet out to get the air moving. I've considered building one. Right now I have a propane setup that I can run a 100 lb pot. I built a pot that should hold 200+lbs, but don't think my propane burner/stand is up to the task.

Congrats. Looks great.

Brad

[cat223]

Thanks, Brad
I have an electric leaf blower that I'm sure will do the trick. I'll post pics after I figure out just exactly how I'm going to attach it.

[Bo1]

Good looking setup....
Bo

[dbosman]

Thanks, Brad
I have an electric leaf blower that I'm sure will do the trick. I'll post pics after I figure out just exactly how I'm going to attach it.

That might be too much air. We used one to build a hovercraft for a science project. It supports 200#.

[shadowcaster]

Nice setup! :-) Adding forced air should really help. You may need to have an adjustable venturi to control your air flow.

Shad

[Cane_man]

now that is freakin' awesome!

[cat223]

This could delay the next smelting session. I'm going to be distracted for a while thinking about building a hovercraft. Plus, with my leaf blower attached to a hovercraft I'm back to the drawing board on the forced air bellows system. :coffeecom

[Gar]

Way back in my younger days I started smelting with a stainless steel pot over an open wood fire.
Your setup is much nicer and starts me to thinking wood is cheaper then LP gas, hummmm . . . were did I put that old water heater?

[cat223]

I should have mentioned in the original post that the main firebox is an old pressure tank from a water well and the pot is a cut down propane tank. A word to the wise: I opened the valve to the propane tank and nothing came out. Obviously it was totally empty. I started cutting with an angle grinder. About half way through the steel with sparks flying everywhere, I had the thought "could the valve be clogged?" I stopped cutting with a pretty deep groove in the side of the tank. I grabbed a pipe wrench and wrestled the valve off. As I cleared the last few threads, gas started escaping with a very loud hisssss. Y'all know what a prayer of thanksgiving is, right? Since I'm clearly too stupid for common sense to guide my actions, I give full credit to my Father in heaven for whispering an urgent warning in my ear to stop cutting. To wrap this story up...I finished cutting off the top, welded it into the top of the water tank, and viola'! I have a smelter.

[dragonrider]

Good thinking,

[dbosman]

This could delay the next smelting session. I'm going to be distracted for a while thinking about building a hovercraft. Plus, with my leaf blower attached to a hovercraft I'm back to the drawing board on the forced air bellows system. :coffeecom

I made a collar for the leaf blower to attach to the hovercraft. The leaf blower slips out quite readily. So, you can have both.

[country gent]

Like your set up wood works and is easier to find Coal will produce more heat longer especially with a blower system.

[geargnasher]

Thanks a million for the pressure tank idea, I have two old ones that will be perfect, that's the ONE little tidbit I was missing to build my own out of what I have on hand. Glad the man upstairs was looking out for you!

Gear

[olaf455]

If you use dry pine it will get good and hot, and there is little ash. You may not need forced induction...

[kbstenberg]

I am in the process of getting a 20 lb. propane tank welded to a 50 gallon drum. I don't have the means to make it into a bottom pour smelter or I would.

[SGTM9]

Nice setup. You might look for old pallets to feed it. I feed my stove from a pallet company that rebuilds them. Steady free supply of stringers and top boards. 15-20 min cutting with the chop saw and I have a days worth of heat. Just watch the nails.

[wv109323]

You could possibly up the heat by the type of wood you are burning. The hardwoods are hotter than soft wood like pine and popular. Oak, Ash and Hickory are better with Hickory being the hottest.

[cat223]

Oalf and WV, I have only used it the one time with about a 35 Lb yield. I don't exactly remember but the wood may have been a little green. My stack does create a pretty good draw, so maybe I'll give it another shot and pay closer attention to the quality of wood I burn. I'm confident that my pot will hold enough scrap to yield 200+ Lbs.

Country, My son and I picked up a pound or two of coal from the railroad tracks recently. I plan to throw it into the mix next time and see if I can tell a difference.

SGT, I like the pallet idea. I just realized that I have a source that may be able to keep up with me.

kbstn..., Reinforcement! My buddy who encouraged me to get into this hobby had a nice setup using a 55 gal drum. He was smelting somewhere near the 300 pound mark with all that high heat and the drum started to collapse on itself. He's now using a new reinforced drum with no problems.

