I'm frustrated

[Reddot]

I rent so I can't smelt where I live. My storage facility is attached to a small engine repair shop which is closed on Monday...except this Monday. I was going to smelt some range lead when the shop was closed so as not to attract unwanted attention. I fired up my turkey fryer with my 4 quart Dutch oven and the thing started to smoke a lot. I shut down for fear of alerting the owner. Grrrrr...back to the drawing boards.

[oldtoolsniper]

Why don't you just talk to the shop owner and tell him what you are doing. A case of beer does wonders in some cases.

[jhrosier]

You should talk to Junior about casting over a campfire when he returns.

Jack

[NSP64]

reddot, you can clean the ww and remove all the junk. it won't smoke then.
make sure it's dry if you add to the melt, or the tinsil fairy will visit you.

sorry i didnt see range lead.

[Firebricker]

Reddot, If you can one good day in smelting and get a good amount of clean ingots get a little cast iron pot put it right on the stove and cast away.Make sure you got some air flowing and have fun. its really nice if you have a range hood. I usually got less smoke & stink melting cleaned lead than when I was cooking !

[mooman76]

Maybe you can find someone in your area that could help you out.

[3rptr]

Why not do it when the engine repair shop guys are there?
Good chance some of them have done it before.
Tell 'em you're gonna make fishing weights later, from the ingots.

[NSP64]

Maybe you can find someone in your area that could help you out.

There are quite a few poeple on this site from WA state.

[qajaq59]

I would really just ask the shop owner. The worst he can do is say no. And he might be a shooter and want to help.

[Spector]

You need some sacrifical meat, bacon and beef steak, to keep near enough to the fire to produce welcome odors that would travel with the smoke. Use cedar shavings for flux........Mike

[Crash_Corrigan]

Take your buckets of ww's to a self service car wash. You know the ones with the coin operated cleaning wands that dispense powerful cleaners with hot water?

Dump out your dirty ww's on the concrete deck near a drainage port and have at it. When you are done rinse them off with that lovely spot free rinse. You might have to spend a whole $5.

As a result you will have clean, grease free and sparkling ww's which when after being dried carefully will not pollute the air with all kinds of olefactorilly offense elements. Yes and when putting your ww's back into the buckets you can eliminate those nasty wheel lug nuts, tire valves and caps, cigarette butts, coffee cups and other detrieus which is normally found in ww buckets.

Just make sure that this valuable resource is totally dry before putting some into your smelting pot. The tinsel fairy plays no favorites.

Keep in mind that one drop of H2 O when plunged below the surface of molten alloy will EXPAND 1,000 TIMES IN VOLUMN IN A VIOLENT MANNER so do not let any moist or wet ww's descend into your alloy. If you must dry your ww's in a warm oven for a few hours to prevent such an occurance.

If proper precautions are taken you will have a very productive and enjoyable smelting session without all the nasties floating in the air if you clean beforehand.

As for myself.....Since I now reside in a mobile home in a senior only trailer park and I can call myself White Trailer Trash.....I take my hoard into the desert in my F 150 w 4 wheel drive and find myself a bit of solitude. There I unload my turkey fryer and 12 quart cast iron pot. I load up the pot and fire up the burner. I then busy myself with reading a good book for about 30 mins and then commence with the smelting.

Any dross or clips get dumped onto the desert floor to remain for eons. The valuable silver gets ladeled into molds and cools on the sand. When done I bury the clips and dross and load up and head back into civilization with my cargo of clean, fluxed and molded ingots and continue to ply my craft of making boolits.

[fallout4x4]

Reddot, where in WA are you roughly?

[Reddot]

Reddot, where in WA are you roughly?

Bellingham, WA

[Kawfeegod]

Oooh. Bellingham is a tough one. Used to live in Seattle, bunch of enviro-wacos there. Do a buddies house you can smelt at? But in all reality, the shop owner would probably be cool as long as he is "hip to the cause". Maybe he is a shooter and you can slip him loaded ammo. The freight driver that picks up at our wharehouse said he would be on the look out for WW at the tire shops he stops at in exchange for a few boxes of loaded ammo.

[Tom Herman]

I rent as well, but down here in "creepytown", nobody cares what you do... Lewis County rocks! I almost feel like I'm back in Appalachia again... I just have to dodge the raindrops, and can cast until my heart's content.
I have no use for enviro-whackos, other than maybe for processing into soap... I make that, too!

Happy Shootin'! -Tom



Oooh. Bellingham is a tough one. Used to live in Seattle, bunch of enviro-wacos there. Do a buddies house you can smelt at? But in all reality, the shop owner would probably be cool as long as he is "hip to the cause". Maybe he is a shooter and you can slip him loaded ammo. The freight driver that picks up at our wharehouse said he would be on the look out for WW at the tire shops he stops at in exchange for a few boxes of loaded ammo.

[snaggdit]

Oooh. Bellingham is a tough one. Used to live in Seattle, bunch of enviro-wacos there. Do a buddies house you can smelt at? But in all reality, the shop owner would probably be cool as long as he is "hip to the cause". Maybe he is a shooter and you can slip him loaded ammo. The freight driver that picks up at our wharehouse said he would be on the look out for WW at the tire shops he stops at in exchange for a few boxes of loaded ammo.

You could always start a "distraction" at one of the enviro-wacos homes another block over that would keep the fire department and all the neighbors busy while you smelted... J/K

[randyrat]

Snaggdit...Weather is finally comming around :-D

I would also use clean WWs and keep a cover on the pot, you'll draw very little attention. Take a buket with holes in the bottom to the car wash,soak with heavy soap and rinse, let drain....dumping them on the floor you may piss somebody off

[Avery Arms]

*Sell range lead on evilbay or the sale board here
*Buy hardball alloy

Sure you will end up with less pounds of casting alloy but you will save lots of time and aggravation while still saving lots of money Vs buying bullets.


PP

[fallout4x4]

I would second the campfire. I've smelted hundreds of pounds of lead over a campfire and the plus side is the smoke from the fire camoflauges the smoke from the lead. :smile:

[Reddot]

Hum, and I love to camp. That is a cool idea. I'm off to collect fire wood.

[jh45gun]

I rent too but that does not stop me from melting some WW I just do small batches a coffee can at a time on the stove with the window open and a couple of fans blowing including the exhaust fan. I bought a cheap cast iron pot at a garage sale those Korean specials that I would not cook in but its perfect for melting lead.