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Thread: Smelting pot

  1. #21
    Boolit Bub Gregorious's Avatar
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    Jan 2019
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    NE Ohio
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    https://www.harborfreight.com/12-inc...ven-44705.html

    Bought a cast iron dutch oven from Harbor Freight.

  2. #22
    Banned
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    Dec 2018
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    3,409
    welcome to CB. If you decided to start casting to save money, forget it. You won't, you'll just shoot more.
    Casting boolits (lead bullets) properly is a science, once you know the basics, not a hard science.
    There is a lot of good information on CB. The Google search (top right of every forum page) is a gateway to all the knowledge on this forum. IF you can’t find your answer there ask the question (Please be as detailed as possible, pictures help)

    1/16 inch is fine, that's all some ever use. I heavy use stainless pots with no problem.

    A lid is not necessary but it will speed things up a little and can help protect you from the tinsel fairy (when you put a piece of lead with water or a pocket or ? in molten lead, it heats up exploding sending molten lead everywhere)

    Not sure about BTU's I use a turkey fryer and never turn it past half way ( I stop when the flames start coming around the sides of the pot)

    Get some long handles BBQing utensils (spoon, spatula) at a thrift store for stirring your melt.

    NEVER ADD LEAD TO MOLTEN LEAD UNLESS YOU ARE 110% IT'S BEEN DRY FOR A LONG TIME

    As soon as the lead melts, flux it with wax of some sort before removing any slag (basically shave a chunk off a candle, drop it in the pot and light it on fire) when it's done burning, mix it in this will help release lead/lead alloy from bullet jackets, COWW (clip on wheel weight) metal and other stuff.

    I like using a Stainless Steel Mesh Strainer to remove the slag

    I have one of these Stainless Steel Mesh Strainer attached to a 3' handle to use with fluxing

    then flux a few times with pine sawdust ( cover the top with sawdust, light it, when it's all burned stirring in ) this will remove contaminants/

  3. #23
    Boolit Buddy jeepvet's Avatar
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    Feb 2013
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    Beautiful Central Texas
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    http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...r-Smelting-Pot

    This is the thread I posted when I built my smelting pot. It is made out of a 25# propane tank that was out of date and I got for free from a local propane company. You could not trade me out of this pot and it would take a lot money to buy it. I love my pot. (I might add, I do not live in Colorado. I am talking about my smelting pot.)

    I built a stand for my turkey fryer with four 1 1/2" pipe legs with leveler feet and a shelf to put my ingot molds on to fill. That stand will hold two elephants and a bus without worrying about it folding up like the original stand did.

    I think I can melt about 250 - 300 lbs of lead at one time. That's lots of ingots. If you will be smelting large amounts of lead in the future, I think this is the way to go.
    "Nothing is more uncommon than common sense." Benjamin Franklin

  4. #24
    Boolit Master
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Posts
    586
    propane fired plumbers furnaces are sometimes found at flea markets. i found 2 in a year for $20 each, and gave both away to friends for reclaiming scrap lead. they have 8" cast steel pots that hold 20 pounds or more.

  5. #25
    Boolit Bub
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
    Posts
    48
    Thanks for the advice everyone! I was talking to Veral Smith and he said that using lard is also very good to flux with, but to make sure it is unsalted. Has anyone got experience with using lard? Is it better than wax?

  6. #26
    Boolit Grand Master

    Join Date
    Oct 2009
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    England,Ar
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    7,687
    Lard should work ok but it might be messy. Someone on here coined the phrase that any "carbon based lifeform" will work. I use pine sawdust followed by wax when smelting dirty scrap and use wax in my casting pot. Any sawdust will work but it seems like pine may have a little edge. Maybe its the rosin in it? Any wax will also work Paraffin, candles, crayons, ect. Beeswax is a favorite.

  7. #27
    Boolit Bub
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
    Posts
    48
    Quote Originally Posted by lightman View Post
    Lard should work ok but it might be messy. Someone on here coined the phrase that any "carbon based lifeform" will work. I use pine sawdust followed by wax when smelting dirty scrap and use wax in my casting pot. Any sawdust will work but it seems like pine may have a little edge. Maybe its the rosin in it? Any wax will also work Paraffin, candles, crayons, ect. Beeswax is a favorite.

    Thanks Lightman

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check