Propane tank base cut off

[andyt53]

I was given a propane tank that has been cut in half. My questions concerns the base, or the ring that stands the tank up. It was cut off but one welds where the ring/base was cut pretty deep. It seems like the guy took the grinder and really dug it into the tank while trying to remove the weld. Is this cut in half still safe to be used as a smelting pot? Would I be crazy by welding over the deep single grind mark? I just dont want a lot of lead ending up on the ground.

[Idz]

A lot of the stewpots people are using are from drawn stainless steel only about 0.015" -0.02" thick. My tank has about 1/8" walls so unless the guy ground a big patch down to 0.01" it should be fine.

[Dan Cash]

Try it out. If it leaks, no loss. When the lead cools, pick it up off the ground and resmelt. Years ago, I agreed to melt several hundred pounds of isotope cores on shares. Did not have a regular smelting pot so took a 5 gallon bucket and poked a hole in the bottom (1/2 inch or so) and built a wood fire in the bucket. To the fire, I added charcoal briquettes and cores. Lead melted and ran out the hole into the ingot molds. Worked great until the flow exceeded the mould capacity. The resulting overflow just went back in the pot.

[andyt53]

I have been using a relatively thin stainless steel pot to do all of my smelting. I do not know much about metals and wasn't sure if SS was stronger or anything. I will probably take the pot to my burner when I get home and toss some lead in it for a test run. I guess if it works fine, I will do a large batch. Thanks for the reassurance guys! This forum is so great! Instead of getting rude responses, people get knowledgable information.

[JSnover]

Yeah, see if it works. If it bothers you any half decent welder can run a bead over the cut.

[andyt53]

I ended up overlapping three beads over it just because I was already welding something. About to fire up the pot and melt some pure lead.