Gear, A local welder warned me that the pressure tank had zinc in it and that it would smell bad and possibly make me sick at high temps. I have it outside and it didn't bother me one bit on my first batch. I did smell it a little, but who cares. I love my smelter.

[dbosman]

Zinc is nothing to fool with in your body. That smell is a warning.
Been there, done the illness thing with zinc. Hadn't thought about that incident in decades.
Please find a steel pressure vessel.

[RP]

I use wood to smelt my lead with great results I do use a fan to boost the heat. I can smelt the range lead in record times and WWs are a dream. I smelted some WWs last weekend while the fire was up to heat I dumped a five gallon bucket in walked to the drink machine to get something to wet my whistle by the time I got back about 5 mins my lead was ready to be dumped. It will put a lot of heat to the pot fast. Found it to be a lot better then my other fuel sources.

[Spector]

I used an old hair dryer my wife had from the 1960's. The kind with the hose that attaches to the unit. I attached the hose to a pipe that is welded to the water heater forge. It's just the top cut off about one foot deep, turned upside down and welded to three legs. That small amount of air seemed to do fine for me. As others have said be sure to include a way shunt off excess air. I'll primarily be melting reclaimed shot with mine......Mike

[RP]

here is a picture of my set up you can see the fan on the end of the pipe with a oil injection system that I need to work on.
http://http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg31/Ricky1965/woodsmelter007.jpg
This is how I use it by the way I have a crane to lift the pot in and out of the fire.
http://http://i244.photobucket.com/albums/gg31/Ricky1965/005-3.jpg

[TheGrimReaper]

I like it!

[dudits]

i hair dryer will be sufficient airflow, i have used a few to build forges for steel working.
as far as zinc poisoning, that is some serious bad news. however if you insist on working with it, drink alot of milk.
before and after the process.
i would also advise to have 3-4 large fires and add the forced air to them. that should help burn out the zinc.
ALOT of people have died from zinc

[Gliden07]

If you elevated it and put vent holes on or near the bottom you might not need the forced air?? Looks awesome!!

[Freightman]

I use to work at a zinc smelter, after awhile started to have health problems. Went to the doctor he said you are allergic to zinc oxide, I said what am I going to do as that is my job? he said you have two choices, die, or quit, well I am still here. Zinc is very toxic find something else to use it isn't worth your health. IMHO

[Geppetto]

One option to remove the galvanizing (zinc) from the pressure tank would be to wash with some type of acid, such as muriatic (HCL). Obviously there are some considerations before you do this on a large scale. HCL isn't an acid to fool around with, PPE would be required. Also you should collect the acid and be sure its neutralized (buy a couple pounds of baking soda). You could also sand/bead blast the coating off.

Once you get a rip-roaring fire going, you don't want to be cooking off the zinc and breathing it. It can kill you if you get too much of a dose.

http://www.anvilfire.com/iForge/tutor.php?lesson=safety3/demo


The hill-billy option would be to get as big a fire going in there as you can and leave the area for a few hours. That however, could be pretty darn irresponsible (depending on your house/neighbors/prevailing winds).

[USMC87]

Locust wood is by far the hottest if you can find it. It even burns good green.

[uscra112]

Look into rocket stoves.

[Gliden07]

Look into rocket stoves.

These things are cool!!! I will build one at some point!!

[cat223]

OK, Guys. Thanks for all the ideas and advice. Here is the solution I ended up with. A $6.00 hair dryer from the thrift shop, and a piece of galvanized pipe that I had laying around. I just came in the house from smelting a batch and I am very pleased.

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68424

Yeah, smelting is hard work and that fan felt good. I'm pretty sure smelted lead should sell for about a million dollars a pound.

[cavalrymedic]

Looks great! Why aren't you sweaty and covered in soot? I usually end up looking like a chimney sweep.

[USMC87]

That's a fine looking set up .

[JSAND]

That is an outstanding setup. So many great ideas for future projects to be found on this site. Thank you for the detailed pictures. I like the idea of being able to smelt/cast without depending on propane. I'll add this to my to do list.

[7Acres]

Nice setup! Gave me some good ideas. Thanks for the post.