Quenching Ingots

[DiverJay]

Is there any benefit to quenching ingots? I know by quenching cast bullets, you get a little more hardness out of them. Just wondering if quenching ingots did the same thing or if I am just duplicating labor?

[poppy42]

No unless you want hard ingots. As soon as you melt them to cast bullet anything game is gone . I see no reason at all except maybe to be able to handle them quicker

[lightman]

Being able to handle them quicker would be the only advantage that I can think of. Personally I prefer to leave water out of my casting/smelting routine.

[Winger Ed.]

Quenching boolits coming out of the mold is fine.

However:
Getting water involved in the middle of the casting process is never a good idea.

[Don1357]

I have to remelt all the ingots I get because not knowing if somebody fast cooled them I can't reliably test them for hardness.

[Dusty Bannister]

Imagine the surprise one would get when they dunk a cool water quenched ingot into a liquid melt when casting. The tinsel fairy would visit. The caster might visit the ER and that just does not seem like either event is desired. Who knows how much moisture might be sucked into the shrinkage cracks of a quenched ingot? Not really one of those good ideas.

[Winger Ed.]

I have to remelt all the ingots I get because not knowing if somebody fast cooled them I can't reliably test them for hardness.

Cast a few boolits with one, and test them.

Not only safer, but more accurate anyway since the ingot will harder over time.

[BK7saum]

I dont drop ingots into water, but do lay ingot molds on a damp towel below the spout of my bottom pour 500lb smelting pot. Speeds up the process greatly by transferring heat out of the mold and 5-8 lb ingots. No fear of water in the ingot itself. It is still 250+ degrees when dumped on a dry piece of plywood.

[Don1357]

Imagine the surprise one would get when they dunk a cool water quenched ingot into a liquid melt when casting. The tinsel fairy would visit. The caster might visit the ER and that just does not seem like either event is desired. Who knows how much moisture might be sucked into the shrinkage cracks of a quenched ingot? Not really one of those good ideas.

Still the smelter fault, you don't dunk a cold ingot into molten lead no matter how dry it looks.

[kevin c]

Still the smelter fault, you don't dunk a cold ingot into molten lead no matter how dry it looks.

I have ingots I had personally cast that never saw water at any time, and are stored in a place that is dry but not temperature controlled. Put cold into molten lead, they will sputter, and I'm pretty sure that it's not hot air but condensed and now steam converted water trapped in the surface irregularities of the ingot.

Now all ingots get preheated before going into the melt, or I start from empty.

[Don1357]

Im building a casting station for ingots and big fishing weighs (8~12 pounds) the bottom pour pot I built is medium size, 80-pound max capacity to the brim so about 60 pounds working capacity. I'm cheating by building a double burner (one 80~100k btu jet, one standard 30k btu banjo). The second burner doubles duty as a mold warmer and if I want to add lead to the casting pot I can pre cook them on a pot on the secondary burner. Once the top warming ingot reaches 300f+ they are ready to be added.