Thats it, im done. KAPUT!

[leadbutt]

Well it started out a cool day today after 4 days of rain. What better time to bust out the ole propane burner and get to melting down some of my raw stash. I figured since I didn't want to spend ALL day on it I would just melt my tin/pewter stash. Then, almost as if I triggered it, as soon as I put the first mug in the pan/pot the clouds disappear like they were never there and the sun starts to beam right on me. So after about 4 hrs of sweat beading off my brow and my shirt getting soaked I was finally done. No more today. As im picking up everything I notice the hoard of 5 gal buckets staring at me. The same horde that's been in the yard for the last um.... 3 years? Wait a minute. Just doing the pewter sucked and its actually worth something. So I ponder. I buy full buckets of WWs for 20$ a pop and the shop I go to I norm get 75-80% of useable alloy. That was also 3 years ago but they do still sell their WWs. Then they need to be sorted,separated, melted, fluxed and poured. I really don't enjoy any of it except the part where I look at my stash and think to myself "NICE". Every time ive melted down my own lead ive always had a headache and backache. Im DONE!! Screw that anymore. Now don't get me wrong. When you guys started me in this hobby years ago all I had was a burner and access to free WWs. With that ive traded or sold the lead to get the things I needed to start out with. Actually you can do a lot and go far on very little money in this hobby as long as you have the right luck and hookups. With that being said..... im done with the dirty nasty lead melting. Im going to start buying lead off of forum members here. There are a few that have been selling here long before I ever got here and I haven't heard any complaints about their lead. One question I have is who is going to melt down the weights ive accumulated? If anyone is from around "or not to far from" the Baltimore area and wants to, id split my stash with them 50/50 to melt them down. Hell ill even give them my hookup.

L. Bottoms

[OS OK]

Gee...I wish that was near here...I'd be there in a flash. I just love smelting all that nasty stuff because at the end of the day...that stack-O-ingots sure looks good with a cold brewsky...if fact, you might even catch me grinning!

[B. Lumpkin]

Long ago I realized I'd rather buy ready to cast ingots for about $1.00 per pound shipped to my porch. This was after an afternoon of smelting 3 buckets of clip on wheel weights. I looked at all the work I had in them to get "Cheap" alloy.

Gas to search for and pick up the raw weights
Cost of raw weights
Propane
Fish fryer
Ingot molds
Time, time, time


At the end of the day, $1.00-ish a pound shipped to my door and ready to go in the pot was cheaper than the "Free" or "Cheap" raw weights, lol. If I need a specific alloy, then I'll buy it from Roto-Metals. It is certified so no guessing if my 20:1 is really 20:1 etc.

[crazyponie]

I wish I was near you as well. If only someone near Tucson had the same offer, I'd be there in a flash. I have a little hoard, compared to most of you, of pewter and range scrap/WW that I'm waiting on cooler weather to tackle. Yesterday however I did find someone that will let me pick through his barrels of WW for .60/lb. I did make a few new friends at local tire shops( not commercial big box type). One guy lets me have everything he gets and another lets me have all SOWW. Both will only cost me a $5 pizza every time I stop. Even though I haven't even done my first melt, I'm hooked.

[shoot-n-lead]

Long ago I realized I'd rather buy ready to cast ingots for about $1.00 per pound shipped to my porch. This was after an afternoon of smelting 3 buckets of clip on wheel weights. I looked at all the work I had in them to get "Cheap" alloy.

Gas to search for and pick up the raw weights
Cost of raw weights
Propane
Fish fryer
Ingot molds
Time, time, time


At the end of the day, $1.00-ish a pound shipped to my door and ready to go in the pot was cheaper than the "Free" or "Cheap" raw weights, lol. If I need a specific alloy, then I'll buy it from Roto-Metals. It is certified so no guessing if my 20:1 is really 20:1 etc.

