Doing the Drudgery.

[bowfin]

Well, today I tried to put as much drudge work behind me for boolit casting.

I started with a rusty bucket of wheelweights. I smelted them down, fluxed, and poured into the muffin tins. Then did a half a bucket of "clean" wheelweights.

Next project was to strip the lead sheathing off a pile of electrical cable. The two strand stuff isn't bad, but the four strand is twisted and wrapped with a fabric electrical tape. About a foot per pull is alll I get before the strand being pulled is behind the other three strands and I'm fighting the whole pile. That means it is time to pass the strand being pulled around the back and give it another heave.

Well, once the "drudge work" is behind me, the steps get easier and (to me) more fun. Looking forward to running the Waxmeister on some more .357 hollowpoints from a Mihec mold.

That reminds me, I still have to mark the ingots "WW" and untie the wire frem the maple tree before I am done for the day.:)

[468]

Well, I hope your weather is cooler there. I think it hit 100 today here in LA.

[bowfin]

Only 82º here today, so that's why I fired up the side burner on the grill.

I still have some BIG cable to strip. That looks like hammer and chisel work.

[MikeS]

what would happen if you just threw the cable (coiled up in a roll) into your smelting pot as it is? Couldn't you do that, then pull out the copper cable (or whatever it's made from) from the pot once the lead has melted? That way the insulation could also work as a flux, and make a boring job an easy one. Keep in mind that I have no idea what the cable looks like, so if this is a stupid/silly question, just let me know.

[mroliver77]

I use a circular saw with an old carbide blade to cut down the side of the lead sheathing. The wire then pulls right out the side.

I pile the coated wire and set it on fire. I tend the fire with a rake or pitchfork while burning to keep it from overheating the wire. Once burnt the ash is raked up and disposed of. The wire sells as #2 copper around here.

I have a bunch of 1" or so lead shielded that has a bunch of small telephone sized wires inside. Each wire is wrapped with a thin paper. It is easy to clean. I sold around 100lbs of scrap copper last month.
Jay