First smelting session lessons learned

[klausg]

Gang-

I've finally got enough stuff to start, bare bones, but it'll work. My molds arrived, (found 'em on eBay) and are currently soaking in denatured alcohol to hopefully degrease them. Anything else I should be doing to them? I am planning on scrubbing them up with a nylon brush tonight.

The first smelting operation took place in the back of my pickup, I live in an apartment complex, and while I am single, I didn't want to fume out the whole place. A few lessons learned, some you may even find humorous:

1) Gotta get a bigger pot, I'm thinking about trying to find a 2-4qt dutch oven at a yard sale; the thrift shops around town didn't have anything like that.

2) Make sure the Coleman is full of fuel before you start.

3) Corralary to #2, when re-fueling, don't place your pot down on asphalt, it'll melt. Oops!

4) More on melting stuff, the spoon you are stirring with gets HOT; don't set it down on your plastic bed liner. It tends to stick and smell funny when you start stirring again, though I guess the plastic could be considered a flux of sorts.

5) This one only really applies to people who live up here where the sun doesn't like to go down, keep an eye on your watch. Especially when you have to be at work by 0530 the next day.

All in all everything went okay, I will admit to approaching the idea of fluxing with quite a lot of trepidation, consequently I think I probably need to flux some more. There was just something about throwing a piece of wax into a pot of molten lead; in the words of the former, almost Mrs. Klaus, "Are you crazy!? My response was always "Well, yeah, but you don't have to advertise the fact" Anyway, hope my mis-adventures brighten your day, take care

-SSG Klaus

[No_1]

Good Job Brother! There is always the first time for everything.

For flux, I just pick up the 4 pack of kiddie-crayons when I go to the resturant. They come in a nice little storage box but I have since expanded to a large coffee can and have more than I will ever need. Of course it will always scare the sh*t! out of you when it ignites everytime you drop one in. Use a lot of them because you can never flux too much.

I bought a stainless soup pot from the local yard sale. I kinda think that the coleman can only handle so much weight so keep in mind the weight of the pot / weight of the lead in mind (heavier pot = less lead for total weight) when you load it up for the smelt. I also leave a layer of lead in the bottom maybe 1/2" thick to help with heating next time I light it off.

About the bed liner melting, I have found that the moulds will make a perfect imprint on the bedliner and tend to stick pretty good once they have cooled off.....

I purchased a good long handle straining spoon and a soup ladle from walmart (stainless revereware to boot) for a very cheap cost. They have done very well for the last 5-6 years. I also combined those with welding gloves from a yard sale. I always use them for both hands until I start casting then go to a right hander only (for opening the sprue plate) and they have save my sweet lil fingers more than once.

Good Luck

Robert

[steveb]

CONGRATS on your first smelting operation.

I broke my cherry a few months ago with some frustrating moments, and still have frustaring moments but it is very enjoyable all in all.:drinks:

[rebliss]

Klaus. I enjoyed reading about your smelting session. You're a good writer; you should think of chronicling your misadventures. Lots of experienced folks on here, but lots of newbies too. At the least, it would give the old salts pause to think, "Oh, I remember doing that!"

[buck1]

Klaus. "Oh, I remember doing that!"


Yep we all started somewhat like that. ....Buck

[doc25]

I'll probably be doing my first this weekend I'll let you know if I burn the place down.

[Bucks Owin]

Way to go pal! Kinda fun huh?

Here's a tip for all that smoke while you flux, just set the smoke on fire... (really!)

The small flame is much easier to take than the clouds of smelly smoke....

FWIW,

Dennis

[buck1]

Way to go pal! Kinda fun huh?

Here's a tip for all that smoke while you flux, just set the smoke on fire... (really!)

The small flame is much easier to take than the clouds of smelly smoke....

FWIW,

Dennis
Just toss in a wooden match, you dont even have to strike it. .....Buck1

[David R]

Interesting that you smelted in the back of a pickup. I had a nice house in the woods with a garage. Did my casting in the garage. Life was good. I relocated and moved to a trailer park for a year until I decided to stay in the new location. I used to open the side doors of my old dodge cargo van. I sat in a kitchen chair outside with the coleman stove in the van for a "casting bench". The doors kept the breeze away and most of the people could not see what I was doing. When the kids would come around and ask what I was doing, I would say "making sinkers". They bought it. Next house I got a lee 10 lb bottom pour and worked in the basement. Aside from complaints in the house about the smell, it worked pretty good. I now have a 2 car garage dedacated to me with heat, a casting bench with an RCBS 20 lb pro melt AND a reloading bench.

