Smelting with fire.

[Bookworm]

Nice pics. I like seeing other ways of doing things.

I like your idea, better than a Rocket Stove. I've tried a Rocket Stove, but any time saved with it was used up breaking branches down small enough to fit in the combustion chamber of the stove. I don't want to spend an hour gathering windfall, and cutting/breaking it down to 10".

I also tried another way. When I burned a brush pile, I set a full pot of CWW next to the inferno. That worked, but getting the pot out of the bazillion degree ember pile proved problematic. I figured to use a stick to hook under the pot bail, pick it up (all 80 pounds of liquid, sloshing lead, plus the cast iron pot) and swing it out to cooler environs, where I would ladle the shimmering goodness into ingot moulds.
The problem: Any stick long enough to get me away from the skin-searing heat made it impossible to levitate the pot, because of that pesky geometry/physics thing.

I may try the type of stove you built. I have lots of dead oak and elm branches, free for the taking. I like the idea of 'free' heat. I also have a brake drum off a big truck, that should suffice to use in place of the wheel you used.

It's just that firing up the propane burner is so convenient.....

[Bazoo]

I dont have any other method, and I cobbled this together for free, so it works for me To start with, I didnt cut the center of the rim, just to try it. It worked, but I believe it works some better this way, as more heat is directly on the bottom of my pot. Another thing, that I think helps a lot, is that the heat/hot gas, is all directed up around the sides of the pot through the holes in the edge of the rim.

Being a carpenter, I always have an excess of small wood to use as fuel. If I was down to gathering sticks... i'd probably try to gather some pallets to break up for fuel

I got the idea from a thread here, where a guy built a stove out of a 55 gallon drum, and sunk his pot into the top. He had a door on the side, built a fire inside and hit vent out of a short stack behind his pot. I'd really like to do that sometime.

[Rcmaveric]

good job. Add that to my dream house. Still living in an apartment and turkey fryer keeps me out of trouble and mobile.

[Bazoo]

I tried smelting with fire once, just over a fire. I had a pretty good camp fire going. So hot I couldnt really get close enough to do anything. I've been pondering on the idea of making some sort of rocket stove so I can utilize sticks and cast while camping. I know its better to take your pre made ammo, and forget loading, and casting in the field. I just want to play with it though.

[richhodg66]

I've been using wood fire for a few years now, since I moved to my current place. I'm on 18 acres of woods, nearest neighbors are half a mile away. Basically, I have unlimited firewood.

I need to make a better set up. I have two big steel bars suspended across cinder blocks that hold up a big Dutch oven with a lid. Works pretty well but I need something better than the cinder blocks.

[Bazoo]

Here is the thread that I mentioned.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...elting-Furnace

[ThomR]

I have a 55 gallon barrel that I can use to melt lead with. I have it stood on end with a hole in the side near the bottom and a hole on the top. Basically a huge rocket stove. It doesn't take a lot of wood to melt lead, and it gets really really hot. On more than one occasion I've seen the side of the barrel start glowing orange.

[Bazoo]

ThomR, do you build the fire on the bottom? or do you have a grate that the fire is built on with the air intake below?

[ThomR]

ThomR, do you build the fire on the bottom? or do you have a grate that the fire is built on with the air intake below?

I just throw the wood in. There is no grate on the bottom of the barrel. The hole on the top is pretty big. I can fit up to 8" diameter logs in it.
It gets hot enough that if one were so inclined you could melt down entire car batteries in a large cast iron pot. I don't recommend doing that, but it could be done.

[Bazoo]

Im thinking... Might make me a smelting set up, combined with a wood stove for the shop. All i'd have to do is arrange a hood of sorts for use when smelting, and I got a mean exhaust fan I could use. Then smelt in the wintertime and kill 2 birds with 1 stone. I already use a barrel stove in the shop, but it'll need replacing one day.

[ThomR]

Im thinking... Might make me a smelting set up, combined with a wood stove for the shop. All i'd have to do is arrange a hood of sorts for use when smelting, and I got a mean exhaust fan I could use. Then smelt in the wintertime and kill 2 birds with 1 stone. I already use a barrel stove in the shop, but it'll need replacing one day.

I wonder if using a second barrel on top of the actual burn barrel would retain enough heat to melt lead. You might be able to just stick a shelf in the top barrel and put a cast iron pan in it. If it works, then you don't need to worry about ventilation as all the fumes will go out the stove pipe.

[Bazoo]

That aint a bad idea. Probably work if I had a roaring fire, I've seen the pipe get red hot OUTSIDE the building. Drive me out though when its that hot.

[P Flados]

An "oven" above a "stove/fireplace" certainly has potential.

However, to get good "smelting performance" you would need either a really large/vigerous buring fire, and/or minimal "heat losses" between the "stove" and the "oven" and minimal heat losses at the oven itself.

Old woodburning cook stoves had an oven, but we are looking for tempertures well above what those stoves were designed for.

As an engineer, the challenge of coming up with a combination shop heating stove and smelting oven sound fun. On the other hand, I have tried a bunch of stuff that I just could not get to "work out like it should".

I encourage experimentation. Just try to not underestimate what it will take to get he job done.

[TaylorS]

Not to hijack the thread but how are fire bricks made? Special type of Crete? All the cinder blocks and red bricks are just molded. It might be feasible to make fire bricks at a good discount from store bought....


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[nun2kute]

I seen a Beer Keg at the scrap yard the other day and was thinking just what you did. Hmmmmm ... I wonder if it's still there !?

[Bazoo]

All the kegs I ever seen were aluminum. Everyone says it's a no go for melting lead.

[lightman]

I've never smelted using wood. I've always liked the convenience of natural gas or propane. If I lived in the country and had an abundant wood supply I would try it.

[Bazoo]

I've got a lot of small wood from work that's just right. I'm thinking now about making a smaller setup to use with the Lyman cast iron pot. It'll be interesting to see if I can regulate the temperature enough to keep the mould at a good temp.

[edp2k]

I seen a Beer Keg at the scrap yard the other day and was thinking just what you did. Hmmmmm ... I wonder if it's still there !?

Beer kegs are aluminum.
Using it for a pot for smelting is a bad idea since AL melts at a relatively low temp, and loses its strength long before then.
Using it for a burn barrel is a bad idea since AL burns. Navy used to make ship superstructures out of AL until one burnt down.

[Conditor22]

I know this is an old thread but-- that is too cool