Dagnabbit - ingots too big

[armoredman]

Bought ingots from the Deo Run secondary smelter near by...and they are too wide to fit in the Lee production pot I own. I have an RCBS lead pot, new in box, and in desperation I put it on the stove top on high with one of the roughly 3 pound saw cut ingots in it....nothing.
Ideas? It's certified bullet metal, 92/6/2, and I don't want to waste it. Hot plate do the trick, where, what size, etc.?
Thank you.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Got a wood splitter?

[Drew P]

What are the dimensions

[Walter Laich]

I've had good success cutting lead with a chop saw. Use wax on the blade to keep the lead from 'gumming' up.

figure a way to catch the 'sawdust' as that's good lead, too.

[acoop101]

A sawzall with a demolition blade works well.

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[country gent]

Use a steel pot and camp stove or propane burner to melt and cast into smaller ingots. They can be cut several ways. A cold chisel and big hammer on a solid surface will do it, I have a section of oak tree trunk about 26" tall I use. You can saw them in several ways, sawsall, band saw, hacksaw, will strengthen your arms a lot. A big ingot in a pot with nothing else takes a lot to melt do to heat transfer. In a p[ot with a couple lbs already molten helps transfer heat a lot better.

[tazman]

+1 on the camp stove. I have used mine many time for smelting. Works great.

[fastdadio]

+1 on the camp stove. I have used mine many time for smelting. Works great.
I use a propane burner originally sold as a turkey deep fryer. Cheap and effective. I went to the Salvation Army kitchen section with a small magnet and bought small, medium, and large pans that attracted the magnet. Total cost outlay for all items was under $50.00 bux.

[gnostic]

I use an ax and beat them into a suitable size with a hammer...

[castalott]

Some stuff I can melt 'corners' off of until they fit....

[runfiverun]

2/6 might break like lino-type does.
I take a hatchet and hit both of the back edges on top of a 2x4 this makes a notch.
then flip it over and put those notches between 2- 2x4's and hit it with the back edge of the hatchet.

if that don't work I get out the porta-band and some cardboard.

[Old colt]

I have sat mine with a corner in the pot and used an old channel lock pliers and a blow torch to melt it in

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[RogerDat]

Steel pot from Salvation Army. Any electric hot plate of 750 watts or better, but frankly less than 950 will be slow and don't try it if it is cold. If you have a propane torch that can help. 10 minutes of torch time to get a puddle in the pot and maybe cut the block in half so more of it is in contact can help make a hot plate more effective.

Best bet is the propane turkey/fish fryer. Around here can be had at garage sales for $10 and new from Wally Mart for $40, watch for sturdy legs. Do not use the cheap (or any) aluminum pot for lead, it gets weaker at lead melt temps and the weight can blow the bottom out, mess if you're lucky, burns on the legs or feet if you're not lucky.

There are some threads about reinforcing camp stoves to handle the weight, they put out more heat than hot plate but less than the turkey/fish fryer.

If you feel like going high end on the pot, Harbor Freight has cast iron dutch ovens for around $25 with the HF 20% off coupon that you can find online. Those can do better than 100# of lead at a time and cover the burner for the propane fryers. You can also use some scrap steel to make it so those big burners can handle smaller pots.

See the angle iron pieces across the burner in picture below. I added that for smaller pots.

189586

[armoredman]

Thanks for all the replies, but a buddy of mine suggested using my gas grill, and it worked. Now, I don't THINK there would be any contaminattion from melting lead on the burner....
RogerDat, that is one cool setup, nice!
DrewP, they are about 3 inches each direction, roughly. I was lucky that they cut them at all. :) Nice people at this smelter.
Again, thank you all for the comments, I appreciate it very much.

[chrometip78]

Doesn't sound like it's worth the effort and frustration. Better off to start fresh, get ingots that are a good fit for you. Then feel free to send those offensive fat ingots my way so you don't have to look at them anymore.

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[armoredman]

:bigsmyl2::razz:

[lightman]

I like the way everyone on here is so helpful!:-)

[Traffer]

I take an ax and a sledge hammer. Drive the ax in one side with the hammer, flip it over drive the ax in. Pull the ax out and it will break at the ax mark "scores". Quickest and easiest way to cut lead.

[Epd230]

I thought they closed that Doe Run foundry :kidding:

[Skipper]

Trim 'em up with a propane torch.

[Texas by God]

I have a cheese wheel of alloy 2-1/2" x 16" diameter. When I need some of it, I place it on the tailgate of my welding trailer, secure a propane torch in place, determine the drip pattern of the molten flow, place my Lee furnace to catch it, and work on something else near by so I can check it frequently.
Best, Thomas.

[armoredman]

Nice. I have no truck, propane torch, welding rig, or the experience/know how to use them. :)
Seafab Metals Company in Casa Grande is a Doe Run secondary smelter, and ain't too far away. Nice. :) Much more expensive than wheelweight lead for $1 a pound shipped, but I know absolutely what mix I'm getting, too. VERY nice people there, BTW, who don't mind dealing with us little guys who only buy 25 pounds at a time, treat us with the same respect and courtesy as the big names who buy it by the long ton. :) Right before I typed this I cast up about 250 9mm bullets from the ingots I poured the other day and MAN, it's good to be back in the game!

[RogerDat]

Buying from a foundry source so you know exactly what you are getting has some advantages. Costs more but you know what you are working with. If you can't get lead tested buying foundry can make it so the lead is not a variable in the equation of producing good bullets.

The alternative is the vendor section here has offers of good clean ingots of WW ingots or plain lead, or even pewter and printers lead. Less expensive but can vary a bit. Choice somewhat depends on use, .38 special plinking ammo can tolerate more variation in alloy than some auto loaders or high power ammo can without problems.

I generally tell new casters to skip the making your own lead from scrap to start with, go with known good, that way one can focus on casting temps and technique without wondering if there is something wrong with the lead.

BTW - those small pieces of angle iron are just dropped in on top of the existing burner. With propane grills be careful putting a lot of weight on those side burners, make sure that much weight doesn't make grill tippy. Just stack some lead on whatever you plan to use before making that pile into a big molten pot.

[Hardcast416taylor]

I have sat mine with a corner in the pot and used an old channel lock pliers and a blow torch to melt it in

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Same here with this method. Done it this way on quite a few large odd shaped pieces of ingots.Robert

[scotner]

2/6 might break like lino-type does.
I take a hatchet and hit both of the back edges on top of a 2x4 this makes a notch.
then flip it over and put those notches between 2- 2x4's and hit it with the back edge of the hatchet.

if that don't work I get out the porta-band and some cardboard.

Wish I had thought about using a hatchet to score several linotype ingots that I needed to ship. I ended up using my RotoZip to score them and proceeded as described from there. It did work great but rough on zip bits.