Thoughts on homebuilt ladles

[phishfood]

I have a turkey frier, a 2-cavity mold, a cast iron pan, and a few pounds of wheelweights. But I still need a ladle.

A buddy has a furnace and some experience with forging, and has offered to drink beer and shout encouragment while I attempt to manufacture one. I have some 16 gauge sheet metal, which we were thinking of beating out around a trailer hitch ball. He has some 3/16" round stock for a handle rod, though I am a little concerned that it might be a little too thin to hold up a pound or so of molten lead reliably. A piece of oaken dowel would probably suffice for a handle, unless I get really cheap and hunt down some dried oak limb in the yard.

I want to be able to scoop from a rather shallow draft, as the pan I currently have is not very deep. Hopefully, I will happen across a better one sometime soon, but in the meantime...

Also I am considering making a strainer spoon, similar to a spaghetti spoon, to remove steel clips and such, while I am at it.

If anyone has any input as to what shape, pouring indents, suitability of the listed materials, or anything else that might cross your mind, I would be most appreciative for the help.

[mooman76]

I made a ladle for my ingots from a 6oz juice can cut down and a stick. I also have a slotted metal spoon I got from the $ store. Works reat for scooping out the clips and such.

[phishfood]

LOL, and I thought I was lowbuck! I think that there is a thrift store or two close to work that I could hit during lunch, see if I could find a slotted metal spoon. I think that one would take some time, especially cutting the slots in it, so if I can spend a dollar or so, I might be lazy about it.

[SciFiJim]

Phish - while you are at the thrift store look for a soup ladle. I found a stainless steel one for $1. It has a metal handle, so I used a 6 inch piece of ax handle on the end. The ax handle is from one I broke chopping wood. I notched out a slot in the wood to receive the metal handle by drilling a line of small holes in the end and then busting out the spaces between the holes with a knife. I then drilled through the wood and the metal handle and pinned it with a roll pin.

I also bent a pour spout into the lip of the ladle to help the metal pour where I want it to go.

[RayinNH]

Phish, if your going to try to forge the bowl do it from the inside not the outside. Don't try beating it around a ball, that is an exercise in frustration. Dish the bowl from inside by hammering it into the end grain of a log while the piece is hot. It will form its own depression. Once you have a bit of a depression you can now do some hammering cold, heat it every now and then to prevent cracking the bowl. Use a ball peen hammer to do this. You should be able to accomplish this in fifteen minutes or so. Grind the top flat afterwards and put a pouring lip on each side of the bowl...Ray

[evan price]

You can buy one-piece stainless steel soup ladles and slotted spoons for a couple bucks at Wal*Mart, Target, Meijer, or anyplace that sells kitchen stuff, I got my soup ladle at Goodwill for fifty cents.
Saw this as a tagline on another forum:
"Never underestimate the amount of work a cheapskate will expend to save $20!"

[jawjaboy]

Here's a homemade ingot ladle of mine. Bottom pour. Stainless steel. Made from a 4" to 3" pipe reducer.

[HeavyMetal]

Jawjaboy:

Nice Ladle! That must hold about 6 to 8 pounds of lead?

Like the shape but my ingots are only 2 or 3 pounds at best. You have given me some ideas and I appreciate it!

[jawjaboy]

Thanks. It will hold a 12 ounce can of liquid in volume, never weighed a ladle full of lead though. It will pour a 6 pound ingot with plenty of room to spare.

Her's another pic. The sliding handle is a piece of 1/2" pipe with a split collar welded on each end. The stationary handle threads into the cup and is held in place with a jamb nut.

[tall grass]

Gee, if I weren't going to use a soup ladle I would just pinch a corner in the lip of a bean can, melt my ww or what ever in it and put a vice grip on the lip of the can for a handle (bend the lip over with the vice grips so it is right angles). It's how I did my first boolits and it didn't work too bad. If you have access to a cut off wheel and a welder, some pipe scraps and etc. you should be able to make a pretty nice ladle. If you want a bottom pour ladle weld a small angle iorn to the inside of the ladle up off the bottom a bit.

free advice for what it's worth

Jim