Soup Kettle - thin gauge stainless steel insert for soup warmer work for smelting?

Going crazy moving through Covid but finding cutting through my purged propane tank useless without an angle grinder and hand-sawing it open is an exercise in idiocy with some cracked ribs and the Covid.

So - for smelting (at the moment, pretty pure metal, all from Rotometals: 2:1 Pb:No.2. Might come a time when I truly have to smelt some dirtier alloys), would something like the warmer insert below work? Stainless steel, but very thin gauge and not meant for direct heat.

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This is on top of a 55K BTU LNP banjo burner.

Edit: Nevermind. Found an all-stainless steel, cheaper stockpot without the aluminum sandwich. Just has "heat-resistant" plastic handles that will need to be removed and we should be good to go. Mods, feel free to delete unless others might find the question useful.

Goodwill store heavy gauge stainless pot would probably do better. They can had for a couple of bucks.

Revereware? The kind with handles on each side. Pasta boiling pot.

If you don't fill it too full, after fluxing and skimming, just pick up the pot and pour the lead(away from you!!) into the STEEL muffin pan you also got at Goodwill for a couple of bucks.

The lead muffins are the perfect size to fit in an RCBS pot. And if the muffin pan was level when you filled it, the muffins will stack nicely.

Or so I've been told. Without 8x10 color glossies with a paragraph on the back of each one it's just a rumor.

Make sure to put the lead in the pot before applying heat!

An old rusty Duch oven would be a better choice ?

Thanks guys. Funny even our cheap stock pots (we have some NSF pro-ware, and some cheap knockoffs) are all tri-ply with some kind of aluminum sandwich, even if almost for looks more than anything else. I'll check out our thrift stores. Have come up empty on cast iron so far.

Speaking of cast iron - I thought I saw some guys like the Harbor Freight cast iron DO, but at least as far as I can tell, they don't sell any cookware any more. Am I missing something? Anyone know if they are still in it?

I used an empty refrigerant tank to make my melting pot. I started the cut with a hacksaw and worked my way around the tank.

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Originally Posted by CastingFool

I used an empty refrigerant tank to make my melting pot. I started the cut with a hacksaw and worked my way around the tank.

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You've probably got the best. I do have the purged 20# propane tank and am just being impatient because I cracked my %^&*% ribs, and Covid on top of it, so hacking away was a bit laughable today. I have 45# of lead and No. 2 coming in tomorrow and Tom's (Accurate, 46-405VG) mold coming in a few days so itching to get going. But I wouldn't mind another alternative in play, too.

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The bottom skirt was not welded on at the time. I also made another one with larger vent holes

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Originally Posted by CastingFool

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The bottom skirt was not welded on at the time. I also made another one with larger vent holes

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Nice looking pot!

Thanks!

Any place that does much metal work can cut it, probably pretty cheap if you ask, and they see cash in your pocket..
A welding shop or trailer repair place if there's one around.

A freon tank from some AC shop would be ideal, since the gas isn't flammable.
If you bring in a propane tank, they might want to see some holes already in it.

If nothing else, this is the perfect reason why you need to buy a sawzall.:bigsmyl2:

Propane tank is a lot thinner than you’d think, cuts really fast with a sawzall then touch it up with a file.

It took about 30 seconds to cut mine with a reciprocating saw.

I have used a cheap SS stock pot, a cut off refrigerant tank and cast iron DO and Frying pans. IMO, the cast iron is by far the best. The others work well, but if you can find a DO at a yard sale cheap, buy it! You won't be sorry.

Thanks guys - well, ended up going to HD, getting a recip saw and ...butchering it badly, lol. Right arm strength not up to par yet but I'm not too concerned about aesthetics. However - rust and oil or oily/gummy surface on the inside? I know the tank was at least partially filled as I burned it, and purged it thoroughly, myself. My first thought would have been an empty tank and moisture incursion but I'm stumped. (The pooled water at the bottom is from just now - we're getting some roof melt-off and it's on the porch).

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Any thoughts? Is this usable? Should I just burn the crap out of the inside? (no desire to wire brush at this point, or rent a sandblaster, or get it sandblasted).

Just put it on a turkey fryer where it is away from everything and let it burn off. I would not go near it w/o a good respirator until it has stop smoking for a few minutes just in case.

You may want to wash it out well with soap and water first.

I think I wouldn't bother with wire brushing or anything Iike that. Just Flux itreal good when you melt your lead, scrape the bottom and sides of pot with a wooden paint stick, and skim off any crud that floats to the surface.

All set - thanks a ton, guys! Rotometals and Accurate mold both arrive today, ready to rock. Can't wait to get out to the range with this new load development. Now....getting Rx for eyes, to make the Skinner doable.....

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