Well, I can't say the same. My sources are close...within a couple of miles or when I am enroute to somewhere...I average paying $30 for a bucket that averages yielding 100lbs...costs me a couple of bucks in propane and my labor. I figure that my ww alloy...what I use, more than any other...costs me less than 40 cents per pound...worth the effort, for me.

[OS OK]

Well, I suppose that if you measure everything in $ & efforts, you could build a pretty good case for 'store-bought' everything. Some of us old hard headed self reliant been there done thats just relish the idea of doing things ourselves...guess that we are just living a little further in the past than others?

[B. Lumpkin]

Well, I can't say the same. My sources are close...within a couple of miles or when I am enroute to somewhere...I average paying $30 for a bucket that averages yielding 100lbs...costs me a couple of bucks in propane and my labor. I figure that my ww alloy...what I use, more than any other...costs me less than 40 cents per pound...worth the effort, for me.

That time I save not looking, picking up, sorting, smelting, and stacking is put to better use. I have more money than time, lol.

[B. Lumpkin]

Well, I suppose that if you measure everything in $ & efforts, you could build a pretty good case for 'store-bought' everything. Some of us old hard headed self reliant been there done thats just relish the idea of doing things ourselves...guess that we are just living a little further in the past than others?

Just because I don't, doesn't mean that I can't, because I have in the past. It just means that I don't because I don't want/have to.

[OS OK]

Hey that's fine there Lump...it's just that I have an abundance of 'good looks' rather than 'money'...we all have to deal with the hands we were dealt!

[B. Lumpkin]

Hey that's fine there Lump...it's just that I have an abundance of 'good looks' rather than 'money'...we all have to deal with the hands we were dealt!

My full handle is B. Lumpkin. Lumpkin being my last name. I respectfully ask that you use the full name Lumpkin, and not "Lump".

Thank you,
B. Lumpkin

[OS OK]

Oooh, I apologize for that. I wasn't trying to get your goat or insult, just casual and an old habit of seeing 'nicknames' in a long handle.

A question though...where are you from?

[shoot-n-lead]

That time I save not looking, picking up, sorting, smelting, and stacking is put to better use. I have more money than time, lol.

Yeah...I know, I just don't care much for watching TV.

[B. Lumpkin]

I do enjoy the tube, but more than likely you will find me in the wood shop. I was out there today finishing the ivory inlays for a jewelry box and then played soccer with my daughter for awhile afterwards.

[B. Lumpkin]

Oooh, I apologize for that. I wasn't trying to get your goat or insult, just casual and an old habit of seeing 'nicknames' in a long handle.

A question though...where are you from?

Thank you.

[Budzilla 19]

Just put 108 lbs of coww ingots in my stash, along with 22 lbs of soww ingots also, all for $30! The clips and the zinc I'll sell back to the scrap yard, I'm going by there anyway. The propane, time to do the work is neglible, I'm not working right now so I guess it's all just what you want to do. I certainly won't hammer someone who doesn't want to sort and re-melt! Till I get back to work this is what I have to do. Just my .02 cents.

[Beagle333]

I ain't sayin I'm never gonna smelt again, but I really do like buying ingots that are ready to go. And I don't miss the dirty part.

[Bzcraig]

I'm one of the sick ones who enjoys the smelting process. For me it's like the smell of Hoppes #9 or LLA you either enjoy it or not. I just wish I could come across the "hook up" for lead! If I were close by we would definetly become friends.

[runfiverun]

I don't mind the smelting so much but I like it less and less as time goes by.
the headache and getting all dehydrated wears me out anymore.
I think my next one is gonna my last one.
and that won't be until next year, we already got snow once this year and a winter weather advisory is issued for the next few day's.

[rintinglen]

I don't mind smelting, but where I live now, it just won't work. My neighbors are too close.

[toallmy]

The trick for me is to only do it when I feel like doing it , than cooking down the scrap is not work it is just a good way to spend the weakened . I treat casting the same it's for fun ,