My first smelt trial!

[khmer6]

Tried out my set up to see if it would work. Propane tank, tuekry fryer, Dutch oven from amazon, and slotted spoon from dollar store. Worked out nicely, I probably need more molds to rotate, after the third pour I was tired and the ingots were taking longer to solidify. How do you guys ensure you are scooping out the ONLY clips from COWW and not any lead? Seems like there was a significant amount of sludge and lead when scooping. Or was that just dross? If not I might try to remelt just the stuff scooped out. At least the lead looks very shiny and filled out very well :Dhttp://img.tapatalk.com/d/13/04/08/gesyseta.jpg

[Woody3]

I'm no expert on smelting but I've found that when I flux real well, my clips come out with very little on them.

As for ingots, I use a ton of the stainless steel muffin cups from Walmart. They cool quick and are easy to use.

Woody

[khmer6]

Oh.... I scooped then I fluxed. Was it suppose to be the other way around? Always read so many different angles, like some people say they don't even use anything to flux that the dirt and grime from COWW is so nasty it flux itself lol

[jcameron996]

I always flux with ample amounts of sawdust and stir with a large wooden stick. The clips can then be skimmed off with nearly no lead loss.

[Wal']

I scoop all the rubbish & sludge out first then flux with sawdust & scrape both the bottom & sides of the pot with a steel spoon or scraper.
Its surprising how much more sludge ? will still come up from the bottom of your pot when given a good scrap.
When the lead is clean I drop a piece of candle in for a final flux/clean...........works for me.:-D
Scooping out only the dross & sludge & not your lead will be an art you'll acquire with practice.....all comes down to the angle of your spoon :roll: & allowing the molten lead to drain back into your pot. :veryconfu

[selmerfan]

Mine clips come out with zero lead - I flux with candle stubs, stir frequently, and the clips, steel weights, and zinc weight float to the top. Skim off, mind the angle of the spoon to let the liquid lead fall back along the edge.

[runfiverun]

I like to light the clips and junk on fire too.
it helps them come out cleaner.
then scrape and work the garbage on top bottom and sides of the pot itself.
get that off the top.
and then do an actual fluxing of the lead itself before ladeling into molds.
the alloy is going to get melted and re-fluxed again later before going into the casting pile but I still want it clean.

if you have some wet rags to set your ingot molds on it will cool them down quicker.

[khmer6]

Thanks for the tips. I'll flux before and after. I'll empty my pot and melt the clips again so I don't lose any precious metals. Great tip on the wet rag, I desperately wanted corn ingots for the novelty lol.

[762 shooter]

I was wondering if the smelts that were on trial were found guilty or innocent?

Sorry had to do that.

As above fluxing and fire is your friend and I am a dyed in the wool corncobber.

Good work.

762

[khmer6]

They were definitely found guilty of burning my fingers. Here's tonight's batch. I was going to put a price tag on them and pretend it was a grocery store

[Nose Dive]

khmer: U DUN GUD! Nice looking ingots. When I smelt,,, I dump the WW's and scrap in the COLD smelt pot and fill it over the top. About 1/2 in on so on filling, I dump a generous scoop of saw dust and complete filling. Then, with safety gear in place, I fire up and bring the smelt mix up slowly. It takes a better part of one hour for me to come to temp and yes,,,it smoke like crazy! I only start 'mixing' when I feel the pot has melted most of the lead and grap my old wood broom handle and mix things up abit, with SAFETY GEAR IN PLACE... A bit of water at this time will cause some serious issues... once mixed abit with the previous saw dust...I start dipping out the trash and corruption. NEVER ADD unknown lead items to a HOT POT... then I flux at least once more with saw dust depending on the volume in the pot. mix well and scrap sides and bottom. I dip into ingots and empty the pot. Then, in a empty 'cool' smelt pot, WITH SAFETY GEAR INPLACE, I recharge the pot as mentioned above and rock on until the smelt pile is gone.

You mentioned 'burned fingers'. That means to me you didn't have on HEAVY LEATHER gloves which are the #2 on the safety gear list. Not good.

1. SAFETY GLASSES-
2. Heavy leather gloves
3. Heavy leather or fire proof sleeves - shirt or jacket
4. Heavy Leather Apron
5. Heavy leather boots
6. Fire extinguisher.
7. Done OUTSIDE.
8. Clear, identified safety egress path.

There are several 'SAFETY STICKIES" on this site and each contains VERY IMPORTANT Safety information and processes. I suggest you spend a couple of hours reading these. This information is from FIRST HAND KNOWLEDGE and EXPERIENCE. It was not posted by a some knucklehead bureaucrat sitting in Washington. It all comes from our experienced boolit casters and it can help keep you safe and your eyes and limbs functioning until your loved ones place you in the ground.

Rember,,, It ain't fun if your hurtin'.

Nose Dive

Cheap, Fast, Good. Kindly pick two.

[30CalTy]

Very nice! I smelted some WW for the first time this weekend too. The worst part is sorting the zinc and steel. They can't use lead WW anymore here in NY; the buckets I found run about 50% by weight. Ended up with 100# of WW alloy--not bad considering I spent a total of $15.

I found the the clips come out pretty clean if you push them down (get 'em hot) before you skim.

[Bigslug]

I skim BEFORE fluxing - jackets, clips, rocks, and other large crud come out with a wire-handled tempura "spider", and then I skim off the smaller stuff with a bent spoon (What's the difference between a heroin addict and a bullet caster? They bend their spoons in opposite directions). For the flux itself, I cover the entirety of the melt with about half an inch of sawdust and burn it to carbon, then stir vigorously for a minute of two with the spider before re-skimming. I accept that I'm going to lose SOME lead with the skims - that's just the price of making clean boolit material.

I LIKE your corn cobs, and find them very stylish, but you might want to give some long-term thought to how well they stack in buckets, ammo cans, etc... Lyman ingot molds are cheap and regularly shaped. If your pot holds four ingot molds worth of lead, I would suggest buying three ingot molds - this leaves enough molten metal in the pot to speed the slag-down of the next addition.