Any one ever used a cast Iron Tea Kettle?

[Droughtbeef]

Hey guys!


I'm brand new to the site however I've been skulking the threads for reloading information for about a year now.


I'm just starting to get into casting my own bullets. I've been roading for about a year, 6 months of that has been with cast bullets Ive purchased from RMR.


Currently im trying to gather up a collectiong of ingots while I assemble up the cash I need for the rest of the casting equipment.


I've been mining the birm out in the BLM where we shoot and theres lot of lead to be had thats not the issue. Issue is I'm getting a lot of little wood chips, glass bits and clay pidgeon particles in what I collect from the sifter.


I filled up a bucket of water and slowly dumped my collectings into that bucket and that sorted out alot of the bark but the mix is still roughly 60% lead scrap to 40% junk.


I'm having a difficult time collecting lead when I melt down in a dutch oven due to all of the jackets and sut. I'm getting about an inch of lead at the bottom to 2-3 inches of sut/jackets and a lot of the lead isnt getting down into the bottom just staying stuck in all the debris.


I was thinking anout attempting to melt down in a medium sized cast iron tea kettle and that would allow my to pour instead of trying to scrape out all of the debris.


anyone have any experience with this? Or advice?

[William Yanda]

The melted lead would pour, then how do you get the debris out? Have you used a lid on your dutch oven?

[country gent]

If possible go to a bigger pot and melt as much down as possible. flux and skim off debris. If not enough lead to justify pouring ingots then leave it and refill with scraps and mined lead. Either let the lead cool or add to it very slowly allowing for scrap to heat and be dried out for sure. Going slow and adding enough to allow for the lead to build up in the pot works. Flux pot heavily and really stir it good as you go. The more lead you can get in the pot the faster and easier the smelt will go. On range lead I have a propane tank cut to hold over 300+ lbs and fired over stoker coal and a blower.. I fill it clear full and melt to molten then flux and skim. I then refill pot with more and melt flux and skim until pot is full and ingots can be pored. I then leave a small amount in the pot to start the next batch with.

[GhostHawk]

Long handled slotted spoon, scrape it out, flux, scrape, flux.

Try to take shortcuts by not scraping you will be kicking yourself later.

Lead is HEAVY! I don't even try to move my 6 inch fry pan until it is too low to get lead in the ladle. And even then I don't try to pour it. Pliers on handle, tip it up so lead makes a puddle and ladle out all I can get. Let the rest harden.

A full load on an iron bail that is hot, what if it bends and dumps it?

It simply is not worth the risk.

Do it right. Put it off until you are geared up to be safe.

Please be careful.

[MUSTANG]

Melt (Smelt) in a cast iron skillet and pour the lead off. I use a set of vice grips clipped onto the off side from the handle and holding the handle in one hand and the Vice Grips in another pour off the lead (alloy). If you are recapturing the Gilding Metal jackets, scrape them off and into a container before pouring off alloy.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

"Any one ever used a cast Iron Tea Kettle?"

I have one that I use for water/steam on the wood stove, to put moisture into the air during the dry winters of MN. It holds about 2 qts. The top opening would be too small for stirring/fluxing and it would be difficult to remove the dross and junk.

Fluxing range scrap with lots of saw dust, a slotted spoon, and a good ladle are the tools I'd recommend.

[David2011]

I filled up a bucket of water and slowly dumped my collectings into that bucket and that sorted out alot of the bark but the mix is still roughly 60% lead scrap to 40% junk.


I'm having a difficult time collecting lead when I melt down in a dutch oven due to all of the jackets and sut. I'm getting about an inch of lead at the bottom to 2-3 inches of sut/jackets and a lot of the lead isnt getting down into the bottom just staying stuck in all the debris.


I was thinking anout attempting to melt down in a medium sized cast iron tea kettle and that would allow my to pour instead of trying to scrape out all of the debris.


anyone have any experience with this? Or advice?

Welcome to Cast Boolits!

Let me start with a safety warning. You are setting yourself up for an exceedingly dangerous and violent event by using water to separate the lead from the junk! If water becomes trapped in anything that ends up in the lead melt you can have a steam explosion when the trapped water is heated to over 600 degrees. Lead will be sprayed violently and without warning in all directions. Please for your own safety don't wet your recovered lead. Since you are mining a berm you should load the Dutch oven when cold and then light the fire so any residual moisture is driven out as the pot gets hot. Look up "Tinsel Fairy" on this website for more information.

A large portion of the participants here use a cast iron Dutch oven. Keeping the lid on will help it heat faster. There's nothing wrong with using a Dutch oven. IMO a skillet is too shallow.

As JonB said, flux with sawdust. Full metal jackets have to be cut before you can get the lead out of them. If the bullets are soft point or have an exposed lead base it isn't necessary. Use pine or other untreated softwood sawdust. Don't use sawdust from hardwoods, plywood or MDF/fiberboard. Spread a tennis ball sized portion of sawdust on top of your melted metal and jackets and spread it around. Let it turn dark and stir it into the mix. This will flux the jackets and other things floating on top of the melt. It will get the metal you want off of the jackets and anything else to which it is stuck. The other stuff is called dross. Dross can contain tin and antimony that you want to retain and that's part of why you flux. There are many discussions on fluxing with sawdust on this site. You'll need to skim off the floaters with a big perforated spoon like peas and beans would be served with in a cafeteria. Preferably the spoon will have a wooden handle. If you still have junk floating on the melt flux with sawdust again, skim and repeat until the melt is clean and shiny. If it starts turning blue or gold it's way too hot. Dip the metal out with a ladle with a capacity of 1 pound or a little more and pour into an ingot mold. As long as a ladle handle is, you don't want it to be much more than 1 pound capacity. This is a place where you should go for a ladle intended for lead; not a kitchen implement. If it breaks full of molten lead you could be seriously injured.

Be careful, be safe and enjoy!
David

[gundownunder]

I use a 2 quart stainless steel saucepan from the Goodwill shop. Fill it up with scrap and light the gas. All the moisture will evaporate as the pot heats. After skimming all the crud off, a half pot full will weigh about 20 pounds of lead. Put that into ingots with a ladle and start again. As already said, don't pick up a pot full of molten lead, it's heavy, and it's dangerous. If 20 pounds at a time isn't enough, just go to Goodwill and find a bigger pot, but make sure it is steel, not aluminium. Alternatively use a dutch oven, they come in 2, 4, and 6 quart sizes. All these pots are very heavy when full of lead so make sure you are working on a very solid surface that will not allow a pot full of molten lead to tip all over you.
When selecting your ladle look for a one piece unit, not one where the ladle is riveted to the stem and the handle is attached to the stem.

[tankgunner59]

Here in the midwest we have a place where the largest flea market in the midwest is held once a month from March to October or November. When I decided to start casting I read all the info I could find, then I went to the flea market and found a 2 quart cast iron pot and a cast iron ladel. I bought a turkey fryer burner and set it up with a 30 pound propane tank. I can't say how it would work with collection of birm mining since I can't mine the birms where I shoot, but I think it would work as the pot is wide open and you could work as long as you need. The regulator to my burner has a adjustment knob to control the gas flow.