which burner for melting WW?

[Michael J. Spangler]

hi everyone.

does anyone have experience with either of these? and if you do you have pros and cons on the specific burner types?
thanks for the help

http://bayouclassicdepot.com/sp10_propane_burner.htm

http://bayouclassicdepot.com/sp1_propane_jet_burner.htm

[Hickory]

I believe anything over 60,000 btu will melt lead very well.
I'd get the cheaper one.

[454PB]

That will work. Plenty of heat (185K BTU), but you may want to beef up those support legs.

[Michael J. Spangler]

Sweet.
The normal cast iron burner one says it's goof for a 30gallon pot of water.
240#
That should hold up hopefully. I'm using the bottom half of a propane tank as a melting pot. I'll just keep a close eye on the amount of lead I'm melting.

Thanks again.

[sirgknight]

Either one would be more than enough btu to melt lead, and 454pb is giving some good advice. For that reason I would go with the more expensive one. If you will notice on the cheaper one there is no underneath support for the ribs over the burner. On the more expensive one the ribs are supported with a steel rim all the way around the inside of the ribs, very much like the burner set-up that I use. It appears to be a much better made burner and would certainly be worth the few extra dollars for the quality. You will need this support when dealing with heavy molten lead that could spill on your legs or worse. You will also need a very sturdy pot to place on top of that burner. For extra safety I cut a slot into the bottom of the legs (may be difficult to see in the pic) on my pot so that the ribs on the burner will slip up into the slots. This makes it practically impossible for an accidental spill. Also you'll notice from the coloration inside the pot that I only melt enough lead to fill about half of the pot, just another safety precaution.

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h241/sirgknight/DSCI0003.jpg

http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h241/sirgknight/DSCI0005.jpg

[wtfooptimax200]

I have the standard Bass Pro burner that fits under a custom stand that I built to hold as much lead as I would ever care to smelt. This is one case where you can never be too safe....to say that my stand is overbuilt would be an understatement.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_186514e90d3b1ad84f.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=2371)

My propane tank pot sits directly on the stand and the burner does not hold any of the weight.

[94Doug]

I have the first one. I think I got it through Amazon, when they had free shipping promotions, and paid about $40. a few years back....it works fine!

Doug

[DODGEM250]

hi everyone.

does anyone have experience with either of these? and if you do you have pros and cons on the specific burner types?
thanks for the help

http://bayouclassicdepot.com/sp10_propane_burner.htm

http://bayouclassicdepot.com/sp1_propane_jet_burner.htm

LMAO Why Yes I do... This set up is from my Bayou Classic steamer pot burner base. It doesn't do crabs or shrimp in the winter, but, it sure will melt lead in a hurry. For purposes of compactness, I removed the burner itself from the BC burner rig and drilled a hole in a section on 2 X 8 to insert the burners mounting bolt and simply bolted the burner to the board base. I used a small u-bolt to prevent the burner from turning back/front. This gets the flame on the pot with a 3/4" gap between the burner and the pot. Otherwise the flame isn't close enough if the burner is left on the BC rig. Get the pot hot is where it's at. My burner plate between the pot and the burner is made of two 3" right angle brackets screwed together, this allows the flame to have a gap of 3/4" between the pot and burner.

[milprileb]

http://bayouclassicdepot.com/sp10_propane_burner.htm

I got the bigger more $$ model as I liked the stability of the stand. It has done the
job of smelting all metals perfectly.

Dutch oven from Walmart on top of it and I am melting significant metal !

[Michael J. Spangler]

sweet! thanks for the info guys

[DukeInFlorida]

HIGH PRESSURE is the key

BTW, if anyone needs any knife work done, Michael J Spangler is one of the best!

He re-did the handle on my favorite family heirloom kitchen knife, and it's now not only my favorite heirloom kitchen knife, it's also a work of art.

He does all sorts of knives from scratch, and his prices are reasonable. And, he's a new caster, so be good to him.

[Jim Flinchbaugh]

I was in HomoDepot yesterday, and picked up a Brinkman turkey fryer that is almost identical the the one in your first link, its 45k BTU. 14 quart dutch oven on top, had a 100 pounds of melted lead in about 15 minutes :) I do agree that the bottom of the oven is too far from the flame for best economy, but this was built for 375* turkey cooking , not a smelting op.
A remold of the base is in order
Oh, the price? 39.95-- Thanksgiving is over I guess :D