Pyrex pot for smelting?

[MT Gianni]

Cook food in a lodge DU and smelt in a foreign made one.

[dikman]

Nothing wrong with trying to do it "on-the-cheap" - many would have started the same way, trying to get a feel for what was involved. It doesn't have to be cast iron, a decent stainless steel pot will work fine (even a big saucepan), the main limitation being how much you can melt at a time.

I would never trust any kind of glassware for melting lead - far too dangerous - and don't use aluminium either.

[Bad Water Bill]

The OLD blue flowered Corning ware was shown on TV for years heated red hot then dropped into a container of water with ice cubes floating on the top.

No I never tried it nor do I have a clue how to hold it while filling a mould.

I still use an old 3# coffee can.

No I gave up counting the 5 gal buckets of cow that can has melted down over 40+ years.

[bandmiller2]

If you know a plumber ask him about a led pot most are not using them anymore and will give them away, wile your at it mayby you can buy his propane melter. I set my lead pot in my outdoor wood furnace, 15 min. and skim and pour into muffin tins. Frank C.

[wbrco]

I am definitely looking for the $5 option. My wife could care less on sauce pans. I however will not give up my copper clad bottom stainless sauce pots, or my cooking cast iron for lead.

I did score last night while "stealing" some of my mother's home made jelly. Found an old single coil hot plate. Mom said it was almost as old as I am (1962) but it looks in really good shape. I'll try 're-check some of the thrift stores for a SS pot. I'll also chec out the Wentzville flea market. I don't want to drive all over the St Louis metro to try to save $10.

[Lance Boyle]

+1 to the no glass thing too just to pile on and avoid a disaster. I've had a few baking casserole pyrex dishes shatter on me. One was because I added water to prevent something from burning on the bottom (to save for gravy iirc) and the other was just old old stuff and had enough scratches that I think one of the scratches with enough heat swings parted. Scratches from what I understand are a focal point for stress or something like that.

My first was a 2 or 3 quart stainless steel revere ware dutch oven with the brass handles broken off. Over time the rivets securing the brass handles popped (normal cooking not in lead production). My second pot is a cut down old style propane tank which I think is just about perfect for melting down wheel weights. I have no handles on mine. It prevents me from thinking of pouring with it. No handles means I leave it alone on the burner and dip with a big plumbers lead ladle to fill ingot molds.

[Airman Basic]

Bought a Lee Magnum Melter just for smelting. Does about 20 pounds in 30 minutes or so. Price is reasonable considering it comes with it's own heat source.
http://www.amazon.com/Lee-Precision-.../dp/B00162RW52

[afish4570]

I would find an old grill propane tank and cut it into. You can smelt a little or a lot. Someone on here sells them already converted if you don't have the tools to do it. A machine shop would do it for not much. The propane tank you could probably get for free.

If you don't have a mini grinder, Harbor Freight sells them with a coupon (4 1/2" model) for $9.99 or 14.99. Uses less than half a thin cut off wheel at a $1 or 2 . Takes ten or twelve min. to do the job. Take the necessary precautions if the tank had anything flamable in it. Search the forums on how to do....safely.Afish4570

[trixter]

I don't think I would attempt to use anything glass. Too scarey for me.

[NavyVet1959]

It looks to be pretty much unanimous -- don't use glass for smelting lead.

But if for some reason you do, please take a video of the process so that we can see what it looks like when the pot eventually shatters and a quart or so of molten lead goes all over everywhere.

I knew a guy who was using reclaimed glass for the windows in the camp house he was building. He came across some fairly thick pieces of glass for really cheap, but they weren't the size he needed. So, he decided that he would just cut them like with any other pieces of glass. He ran the glass cutter across one end to score the glass and then went to break it like he had done with all the ones before. Well, it turned out that this piece of glass was tempered glass, so instead of cracking along the line, the entire piece of glass broke into hundreds of little pieces. Some of us have seen the same sort of breakage with glass cookware if they had scratches on them.

You also have to remember than during smelting, you are often going to be knocking your slotted spoon / ladle against the edge of the pot to knock the solidified lead off of it. Will that be enough stress on the glass that it will shatter if there are any scratches on it? Maybe... You'll find out...

[Changeling]

I had this old Pyrex BIG cassarole type dish that I cooked "Hog Maw" in. One day after cooking it (full container), I was removing it from the oven to the top of the stove to cool off when it just EXPLODED!
That was the first one I lost, the next one I just plain dropped going from a cool oven top to put into the frig for keeping (ingrediants/pot cool), I simply dropped it and it exploded sending glass fragrements EVERYWHARE!

Ask me how many glass anything pots/pans I now have !!! I went out and bought a complete set of top rated METAL cookware, Emerille Lagessie (spelling) and have never had another problem.

Sir,that was just from cooking food! I sincerely hope the 2 cooking examples gives you some time to reflect!

[NavyVet1959]

I had this old Pyrex BIG cassarole type dish that I cooked "Hog Maw" in. One day after cooking it (full container), I was removing it from the oven to the top of the stove to cool off when it just EXPLODED!
That was the first one I lost, the next one I just plain dropped going from a cool oven top to put into the frig for keeping (ingrediants/pot cool), I simply dropped it and it exploded sending glass fragrements EVERYWHARE!

Ask me how many glass anything pots/pans I now have !!! I went out and bought a complete set of top rated METAL cookware, Emerille Lagessie (spelling) and have never had another problem.

Sir,that was just from cooking food! I sincerely hope the 2 cooking examples gives you some time to reflect!

Yep, when pyrex glass fails, it fails spectacularly!

I use Magnalite Professional and the old style Magnalite for most of my cooking. It's a thick aluminum, but I would not use it for smelting (besides it being a waste to use good cookware for lead). I have some Lodge cast iron cookware that I use for deep frying, stir frying, and blackened steaks. I use a cheap foreign made cast iron dutch oven for smelting.