Getting lead into a 20#pot

[Land Owner]

...Melting is an option but I don't have an easy way to accomplish that. Hate to invest money in something I'll never use again...

Wrong thinking. There is no better motivator for purchasing "tools". You WILL use a "batch" melting process again and again and again for making ingot of lead, Tin, and WW alloys. Trying to "batch process" in your 20# pot is going to ruin your 20# pot. Think BIG - 100# batch big. Then pour the alloy into 3# ingots, which are easier to put into the pot.

[lightman]

Wrong thinking. There is no better motivator for purchasing "tools". You WILL use a "batch" melting process again and again and again for making ingot of lead, Tin, and WW alloys. Trying to "batch process" in your 20# pot is going to ruin your 20# pot. Think BIG - 100# batch big. Then pour the alloy into 3# ingots, which are easier to put into the pot.

I agree with big if you have the storage space. I went big (350-400#) nearly 50 years ago and I'm still using the same equipment. I do use 1# ingots though!

[fredj338]

The easy way is to melt it in something bigger & either make smaller ingots or ladle it directly into the 20#. WHy, Why people put up their scrap lead into frying pan size ingots is beyond me. I have a cast iron dutch oven that I put large pieces of alloy into.

[choctaw/creek]

The propane torch method is my go to for melting large chunks of lead for pouring into bar molds. It's fast, cheap and easy.

[Sig556r]

Hacksaw or any saw that generates chunks not dust

[kevin c]

I agree with Land Owner, lightman and fredj338, assuming you going to cast in volume.

Personally I made storage ingots of base stock lead in 200-240# batches in a propane tank pot, poured into ~10# ingots, all of which got a batch marking. Pewter and solder melted in separate batches were poured into Redneck Gold molds making ~1 1/2# ingots, along with 1 to 2 oz rounds done in mini cupcake tins. All batches get XRF analyzed (thanks, BNE!). Using known content ingots, then I mix up 200# batches of final casting alloy, again using the Redneck Gold molds (I tried 3# ingots made in mini loaf pans, but they wouldn’t balance well on the pot lip for preheating and it was a bit difficult to load several at a time into the pot (the long flat Redneck Gold bars comfortably span most of the circumference of the pot, and it’s much easier to put several side by side on end when starting with an empty pot. They melt faster too, compared to a pile of one pounders).

This works for me, since I mostly use one or two alloys to cast several thousand bullets at a go, and don’t mind committing my stock by making final alloy. In ingot form, both the base metal stock and casting alloys take up much less room.

[Jtarm]

Duh, forgot I have a Sawz-All. Wax sounds good for lube. Stand by.

Eye protection!!!!!!!

I haven’t tried it, but seems to me a cheap bow-style pruning saw would have about the right amount of pitch & set for cutting soft lead.

Of course it would probably dull quickly.

[gwpercle]

Have to ask, what is a SFRB? May be simple but right now racking my brain, I come up with nothing.

chuck40219

Thanks for asking that ...
Gary

[Winger Ed.]

It's the 'Small Flat Rate Box' you get from the Post Office that you mail stuff in at a fixed price, not by weight.

[Walter Laich]

I used a chop saw with wax on blade every cut

probably ruined the blade but did get the block cut down to fit my pot