smelting for first time, feel free to input

[elginrunner]

Ok , so I worked a deal for 100 lbs of sheet lead that came off a roof. It's been in a barn and has lots of dirt dobbers nest and crud on it. I just came back from wally world with a lodge dutch oven, and have a propane fish cooker. I'm low on saw dust at the moment so I figured I'd run a few peices of scrap pine 2x4's through the planer to make some saw dust for fluxing. I have slotted spoons, and metal ladels to pour into plane steel muffin pans. Am I missing anything??


As a side note, I feel like a knuckle head for buying a new cast iron dutch oven to ruin it with lead. I plan on marking it with my dremmel some how to let others know it's not for cooking.

[Bullet Caster]

Sounds like yer good to go. Maybe a casting thermometer to tell ya what temp. yer smelting at. BC

[7Acres]

You're diving in head first. I like that. Add sawdust liberally and your alloy will not separate or oxidize.

[dmclark523]

+1 For Lodge pots! Burned out #350 pounds of wheel-weights in that thing in just over 2 days this past summer. Mine has a nice cover, which helps keep in the heat a little better.

Don't forget to wear a good quality mask! If nothing else, safety glasses! Good luck!

[arjacobson]

Make some kind of shield that goes around the bottom of the fish cooker. THAT helps a bunch! Mine is a few traffic light shields that wrap around the bottom of the cooker.Very ghetto but they were free and work great.. I actually like to smelt more than the casting!!!!

[10 ga]

Welcome elginrunner!
Safety quipment. Gloves, good protective boots, protective shirt, protective pants(I wear Carhart) welders bibs), protective eye/face covering. AND do not smoke, chew, dip, eat, drink, text, message, answer phone, or have a conversation or visitors in the smelting area. Stop, cool down and rest if ya gotta do that stuff. Then back to the work area. A mishap or accident can be very bad.

Now all you need is experience.

I'm guessing that elginrunner is cause ya gots antique outboard motor?

Welcome to another addiction.

Best, 10 ga

[Nose Dive]

Das es gut Man 10ga!

Elginrunner....go read all, and I Mean ALL the stickies on this piece of the forum. YOU CAN GET SERIOUSLY HURT performing this HOBBY. I mean blinded, maimed and, have your house burned to the GROUND.

BE SMART elginrunner. READ HERE. Kids around you smelt pot can be blinded...and that is for LIFE... That will Be YOUR FAULT. Just go up to the stickies and spend the two hours and read them. YOU WILL LEARN WHAT YOU DO NOT KNOW NOW. Dumping metal in a pot, bringing it to 700 degress is DANGEROUS. There are many 'stupid' things you can do to get third degree burns while 'having fun' smelting.

Neophyte mistakes can make your bot BLOW UP in your face, burn your eyes OUT and set your home on fire and kill you, your wife, your kids and your dog and cat. READ HERE FIRST.

Our hobby is fun. This site is testimate we all enjoy it. But, being new, there are many items of dangerous behavior that you will not have a second chance to 'learn from your mistakes'.

You got two buckets of Wheel Weights. Heat some up. Add some in. Add some more in...KABOOOMMMBB! You just lost your eyes, legs, kid's eyes, by making a stupid NEOPHYTE mistake buddy!... Kid blinded? Legs with third degree burns? House on fire? mmmm

Read about all that here and USE YOUR HEAD.

READ HERE...READ HERE...READ HERE. There. My conscious is clear. I have told your three times.

Nose Dive

Cheap, Fast, Good. Kindly pick two.

[elginrunner]

I appreciate the warning, I have a bit of practical knowledge about the kabooms. I used to work in "endshield die cast" casting motor shields from molten aluminum. Every month or so a new boy or temp worker would think, hey my coke can is AL i'll throw it in the scrap line (that fed straight to the smelter) Kaboom, dust and dirt would fall from the ceiling and the smelter operator would be headed for the super's office to chew on his butt.....

[**oneshot**]

Preheat your pot upside down on an open fire to get all the oil out of it. I did mine on a campfire, got it to almost glowing, turned it over and scooped in the ashes from the fire, set it off to the side to cool down.

[Boolseye]

Welcome to the club! It's a great pastime.

Nosedive...I appreciate your words of doom. It's good to remember how quickly this stuff can go from fun to tragedy in a moment of complacency.
Safety–safety–safety...we like happy casters, not hurt ones.

[Bigslug]

A can of silicone spray to hit the pot with after you're finished will help keep rust under control.

My own recent approach is to not completely empty the pot each time you've got a melt. That 1"-2" puddle at the bottom seems to help get the following addition to a liquid state much faster.

I'm also big on wrapping the feed hose from the propane tank in aluminum foil. You're running A LOT of heat for A LONG TIME and have MOLTEN METAL drippings. It's a cheap way to prolong the life of your gear.

[Jon]

It sounds like you're all set. Start with a cold pot, and leave the cover cracked a little bit so the steam can escape. Otherwise it tends to just condense on the lid, and stay in the pot. The lead flashing will be mostly pure lead, so you'll have to add some tin to it if you need it a little harder. I use candle wax to flux, but sawdust works too.

If you need harder lead, there are plenty of people that will trade you for your pure. Pure lead is hard to come by, and anyone that shoots muzzleloaders needs the softer lead.

Keep kids and animals away, and wear some gloves and eye protection at the very least.

[cat223]

Listen to Nose Dive! This stuff will do things that I had never heard of and thankfully have not seen first hand. It is an amazing thing, the experience and knowledge contained in this forum. Use it to your advantage. Have fun and be safe.

[Defcon-One]

I have ruined a Lodge Dutch over myself. Bought it two years ago and it has melted over 3,000-4,000 lbs. of lead alloys with a similar stove setup to yours. I hope yours does as well for you!

Don't bother marking it. Just use it 5 or 10 time for lead smelting and nobody will dare to go near it for FOOD. They get real ugly, real quick at those temps!

Also, just take normal precautions and move slowly! Eye protection is a must, long sleeves, high boots under long pants. Wear cotton, not synthetics, which melt! Smelt outside and keep kids, cats and dogs away from your setup. Keep the pot low and work from above so spills will not land on you.

No smoking, eating or drinking while smelting! Clean everything after and wash hands twice before eating. I usually throw everything in the washer, then take a shower before I do anything else or eat. You should be fine!

Enjoy it as I have!

DC-1

[detox]

Ok It's been in a barn and has lots of dirt dobbers nest and crud on it.

Pressure wash and dry your lead sheet before smelting. The cleaner the better.

If using a standard cupcake size pan, try to get your ingot weight right at 2.5 lbs. You will have to pour few samples then weigh to get at target weight. Then remember the target weight level and pour remainder. A cheap set of 10 lb scales from Walmart helps. I think you can buy these in the cooking section.

Plumbers lead ingots weigh 5 lbs and measure roughly 3.5" across top and 1.5" deep. Maybe you can find a pan this size. This size ingot will fit in my Lee 20 lb Magnum pot with 5" wide opening (this is not bottom pour version)

[shadowcaster]

Pressure wash and dry your lead sheet before smelting. The cleaner the better.

Don't wash your lead! All of the crud will burn off when you smelt it down. Purposely adding any amount of water to lead is a bad deal. Lead is porous and you are never really going to know if it's truly dry. Tinsel fairys NOT welcome...

Shad