Will it do for smelting??

[cloakndagger]

After spending several hours smelting small batches of raw stock to make ingots in my 12" cast iron skillet the other night I've been eyeing a steel bottle in the scrap pile that once held premix expanding foam.... I run my initial melt fair,y low over a gas cooker to avoid contamination and to lessen oxidation when I smelt. I usualy use a ladle to pour tbe ingots out of fear of a large spill of my valuable work. The bottles are 2 gal and about the same steel consistenci as a propane bottle. If I cut the top off and build a bail for it will there be any problem in using it to smelt? Ive only ever used cast iron...

[Spawn-Inc]

does it look similar to this?

58201

if so i took the same style container and cut the top off, then welding the handles from the top to the sides of the tank. works great for me over a turkey fryer. mine had thick gauge wire handles, not stamped ones. but it would work the same.


my only concern would be all the **** that's left inside from the foam, if there was no bag inserted when they filled it/installed the bottle tap. i would find some acetone before you cut the tank open if the contents are still wet, acetone works wonders on spray foam residue removal if not dried/set.

[cloakndagger]

Yup, looks like that, but a bit smaller. We poped a hole in it with a mattock and all the foam is dry (it was mostly empty), thinking about cutting it at the seam and welding on a stout lifting bail to use with our overhead. I use a big "hominy" burner for melting, it throws a very consistent flame that doesnt get too hot too quickly. May try to fashon a bottom valve for it (or make two bowls as I have several tanks) to try to bottom pour into my mini loaf pans.