Sure was hot today but finished smelting my range scrap!

[BK7saum]

Started the project last week when it was cooler. Finished up smelting all the range scrap I had collected. I had about 6 partial buckets to start with. Final tally was only 56 bars.

But the ingot molds are 6" long pieces of 3" C-channel. The ingots weigh right at 8lbs each so that's almost 450lbs.

A bonus is that I have 9 gallons of copper jackets. I'll sort the rocks, steel jackets, and plated bullets out and sell the rest as #2 copper. Oughta net me a fee dollars. Well maybe not if there's some decent lead in the barrel at the scrap yard.

I like smelting scrap least of all. I shake the jackets in a slotted strainer I welded a 1" tall ring around to get the lead off the jackets. It is tiresome and slow. I need to fab me a larger ladle/strainer before next time.

Next project is to smelt the 7 or 8 buckets of wheel weights I've collected. Boxes of ingots look and stack much better than a haphazard assortment of buckets. I will DEFINITELY wait until fall for that smelting session.

I have found that I like the larger pot for smelting. I have 2 custom fabricated (read homemade) bottom pour pots. The small one is 9" pipe and holds 100 lbs easily. The large one is 14" pipe and should hold 300 or so with a little room to spare. I would bet it would Max at 350 to 375 to the top. Makes for a large consistent batch of alloy.

I'll see if I can get a couple of pics tomorrow before someone questions whether this smelting session actually happened.

Y'all have a good evening.

Brad

[bobthenailer]

on my last smelt i got about 50lbs of bullet jackets neted me $126.00 + a little over 1000 lbs of outdoor range lead that checked @15 BHN and a few hundred pounds of jacketed bullet alloy that check @ 9 BHN

[BK7saum]

I still need to check the BHN on this batch. I am thinking that it will be in the 9 range but I'm really not sure. This is outdoor scrap and it has a lot of slugs buckshot and jacketed pistol bullets

[BK7saum]

http://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee467/BLK7mm/2014-07-22080429.jpg http://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee467/BLK7mm/2014-07-22080437.jpg

[Jayhawkhuntclub]

Congrats on the accomplishment. I always enjoy pictures of other peoples smelting operations (weird really). I've got a few hundred pounds I plan to start on this week.

[BK7saum]

There is something nice about turning a pile of dirty copper and lead into nice shiny bars.

There were a few suicidal june bugs that crashed and burned in the pot last night. I finished pouring ingots at after sunset. Annoying pests when your smelting operation is a little too close to the light.

[dragonrider]

Flux your melt with sawdust before removing the trash and the lead will not stick to the jackets.

[imashooter2]

I always do my smelting when the temperatures are under 50 degrees. Makes things much more pleasant. But congrats on putting in the effort! Nothing like a pile of clean alloy to make a man feel good.

[BK7saum]

Flux your melt with sawdust before removing the trash and the lead will not stick to the jackets.

I flux with sawdust and candle wax 2x before removing the jackets. The lead is not sticking, but is caught inside the jackets that are only slightly deformed or are plated with just a pin hole or crack. I've found that sawdust alone or candles alone do not let the lead completely separate, but a combination of both does much better.

[BK7saum]

I did the math on the pot and at 9" deep (about 1/2-3/4" below the rim of the pot), it should hold right around 450 lbs. I guess that would give the pot a workable volume of 300-350lbs where you could stir and skim without sloshing lead over the side.

[1989toddm]

Congrats on the accomplishment. I always enjoy pictures of other peoples smelting operations (weird really). I've got a few hundred pounds I plan to start on this week.

I too, like to see other peoples smelting setups. I'm planning on building a wood fired smelter for this winter. Looks good! I feel like I have only a pinch of lead..it truly is a disease!