casting with a fire

[jpen]

Who here heats their lead with a open fire and how has it worked for you? I have a good casting pot and ladle but don't have a burner to heat it. Going to try and get a turkey fryer burner to use but wanting to cast some before.

[GhostHawk]

I have done it, with a good bed of coals plenty of heat. But controlling that heat can be tricky.

I mostly did it for smelting down wheel weights into clean ingots. They tended to smoke and stink a fair bit.

Now days I live in town and mostly use kitchen stove for smelting as needed.

[Steve77]

I haven't done it, but would be interested in having the knowledge. Just in case it was ever needed in a pinch.

[Retumbo]

You can make a glorified version of a rocket stove

[country gent]

I use a harbor frieght weed burner under my casting pot. Some pipe dope and 1/8" pipe nipples and an elbow make it 90* a piece of aluminum with hole drilled in ceter keeps it pointing up. I have smelted over a coal fire in the past. I was using a cut off propane tank for a pot and it held 350-400 lbs of range scrape. The stoker coal and a reversed shop vac melted good and was more than enough heat. Once it showed molten I would shut off the vac. The trick to casting over the fire is being able to raise the pot easily to help control temp. I would stack concrete blocks 1st layer flat down holes open a grate for wood or coal. another row of blocks holes closed and a grate for pot. another row holes down to hold heat around pot. A piece of sheet metal to fit and help close open front and your good to go. Its a lot harder to hold maintain heat wih the wood coal fire but can be done. WHen I was smelting the range scrape I could do 3 pots a day at 350-400 lbs a day pouring into ingots 3 1/2 lbs each. Casting bullets a coleman stove, turkey or fish fryer, weed burner will give better heat control.

[freebullet]

Regular fire can take a while but, will work. I've used a propane torch to melt small amounts. Whatever works go for it!

[ncbearman]

Attachment 158701
Simple and inexpensive. This "rocket stove" will provide all you need to melt. If you have trouble with too much heat add another vertical block.

[rking22]

From Junior's website, a good read:
http://www.castbullet.com/reload/campcast.htm

[bangerjim]

Heat control is key to getting good/accurate/repeatable boolits.

An open fire, even a coleman stove to a large extent, is very difficult to control accurately.

I would highly recommend an electric bottom pour pot like the Lee 4-20's I have. Great performance and easy to control the heat on....even without a controller!

A turkey fryer is perfect for re-melting your raw lead stuff into usable ingots. Heat is not nearly as critical. We all have one or something like it. I use a propane plumber's furnace.

banger

[dikman]

If you're talking about casting boolits, then a turkey fryer is going to be overkill on a big scale! You can certainly use a wood fire, but as banger says it will be hard to control. And a bit messy. At least with a camping stove you'll have some sort of control.

[ewlyon]

If you are planning to use a fire, I would recommend using some heavy cast iron to do the melt so that the temperature will change slowly and run the fire as low as practical while getting good bullets. As long as the airflow is good a charcoal or wood fire can be a very cost efficient option. You do have to be attentive to keep running the fire at a steady temp

[Retumbo]

How did the pilgrims ever manage???????????????????????????????????????????? ????????????????????????????????

[bangerjim]

How did the pilgrims ever manage???????????????????????????????????????????? ????????????????????????????????

Because they cast simple round hunks of lead and did not worry about 0.001" out-of-round or filling grease grooves perfectly or no wrinkles or weighing the boolits like we do today.

That's how.

banger

[mazo kid]

I have only made cast round balls over a bed of coals while at rendezvous. It works quite well for that application. The coals last for quite a while, long enough to cast up a bunch of lead.

[jgh4445]

Watched The Patriot again last night and 'ol Mel Gibson is a tough dude. Cast those round balls out of his son's toy soldiers in a small ladle over a camp fire. No bed of coals, just the open flame. Melted the lead in about 2 seconds, poured it into an old scissors mold and in about 3 more seconds, dumped the RB out, picked it up with his bare fingers and cut the sprue! Man, he didn't even wince or get a blister! Those Patriots were a tough lot I tell ya.

[bangerjim]

Don't 'ya jus luv Holeywood!

[Victor N TN]

Back in the '70s when I started, I used a Coleman stove and the lead pot from a plumbers furnace. It isn't a very good system. But if you're patient, it will work.

[Retumbo]

I smelt my pure and cast ingots using my wood stove. The challenge has been thrown down. Going to try to cast 1 oz slugs next time.

[Petrol & Powder]

I started my casting career on an open campfire just to prove to myself that I could do it. The answer is yes I can do it but I moved onto a small single burner gas stove pretty quick. I was casting round balls for a cap & ball revolver and using pure lead.
It is not as hard as some assume but it is more involved than I care for.
The first few times I went completely Davie Crockett and used nothing more than deadfall wood and a few big field stones.

Can you cast over an open fire, Yes. Do I want to use that method on a regular basis - No.

BTW - I now use an electric bottom pour pot. No sense in living in the dark ages.

[PerpetualStudent]

The rocket stove might be your best bet for this. I've run into them before and if you can get close to complete combustion (which is the point of the thing) you might get a decent and consistent heat with fairly limited fuel use (the other point of the design).

I might try something like this for smelting.