Its as much fun any way I poured boolits as long as I was shooting.

David

[Blacktail 8541]

When I started smelting my WW a while back I used a coleman stove and a 3 qt stainless steel suace pan. It took about 3 hrs to melt a 5 gal bucket of wheel weights. I thuoght that took to long and bought a 5 QT dutch oven. Big mistake, the coleman does not put out enough heat when it is completly full of melt, it will only handle it 2/3 rds full and keep it liqiud and not slushy. I've since built a 500,000 BTU burner and stand that a dinosaur could stand on and not collapse. It is made of an old paddel tire rim with 45 degree tabs welded around the inside. I now think of smelting as an enjoable part of the casting program instead of something to dread.

[454PB]

This is great! I wish you guys would get a digital camera and share some of this visually.

[Goatlips]

454BP,

If you want a few pictures, try here:

http://goatlipstips.cas-town.com/smelting.html

Goatlips

[454PB]

Hey, Goatlips, I've seen your excellent pictures and procedures. I was talking about some of the "improvising" described here. David R's post had me laughing. I've done some pretty hairy stuff, but smelting in the van was funny. I enjoy seeing inovative ideas as Blacktail 8541 describes.

[robertbank]

Dipping a long candle into the pot to flux for a second or two is a neat way to do it I have found. Best to keep pulling the wick off as the wax is consumed or things can get interesting - don't ask! Dropping the hot metal clips into a metal coffee can is a convenient way to dispose of the things unless you have a old cigarette package in the can. Having the can under the chair you are sitting on adds to the excitement of melting down WW considerably....wife enjoyed the scene much more than I did.

Take Care

[boogerred]

no wonder the uninformed call us gunnuts. yes i have done some of these things and yes i have avoided doing some of these things by checking in here pretty often. keep after it,klausg,your not the first man to drop a brick on his toe.

[Pawpaw]

Thanks guys. I was wondering what I was going to blog about this morning and you gave me my subject matter. See it here (http://pawpawshouse.blogspot.com/2006/05/smelting.html).

We've all done that stuff, and we wonder why they call us gun nuts. Good thread.

[Dale53]

Pawpaw;
Good topic well handled. I recently did a two part (soon to be a three part) on beginning casting for the Single Shot Rifle Journal. We touched on many of the same points. Safety with molten lead cannot be stressed too much.

Dale53

[454PB]

Well written and informative, I like the safety emphasis. I even bookmarked it so I can drop in again and read about motorcycles, my second passion :castmine:

Or is it first?

[targetshootr]

Good going. The only place I could find a cast iron dutch oven was at Gander Mountainwhen I got going several weeks ago. Smelting was incredible fun (or I just don't get out enough). Then Sunday I started casting and loaded some yesterday and tried them out this morning. Don't remember anything so satisfying. Here's a pic of todays best target.
http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b233/targetshootr/Im002376.jpg

[doc25]

I did my first smelting this weekend and some of my ingots broke when I dropped them out of my mold. The lead looks kind of spongy inside. Is this normal?

[robertbank]

Let them cool more in the mold. If you drop them to early they will do that because they have not set up yet. Usually when they get dull on the surface they are ready to be dropped out.

Take Care

[454PB]

It's not unusual for them to break if they are dumped while too hot. I wouldn't call "spongy" normal, they usually look crystalline on the broken edge.

[Pawpaw]

I did my first smelting this weekend and some of my ingots broke when I dropped them out of my mold. The lead looks kind of spongy inside. Is this normal?

Yup! You're not letting them cool long enough before you drop them. The middle is still soft. What you are seeing (spongy) is the metallic crystals partially formed.

You'd be surprised how many broken ingots I drop into the pot. They work just fine. Anecdotally, I was casting hot last night and let the mold get too hot, and I dropped some bullets that broke. I've gotta remember to cool the mold more often when I am casting fast.

By the way, that six hole 311041 we bought as a group-buy sure casts a pile of bullets in a hurry. Good, clean bullets that are suprisingly uniform. This mold is the first six-hole I have owned, and I don't know how I made do with smaller molds.