Ingot Molds - Cast Iron

Found a pair of cast iron " ingot molds " yesterday for $8.99 ea. Grabbed them both.
I'm smelting WW's in a 50 lb. pot with a turkey fryer burner. This should be just about ideal to use an an ingot mold.

I use a 20 lb. Lee Dipper pot to cast with ( no smelting with this pot ) . These should drop in easily into the Lee 20 lb. pot.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4..._1328Small.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4..._1330Small.jpg

I only had a chap stick in my pocket to use for size comparison purposes, so I placed one in one of the cavities for photo purposes.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4..._1329Small.jpg

that will work well for you....

I feel like it will also, I don't see anything at Midway that is cast iron similar to this for $8.99 ea.

Ben

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Originally Posted by Ben

I feel like it will also, I don't see anything at Midway that is cast iron similar to this for $8.99 ea.

Ben

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Any more where those came from???

I see alot of people here using cast iron cooking pans of some sort to make lead ingots. I hope they make sure they are marked someway so someone doesn't use them for cooking down the road. Not trying to find fault, just an observation. I use a Lyman ingot mold just because I bought a box of misc. at a gun show for $5 for dies that were in it and 2 ingot molds were there too.

I've stamped all the cooking items I use. 1/8" stamps from harbor freight do a good and permanent job. I don't want my grand children or somebody else down the road, making a mistake with their health.
The iron cookware of today will be in demand in the future, and not just with collectors.

Alchemist :

I made a random stop at a store near Guntersville, AL.
There were 4 of them there in their cast iron cookware section of the store, I bought 2 of them.

Ben

Cast iron molds/forms make excellent ingot molds. There are many shapes and sizes intended for cooking and baking, floating around at yard/garage sales, in thrift shops, moving sales etc. If used at all for smelting they can be cleaned effectively with some special effort and procedure, for kitchen use, but until then/otherwise.... they should be marked by engraving, stamping or notching. Tagging when not being used for smelting is also a good idea to avoid lead contamination or poisoning. As a collector of cast iron I have written a few times on this subject over the past year. Several companies in U.S. history have produced extensive lines of cast iron cookware that have been long discontinued and are now held in high estem, are highly collectible and much sought after as heirlooms. Prices for these items are well thru the roof running into the hundreds and/or thousands of dollars. Major names are Griswold, Wagner, Wapak and others. If you acquire a piece of cast iron cookware, turn it over and look/read what is written on the back. You never know; it might be worth a lot more than you think or paid for it. Antique shops and or libraries have books that list these items and they can be browsed for info. The only U.S. company that is still producing cast iron cookware is Lodge and that isn't exactly cheap either. Cookware pans and forms that are unmarked are not worth much. Other cookware stuff that is marked "Taiwan", "China" or "Made in USA" also aren't worth much and they work generally for the purpose for which they were intended. Using them as ingot molds/smelters is a lot less "painful" than cleaning WW's in a #13 Griswold Dutch oven that is worth 2 Grand+ or a rare muffin pan that is worth a lot more. It is however your property and certainly your call as how to handle it. It doesn't take much though to check it out and it might be a lot more than well worth it for you if you wish to resell it. Good shooting. LLS