Yesterday I spent my second Saturday struggling to keep my firewood smelter hot enough to melt lead. I think I've got the deck stacked against me. I made my smelter out of stuff I had which consisted of a 55 gallon drum with a cut off section of a stainless steel keg (could hold up to about 400lbs). Cut a hole in the drum lid so the keg drops down in, reinforced the opening, then used an angle grinder to open up a dozen vent holes at the bottom and top of the drum. The first Saturday I was able to get 100lbs to melt. But with the keg being so wide it only amounted to about an inch deep. Not really deep enough to start production.
Yesterday I added another 2 rings of vent holes to the bottom and a bunch to the top to increase air flow. I was hoping to get a much hotter burn going so I could really melt the lead fast. At first it seemed promising. Got a very hot fire going and the 100lbs of lead liquefied in about 45 minutes. I spent the next 6 hours trying to keep the drum fed with wood enough to keep the lead melted. No matter how hard I tried the lead wouldn't get hot enough to allow me to drop in a whole vent pipe w/ flange (~5lbs) without freezing over and taking another hour to liquefy again. After going through this routine numerous times the Sun went down and now I've lost all faith in the viability of my smelting rig.
It just got me wondering what the narrative of a typical smelting session sounds like. I've been reading every post here for some time now and I know most of you like your turkey fryer w/ cast iron dutch oven rigs. I'm about ready to go shell out for one of those since they clearly work. I've also seen a few folks here run a setup similar to mine fueled with firewood (with a cut off propane tank for the pot, etc.). What's your secret?
I'd like to solicit comments on what kind of production you're able to get out of your smelting rigs? Specifically...
1) Describe your smelter?
2) How many hours do you typically smelt in one session?
3) How many pounds of ingots do you typically produce in a session?
4) Do you smelt solo; or do you have a buddy helping?
5) Do you cut up all the larger lead into small pieces and add the pieces slowly? If so, what would be the heaviest chunk of lead you'd consider adding to your pot without worrying about the melt freezing over?
6) Any words of wisdom to help me get a good idea of how a typical smelting session should go as well as any tricks or techniques you use that you feel are crucial to a good rate of production. Much thanks in advance!