Looky What My Wife Found For Me

[Foto Joe]

I've been searching for a smelting pot to cast wheel weights into ingots ever since I learned the hard way that using my Lyman 10lb pot was a bad idea. I didn't want something too big like the bottom of a propane bottle or a cast iron dutch oven, I just didn't want to put my poor camp stove under THAT much stress. Last week when my wife was returning from the airport in Billings she stopped by a junk store and found me a 2qt cast iron "stew pot". What a GREAT find!! I attacked the 200lbs or so of COWW's that I've been sitting on for two months this morning. It holds probably just over 20 lbs and I fill it enough so that I can get three 5 lb +/- ingots poured out of it at a time. A vast improvement I must say and the camp stove is none the worse for the experience other than some splatter that will clean up nicely.

[Gtek]

Congrats on your upgrade. I would find a piece of steel or stainless sheetmetal and make a ring that is about a 1/4" to 3/8" away from pot up to handle, maybe even notch it in handle area to get lip of pot level. Just might cut your gas and time a wee bit. Gtek

[IROCZ]

Very nice Joe, I've been checking the scrap yards for a smelting pot with no luck yet.

[jonp]

That's funny, check out what mine brought me home last night from an antique shop she stopped at on the way home from work! $10
80606

[Foto Joe]

I would find a piece of steel or stainless sheetmetal and make a ring that is about a 1/4" to 3/8" away from pot up to handle, maybe even notch it in handle area to get lip of pot level. Just might cut your gas and time a wee bit.

I too was concerned that I was going to have a hard time getting enough heat to hit the pot but surprisingly enough it has been a non-issue. The burners on this camp stove are 30k btu and I run it about half way between low and medium with great results getting 700+ degrees with 2/3 of a pot. I've got about a quarter of a bucket of COWW's left to do this morning. We're getting ready to head south for the winter in a couple of weeks and I'm taking my casting rig with me but I didn't want to haul all those un-smelted COWW's. Now I'll be able to load the back of the truck with a few hundred pounds of ingots and haul 'em all down south for entertainment purposes. I've been thinking about painting one of them gold and handing it to my son-in-law in Arizona as rental payment for letting us camp in his driveway.

[wv109323]

Wives will be much more apt to "find" you a melting pot after you have used one of her pots out of her kitchen.

[Foto Joe]

Very true, in fact I did warn her that her stainless gravy ladle is not suitable for gravy anymore. Her response was that her gravy can usually be served with a fork anyway. I'm so glad she loves me more than I irritate her.

[Capt. Methane]

Hey, the camp stove thing-will one of the old liquid-fueled (rather than propane) colemans work?

[BAGTIC]

Anything that gets hot will work. The thing to watch is weight. As we start adding a little more lead here and there the pot and its contents can easily become heavier than we anticipated and than the heat weakened grate can hold.

[badge176]

I cut the top portion of a #10 tin can and notched it for the gas feed at a height that fit between bottom tray and the grill. I fits around the burner and concentrated the radiant heat up into the bottom of the pot. I have an equally makeshift cover to put over the pot to hold in the heat as well.

[jeepyj]

Wives will be much more apt to "find" you a melting pot after you have used one of her pots out of her kitchen.
Isn't that the truth. Recently I almost had to buy her a new set of pans after heating up a little citric acid to clean up some brass. Congratulations on your find and more so on your spose's support!
For a smelting pot I cut a cu t a 20 pound propane tank in half and put on a turkey burner works unbelievably well.
Jeepyj

[MGySgt]

Coleman Stoves - I used the gas fired (Coleman fuel) for the better part of 20 years to smelt and cast. What I did though is take the grate off and I made a pot support that laid on the top of the stove. I could adjust from my 2 qt for casting to my Dutch oven for smelting. Work great for years.

Note I used unleaded regular gas in it. I did have to replace the generators more often - but at that time they were cheap. I need to find a new one to get that old stove working again.

Used the same setup on a Coleman propane stove. The gas fired stove was hotter and would melt the lead a lot quicker.

[Foto Joe]

Naptha or gasoline has a significantly higher BTU rating that Propane. That's why a 30k BTU Propane burner is huge compared to the same for an old style Naptha fired camp stove.

I like the fact that my camp stove now serves double duty. In fact the BBQ box is on it right now warming up for some delicious Wyoming Cow Burgers. You see, I can actually have a beer when heating burgers but the same isn't true for that 700 degree silver stuff.

[Capt. Methane]

That's great, thought I'd ask the experts here...I bought one of those stand alone single burner electric things and it only sort of works for smelting but it's great for preheating a mold. I've got two of the Colman liquid fuel stoves so tweaking one to smelt with won't be an issue!

They used to sell a conversion for them to run unleaded gas but I never bought one and don't see them any more...

Foto Joe, there's not much better than having a beer while you're cooking some meat on the grill!

[jonp]

Stay on the lookout for a coleman tri-fuel stove. They work great. Coleman fuel, Kerosine or Unleaded Gas and you can buy an adapter for propane.

[capt.hollis]

Very nice Joe, I've been checking the scrap yards for a smelting pot with no luck yet.
eBay has plenty .