I made a giant dump today

The worst kind of dump indeed.

I had two heavy solid lead bricks that needed to be melted down and formed into 1# ingots. I brilliantly came up with the idea of putting a cast iron pan on top of my canning pot full of burning wood. The pot kept the heat in and directly under the pan. It was very efficient and the lead quickly melted.

What I failed to take into account is 37 lbs of sloshing lead was enough to tip the pan over as it was only resting on the handles on both ends. After a few scoops it dumped all over my patio and I spent the next few hours power washing it. The center blob rolled up like carpet and I was able to remelt it. It was the thousands of drops that needed to be power washed one by one.

What a horrible day!

LOL live and learn be REAL happy it was not on your feet or other skin so be happy

Bummer.

Be super care full remelting the drops that got power washed.
There will most likely be water trapped in them. I'd heat them slowly so the water can boil off,
otherwise You'll have some pretty exciting steam explosions.

in the past i ruined a new Coleman two burner stove melting lead in old cast iron pot outdoors - after it got hot it bent the heck out of the stove -

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Originally Posted by Super Sneaky Steve

The worst kind of dump indeed.

I had two heavy solid lead bricks that needed to be melted down and formed into 1# ingots. I brilliantly came up with the idea of putting a cast iron pan on top of my canning pot full of burning wood. The pot kept the heat in and directly under the pan. It was very efficient and the lead quickly melted.

What I failed to take into account is 37 lbs of sloshing lead was enough to tip the pan over as it was only resting on the handles on both ends. After a few scoops it dumped all over my patio and I spent the next few hours power washing it. The center blob rolled up like carpet and I was able to remelt it. It was the thousands of drops that needed to be power washed one by one.

What a horrible day!

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Probably should have cut those bricks into smaller hunks and used your turkey fryer.

Glad you were not hurt.

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Originally Posted by lightman

Glad you were not hurt.

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Exactly! if you weren't hurt it was still a good day.

I have a turkey fryer but it can't cut the mustard anymore.

So far I've ruined my table $100, Pants $45, Shoes $45, Canning pot $55, but I wasn't burned so it's still a win.

Right after this post I'm going to chop up my fryer stand to fit over my canning pot (coming in the mail). I tried to get most of the lead out but I don't want to vaporize lead every time I use it so I'd rather just buy new to be safe.

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Originally Posted by bruce381

LOL live and learn be REAL happy it was not on your feet or other skin so be happy

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Amen! Standing in a 37 pound puddle of molten metal is quite distressing.

I melt my lead and pour my ingots on top of something like this, after I spilled lead once. It makes cleanup easy. My sides are only about 1/4" any sheet metal or fabrication shop should be able to make one
https://www.killarneymetals.com/asse...zed-steel.html

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Originally Posted by Super Sneaky Steve

I have a turkey fryer but it can't cut the mustard anymore.

So far I've ruined my table $100, Pants $45, Shoes $45, Canning pot $55, but I wasn't burned so it's still a win.

Right after this post I'm going to chop up my fryer stand to fit over my canning pot (coming in the mail). I tried to get most of the lead out but I don't want to vaporize lead every time I use it so I'd rather just buy new to be safe.

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I dont think lead will vaporize with a standard Coleman stove or a standard propane burner. I'm not sure what temp lead will start to vaporize but I think it is more than 1100 degrees f
if you watch the videos I linked to posts about smelting galena into lead and silver in the lead and alloys section in the video he vaporizes lead from the silver in galena and it takes specialized equipment
ii like the idea of using wood to melt alloys I've got my woodshed more than 1/2 full, about 4 to 5 cords, and still have 30 good size hardwood trees to buck split and stack.
I was thinking of making a burner out of bricks that could double as an outdoor barb que grill and make a heavy duty grate out of 5/8 rebar or trying to find a piece of drainage or bridge grating. propane prices just keep going up and up.
or maybe making a grill/burner out of 1/4" steel like the ones they have at a lot of highway rest areas. whatever or however it has to be very solid and tip proof

Well at least if it rolled up, you can remelt it. That’s the beauty of lead. Be sure to start heating it cold. If you add it into melted lead, you may have some surprises from the water trapped inside.

Sounds like you were lucky you weren't burned. Points for ingenuity. But nothing beats having the right equipment. Personally I use a coleman stove with a 20lb tank hose and a medium sized skillet to smelt down lead. If it's too big to fit in the pot it gets cut down first. Probably should have bought a turkey fryer years ago. But I just never got around to it.

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Originally Posted by farmbif

I dont think lead will vaporize with a standard Coleman stove or a standard propane burner. I'm not sure what temp lead will start to vaporize but I think it is more than 1100 degrees f
if you watch the videos I linked to posts about smelting galena into lead and silver in the lead and alloys section in the video he vaporizes lead from the silver in galena and it takes specialized equipment
ii like the idea of using wood to melt alloys I've got my woodshed more than 1/2 full, about 4 to 5 cords, and still have 30 good size hardwood trees to buck split and stack.
I was thinking of making a burner out of bricks that could double as an outdoor barb que grill and make a heavy duty grate out of 5/8 rebar or trying to find a piece of drainage or bridge grating. propane prices just keep going up and up.
or maybe making a grill/burner out of 1/4" steel like the ones they have at a lot of highway rest areas. whatever or however it has to be very solid and tip proof

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I have been using wood to fire my range lead for the past two years and it works great. Even on a fairly cold day a roaring fire will melt lead. A lid over the lead pot goes a long way toward keeping the heat in. It takes me most of an hour to completely melt a pot, but I can do other things while it's coming up to temperature. I do my smelting outside in the gravel driveway, so my only restriction is to avoid days that show even a little drizzle of rain.

Wayne

Good to hear you didn't get hurt!
I bet you cut a pretty good rug getting out of the way, might have started a new dance.
The galena two step!

Close calls teach you well. Glad you were not hurt