Hot plate / stove top-temperature

[gray wolf]

Most times I use my electric stove top in the kitchen for pre heating my molds.
No hot plate yet ---- it's a short walk to the deck for me to cast.
To day I took the thermometer for the wood stove and put it on the range top and it worked very well. It is the flat kind that you put on a wood stove to tell the stack Temp. or the top of the stove Temp. I found out what
I thought was 450-500* was much hotter. So now I can use a stove top or a hot plate and adjust it so that I have exactly what I need.
I let it read 500* and give the mold a little soak time and it's all set.
The wood stove thermometer cost about 14 bucks some years ago when we bought them, I use two on the wood stove.
I know all you old timers do it by eye, but I thought I would pass it along for anyone who needs to know.
Hope it helps someone. I have overheated my molds in the past if I was not alert to how much heat I had.

Sam

[mpmarty]

Sam I used to cast on a wood stove. I removed one of the round lids over the firebox and set the pot in the hole right over the fire. Worked well in the winter time.

[steg]

I used to cast the same way, only it was a coal stove, lot's of fun and the stove was burning anyway, that's what I call "casting on the cheap", LOL............steg