finally figured out how to dutch oven smelt

[Randall]

Use a thermometer! Learned that here.Also have some patience.I had tried a Lee pot to smelt in but it takes forever to clean a bucket full of WW. Tried a dutch oven and turkey fryer and ended up with purple blue and gold from high heat.Gave up on it for a while. Got a thermometer and it makes all the difference! The turkey fryer can make way too much heat too quick. I found if I keep it at 550 to 650 degrees once it starts melting I get excellent results.Once it is cleaned and fluxed I turn the heat down a little to pour,turn it up a little when I refill the pot.
Took some reading here to do it right,so thanks to everybody I can now get some volume cleaning done.
Randall

[jforwel]

You've got it. I used a thermometer for the first year and now I don't use it. Once all of the WW are melted I drop the heat and skim the top. Make sure your burner has a wind screen, you'll save a lot of propane that way. I had to add a piece of rolled sheet metal to mine.

[7of7]

I just went and got a 12" ducting joint (sheet metal) and did some snipping around one end... to allow the burned gasses to escape, but I also moved up my burner to about 3.5 inches from the bottom of the pan... Really have to turn it way down, to the point where it will blow out really easy...

[Randall]

I made a sheet metal wind guard about 3" tall that leaves about an inch of space around the pot for the heat to rise.The burner is about 3 to 4 inches below the pot.If I am not careful of the heat it will turn the lead all sorts of colors in short order.I was getting too impatient the first time I used it and kept turning up the heat.I now take some paper work to do while I watch the pot slowly melt the weights.

[torker]

I was thinking on making a wind screen of sort. Could someone possibly post a picture so we can get an idea of what it should look like? Thanks...

[ANeat]

Here is my wind screen

[jforwel]

Here is my rolled sheet metal shield. I have such a gap on my burner that I was wasting tons of propane on a breezy day.

[ANeat]

My walmart burner came with a shield around the burner and on the bottom

[justcharlie]

an old smoker makes a great wind screen just cut t down to fit .

[Cowboy T]

Yep, 600 degrees is my target temperature. No purple/yellow oxidation. aneat's burner looks a lot like the fish fryer burner at Wal-Mart, which is what I use.