Cheap cook pot for melting WWs?

[Old Iron Sights]

Got a hot plate for melting down wheel weights. Problem is, my cast iron skillet is too big for the burner and doesn't melt around the edges. Was thinking of just getting a cheap cook pot. Does it need to be SS? I assume theres no way to reclaim the cast iron skillet for cooking use again?

[Moonman]

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER cook food again in the cast iron, it's a smelting tool now.

[Wayne Smith]

Pick up a Coleman two burner stove or the new single burner outfit. Both very adequate and stable. Add a 20 gal. tank and you don't run out of gas so quickly. I smelt and cast on one.

[imashooter2]

No, the pot doesn't have to be stainless steel, it just can't be aluminum.

[Old Iron Sights]

I tried my two burner coleman camp stove and it can barely melt it. The skillet may just be too spread out.

[imashooter2]

My Coleman experience is that a 2.5 quart pot (2 quarts working capacity) is max before melt time gets unreasonable.

[Norbrat]

No, the pot doesn't have to be stainless steel, it just can't be aluminum.

Why can't it be aluminium? :confused:

I use an old aluminium stock pot on a propane camping stove for smelting ww's and scrap lead, and use a small aluminium saucepan as a ladle to fill the muffin tins for ingots, some of which are also aluminium.

All of these items were scrounged from Op (Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc) Shops, and cost a couple of bucks at most.

[imashooter2]

Why can't it be aluminium? :confused:

I use an old aluminium stock pot on a propane camping stove for smelting ww's and scrap lead, and use a small aluminium saucepan as a ladle to fill the muffin tins for ingots, some of which are also aluminium.

All of these items were scrounged from Op (Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc) Shops, and cost a couple of bucks at most.


Aluminum weakens considerably at the elevated temperatures involved with melting lead. Aluminum pots can fail catastrophically without warning, leaving you standing in a puddle of molten metal. This is generally regarded as a bad thing...

ETA, aluminum muffin cups, molds and so forth are fine. They don't get to the same temperatures as the smelting pot and they don't have the weight of several quarts of lead in them. For safety's sake, you would be wise to lose the aluminum smelting pot and sauce pan ladle.

[uscra112]

Aluminum weakens considerably at the elevated temperatures involved with melting lead. Aluminum pots can fail catastrophically without warning, leaving you standing in a puddle of molten metal. This is generally regarded as a bad thing...

ETA, aluminum muffin cups, molds and so forth are fine. They don't get to the same temperatures as the smelting pot and they don't have the weight of several quarts of lead in them. For safety's sake, you would be wise to lose the aluminum smelting pot and sauce pan ladle.

+1 to that ! Old heavy-duty SS saucepans are a glut on the market. Got 3 at an auction last weekend for 2 bucks. Don't risk it with aluminum!

[Norbrat]

Aluminum weakens considerably at the elevated temperatures involved with melting lead. Aluminum pots can fail catastrophically without warning, leaving you standing in a puddle of molten metal. This is generally regarded as a bad thing...

ETA, aluminum muffin cups, molds and so forth are fine. They don't get to the same temperatures as the smelting pot and they don't have the weight of several quarts of lead in them. For safety's sake, you would be wise to lose the aluminum smelting pot and sauce pan ladle.

OK, good point. Never had a problem so hadn't really thought about it.

Looks like I will be checking out the local Op Shops for a S/S pot.

Cheers.

[Old Iron Sights]

Yep. It's off to Goodwill and Salvation Army

[G__Fred]

I use an old propane turkey deep frier (i.e. single burner). Went to Good Will and secured a cast iron pot for 12.00. Same tools for smenting & casting!

[MikeS]

Compared to a cast iron dutch oven, do stainless steel pots tend to get hotter quicker? What I mean is if I replaced my dutch oven with a stainless steel sauce pan would the lead melt quicker, or would it be around the same?

[imashooter2]

Compared to a cast iron dutch oven, do stainless steel pots tend to get hotter quicker? What I mean is if I replaced my dutch oven with a stainless steel sauce pan would the lead melt quicker, or would it be around the same?

Slower. Stainless is not as good a conductor of heat as iron on the direct heated bottom and the thicker walls of the iron pot conduct heat up the sides which transfers to the pot contents.

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

Wait until the week of Thanksgiving. Cabela's and others will have Turkey Cookers on sale. You get a nice sturdy ring and frame to set the 8-12 qt dutch oven on, and a built in propane burner.
Steal the tank off of your grill, and get after it.

You can melt close to 100lbs of WW on it in an hour, and the capacity makes it easy to alloy in 100lb batches.

Rich

[D Crockett]

I don't know about you guys but I will only use a steel or stanless steel pot to melt my ww in and I will tell you why ---- My Aluminum pot experence (VERY BAD) I was melting lead in a aluminum pot and makeing fish sinkers using a colman stove for the heat source I was about 17years old at the time went inside the house to get a drink herd a noisy out side and the pot failed I bet if you looked hard enough today you still could find some lead from that mess ---- fast foward to 3 years ago now 57 years old had a cast iron duch oven melting ww in was doing great one day had probly 40 or 50 3lb ingots made up and was pouring a ingot I saw some slag in the ladel just taped the ladel on the side of the cast iron pot and before you could blink a eye there was a very thin strean of lead about 3inches hi coming out the side of the douch oven luckly it was on the side faceing to my right and not twords me every sience then I have used a steel pot I made out of a 20lb propaine tank I hope this helps someone to not make the mistakes I have made I was very lucky with my experences but others might not be D Crockett

[Pigslayer]

Well, it is small but Lyman still offers their ten lb. cast iron lead pot. I cooked down a lot of ww's in one.

[zuke]

I use an oldd Stainless Steel pressure cooker.
That's a coffee can for size comparison.
http://i807.photobucket.com/albums/yy356/zuke_bucket/pressurecookermeltingpot067.jpg