Smelting over the rocket stove - A little different experience

[outdoorfan]

An experiment to see if it would work and how it would work. It was a little more time consuming, but it was kinda fun. This little stove produced quite a few btu's for the job. There's approx. 150 pounds of soft lead in that pot. I used approx 5 sticks of regular-sized firewood. The size of the pieces (had to further split them down) in the stove are maybe 2-2.5 inches at the widest dimension.

[Wickyd]

Put your leaf blower on it, should speed it up:kidding: Maybe
But I like it.

[outdoorfan]

Put your leaf blower on it, should speed it up:kidding: Maybe
But I like it.

No doubt. I considered a fan of some sort, but as long as I kept the sticks feeding in it did plenty well.

[kbstenberg]

What kind of bricks did you use? How did they hold up to the heat?
Idea How about if you made the chimney large enough for the pot to fit inside. To channel the heat around the pot. Make the eighth just below the pot top. Kevin

[outdoorfan]

What kind of bricks did you use? The standard 34 cent ones at Menards. I can't remember what their actual name is. How did they hold up to the heat? Good question. it seems well through this first session. I have more lead to smelt down sometime soon, so I will find out if they hold up through that. I don't think they're rated for this, so I would probably go with a fire brick for longer use and longevity. However, I think these red bricks are better than straight concrete, which I didn't want to use.
Idea How about if you made the chimney large enough for the pot to fit inside. To channel the heat around the pot. Make the eighth just below the pot top. I thought about forming/fabbing some kind of skirt to go around it to keep more heat next to the pot (like you described), but it was more than I wanted to take on this first time. Fact is, with the heat this stove produce as-is, it didn't do too bad. Some improvisation would make it that much better. Kevin

The bricks are called a Holland Paver

[blackthorn]

Short chunk of pipe and the wife's OLD hair drier makes an excellent blower/forge effect!

[outdoorfan]

Short chunk of pipe and the wife's OLD hair drier makes an excellent blower/forge effect!

There ya go!

[mikeym1a]

The bricks should hold up to the heat fine. Most are a clay mix that are 'fired' to make them hard and durable, so the heat from the fire shouldn't hurt them at all. Of course, if you wanted to be really rustic, you could gather up some field stone and build them out of that.

[Marlin Junky]

Looks pretty scary to me. When you took the picture, it wasn't nearly hot enough to melt 150 pounds of lead. Did you survive the experiment?

MJ

[outdoorfan]

Looks pretty scary to me. When you took the picture, it wasn't nearly hot enough to melt 150 pounds of lead. Did you survive the experiment?

MJ

Ha! Ha! Actually it was hot enough. It really does work.

[outdoorfan]

It was a nice day, so I decided to try the rocket again. I did another 340 pounds this afternoon. I can't say it's any slower than the Coleman propane stove, once the fire really gets going.

[hickfu]

outdoorfan, Good rocket stove.... I cant tell from the pic but if you dont have a grate on top you may want to put one there. It will allow the flames and heat to come out at the sides and give you a more even heat. kbstenberg had a good idea of extending the chimney up the pot as well to avoid heat loss.

Rocket stoves are great for smelting lead (known alloy) but not good if you think you may have zinc as you cant control the heat. I am working on a rocket stove heater, much more efficient then just a wood burning stove.

Great job though!!

Doc

[outdoorfan]

outdoorfan, Good rocket stove.... I cant tell from the pic but if you dont have a grate on top you may want to put one there. It will allow the flames and heat to come out at the sides and give you a more even heat. kbstenberg had a good idea of extending the chimney up the pot as well to avoid heat loss.

Rocket stoves are great for smelting lead (known alloy) but not good if you think you may have zinc as you cant control the heat. I am working on a rocket stove heater, much more efficient then just a wood burning stove.

Great job though!!

Doc


Hey, great idea on that rocket stove heater. I've been thinking about that myself. I'll probably build one someday.

As to my little redneck stove, I used 1/2 inch rebar for the "grate". Today, I used four bricks, one on each corner, to help keep a little more heat in.

I agree with the heat control issue, but I find it's easy enough to keep the melt at the slushy stage by adding more ww's before the lead has a chance to heat up too much.

[hickfu]

Hey, great idea on that rocket stove heater. I've been thinking about that myself. I'll probably build one someday.

As to my little redneck stove, I used 1/2 inch rebar for the "grate". Today, I used four bricks, one on each corner, to help keep a little more heat in.

I agree with the heat control issue, but I find it's easy enough to keep the melt at the slushy stage by adding more ww's before the lead has a chance to heat up too much.

Yeah I couldnt see in the pic but thought you had to use something to get the pot off the bricks. Good idea with adding more to keep the temp around what you want! I am gonna have to build another one for my smelting (propane is just too expensive now)

When you do build your RS heater, add in an inlet and outlet for coiled copper pipe... that way you have a water heater as well...

Doc

[outdoorfan]

Yeah I couldnt see in the pic but thought you had to use something to get the pot off the bricks. Good idea with adding more to keep the temp around what you want! I am gonna have to build another one for my smelting (propane is just too expensive now)

When you do build your RS heater, add in an inlet and outlet for coiled copper pipe... that way you have a water heater as well...

Doc

Absolutey! I will consider all those nifty things when the time comes. Thanks for the tip!