Cast Aluminum Pot: Will It Work for Melting?

[RG1911]

Before I ruin a heavy aluminum pot for cooking, will it work as a melting pot or does lead stick to it?

Thank you,
Richard

[dragonrider]

Aluminum pots have been known to fail. Go with stainless.

[Jim Flinchbaugh]

What he^^ said, And with out warning. they will be fine and then just fall apart,
or when loaded with lead, blow out

[cbrick]

No aluminum pots for smelting/casting. Save it for the soup or stew. Aluminum gets very soft at molten lead temps + the weight of the lead and could very well create a life altering experience.

Rick

[zuke]

Good idea, but nope, it'll die on you.
I picked up a Stainless steel pressure cooker at a flea market for $0.50

[Hickory]

Aluminum will disqualify itself during use,

[RG1911]

Aluminum will disqualify itself during use,

Love that description. Ranks along with rekitting a radio-control model airplane or spontaneous disassembly of a pistol.

Shall keep the aluminum for food.

Cheers,
Richard

[mdi]

As previous answers say; not a good idea. The scary part is there is usually no indication of impending failure, it just comes apart.

[rodsvet]

NO!! Be safe!

[FLINTNFIRE]

Used a stainless with a heavy bottom , when I was unable to find my old cast plumbers pot , lasted for quite a bit , but then the bottom separated , still was usable but was on the way out , made an old propane tank and have not looked back

[xrae21]

Wife bought me one about 3 months ago. I thought I would give it a try knowing that it might fail so I did a test batch roughly 50# ww and it worked ok. The second batch was around 150# ww and the pot failed. Took half a day to clean up the mess and I had to cut the pot in half to get the remaining lead out of it. So I'd say stay away from alum pots like it was the plague. Dumb on my part cause I knew better.

[MtGun44]

Aluminum gets very weak at casting temps, and lead sticks slightly to it, not too bad
but unsafe. Use cast iron as first choice, SS is OK but awful heat transfer, really doesn't
make all that much difference with lead, but sure does cook unevenly.

Bill

[3jimbo3]

Thanks for all the input. Safety is a huge priority when I cast. I thought this would be the outcome of my question, I just needed your opinion. I will take this advise and steer clear of the aluminum pot. I will just use it camping or something. Thanks again guys.

[DennisMcharold]

Not a good idea. Unsafe
Plenty of cast iron and Steel pots to be found at flea markets and garage sales. Does not have to be pretty.

[Jack Stanley]

Just for what it's worth jimbo , when I was a die cast machine operator running aluminum we used two common alloys . The normal holding temerature for use in the machines was about seventeen hundred and thirty degrees if I remember right . Some heat sources can get to that quite easy and you will never see it turn red ..... it'll just turn loose .

Jack