First time smelting

[WHITETAIL]

T mcD,
again welcome to the forum!
Go to all the yard sales you can
and ask for cast iron muffin tins.
Or go to salvation army outlets,
and check there.
It is a great way of finding ingot molds
of different shapes.

[Echo]

I water-cool my ingot molds - I use an old cookie sheet, lay a towel (doubled if possible in the bottom, pour water in until soaked plus, and then set 5 ingot molds on the towel. I pour the flood molds, overlapping, so I get 5 5-lb major ingots easily broken into 1 1/4lb ingots to fill the pot. And by the time I've finished pouring the last one, the first one is ready to decant...

[RED BEAR]

You might try a soup ladle from dollar store less than a buck and if just under full so not to spill it comes out to right at one pound. I use them when making ingots they work great .

[GregLaROCHE]

If you or a friend welds, it’s easy to make molds out of angle iron. Good luck !