Do they use Zinc if Fry pans?

[ChrisK]

OK, the other day I stopped by a local Thrift Store and picked up an Aluminum Fry pan (about a quarter inch thick) with a lid. I have about 1,000 lbs of Range Lead that I'm melting down and wanted something with a lid to keep the fumes down a bit as well as wider to get more surface area. Long story short, I tossed it on my Turkey Fryer with a bunch of lead in it, went inside for 20 minutes or so and when I came out there were two holes burned threw the bottom. I've got about 8lbs of lead that dripped out but I don't even want to hassle with it if there is even a remote chance that there is Zinc in the pan.

[MT Gianni]

There is a long history of aluminum failing at smelting temps. Use cast iron or steel for this. Gianni

[imashooter2]

And you now have aluminum in your lead. It's just as bad as zinc. Throw it away or use it for sinkers and move on.

[ChrisK]

Thanks, it's in the scrap pile. Hoping I could salvage it, oh well.

[454PB]

I wouldn't scrap the lead. Aluminum melts at 1220 degrees, well above the melting point of lead alloys. It should easily float to the top.

[45nut]

I am another that would never use an aluminum pot for smelting, it may not fail on the first,, or maybe not even on the fifteenth smelting operation, but I would indeed bet it will fail and without warning. A molten stream of metal will not care who or what is in it's path any more than lava from a volcano.
I believe it is the up and down annealing and stress that gets to it that an aluminum alloy is just not up to. False economy that may not cost you much now, but may cost you much more than you are willing to pay later.

Steel or Cast iron. please.

[Ohio Rusty]

Also watch which steel pot you use. The ones like you buy that are the ceramic coated canning pots are much too thin and they burn thru ..... Ask me how I know. I now use a steel revere 2 1/2 quart pot with the bakelte handle I picked up for 90 cents at the thrift store. Since I only do small batches at a time, this worked out well and fit perfectly over the burner of my little 2 burner propane stove.
Ohio Rusty

[BigCheese]

Zinc is never used in any application where it contacts food and is prohibited by law. Zinc is a heavy metal and will dissolve in contact with acids. For example, if cooking with a recipe having vinegar, zinc will be converted to le zinc acetate, a compound soluble in water. This is highly toxic.

[Bob Jones]

Harbor Freight sells a cast iron Dutch oven for about $12 that works great for me and holds about 80-90 pounds of range scrap at a time. I get about 60 pounds of pure lead out of it each run and it's held up well.

[ChrisK]

Great, thanks for the suggestions. I've got about 1,000 lbs of crap range lead that oxidizing so I'm melting it down quick to salvage it (still some chunks of crud in it) and plan on melting it down a second time once the lead has been processed out. I'll probably just pull out the "contaminated lead" and will try to seperate any aluminum when I do the final processing. Thanks for the Harbor Freight tip, I'll probably head up there tomorrow and see what they've got.