Getting ready to smelt for the first time.

[zanemoseley]

I just picked up a 5 gallon bucket of wheel weight and almost have it all sorted. I have a large outdoor natural gas (not propane) burner i use for brewing 10 gallon beer batches so I think it will provide enough heat. I have a cast iron skillet that is pretty large that has a main handle and another smaller handle across from it to stabilize when pouring.. It also has 2 small pour spouts on the sides. Will this work or should I buy something larger. We don't use the skillet but I hate to sacrifice it to lead just to find out it doesn't work. I plan on buying a mini loaf pan to use as a mold for the ingots.

[Mike W1]

I wouldn't be happy using that skillet not to mention that they're really the best for frying eggs. It'd work but you'd be a lot better off with something with less diameter and more depth. Are you acquainted with any casters in your area? Bet they'd lend their smelting pot if you asked and you can get a feel for it. Lot of guys buy Dutch Ovens for this chore.

[D Crockett]

would not use a fry pan to smelt in first off it is dangerous when you pick it up the wt. will shift and the next thing you know you will be in the hospital for the most nasty burns you will ever have it just not worth the chance you will be taking get a good a steel pot do not use Aluminum pots they will fail on you and that can be nasty to I don't use cast iron because I had one crack on me when I knocked out some slag out of a ladle so for the last 15 years or so I have only used a steel pot give me a pm and I will help you out with a pot D Crockett

[zuke]

Go to sally anne.value village.garage sale and look for a good steel/stainless steel/cast iron pot. More capacity and safer.
Don't try to lift liquid lead if it's more then 1/2 inch deep! if you drop it, it will burn!

[RED333]

Go to sally anne.value village.garage sale and look for a good steel/stainless steel/cast iron pot. More capacity and safer.
Don't try to lift liquid lead if it's more then 1/2 inch deep! if you drop it, it will burn!
The very vessel I use, cant beat it.

[mdi]

I agree, find a pot. I began with a 2 qt. stainless steel pot and a soup ladle. I too suggest using a pot but dipping the melt from the pot without picking it up (ss soup ladles will hold mebbe 1 1/2-2 lbs. of lead. Which would be least likely to be dropped; a 20-25 lb pot or a 2 lb. ladle?).

[zanemoseley]

Anybody got a link to the pot recommended above I can't seem to find it.

[zuke]

I use a soup spoon and a soup ladle for my casting. The spoon is the kind with hole's so it's great for the clip's.

[Foto Joe]

I use a 2 quart cast iron sauce pan that my wife found at a yard sale and I like the fact that it has a handle on it for emptying the pot but not for pouring ingots. 2 quarts of lead weighs way too much to be trying to lift and pour an ingot. Here's a link to something similar on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Lodge-L2SP3-Pre-Seasoned-Cast-Iron-Serving/dp/B00008GKDU/ref=sr_1_38?ie=UTF8&qid=1411257517&sr=8-38&keywords=cast+iron+pan

[CRA]

I'd go to the dollar store and get a ladle to get the lead from the pot to the mold. The pot is really hot and heavy. The ladle is much safer.

[zanemoseley]

Just remembered when I got into brewing beer I got a starter stainless pot that is about 3-4 gallons but is a pretty cheap thin walled pot that I wouldn't mind to ruin. Would this work?

[RED333]

Yep, it will work fine.

[mdi]

It'll work, but remember, lead is heavy. Will the burner stand hold 2 gallons of melted lead? If questionable, jest put a few lbs. in the pot to smelt...

[Foto Joe]

An 8 quart smelting pot is HUGE. I'd probably use it while I looked for something a little more manageable. You want your first experience to be pleasurable so you'll want to do it again.

[zanemoseley]

Well the stand isn't the best ever but it held a full size keg converted into a kettle, the keg alone probably weighs 35lb plus at max I had 15 gallons of water in it (120), so I know if will safely hold 155 pounds. Either way I won't melt all 100lb of lead I have all at once, I'll probably melt some and pour it them melt some more.

[TXGunNut]

I use a cheap steel stock pot but I ladle out the melted lead when it gets a few inches deep. The tall pot lets me pile in lots of WW's and gives some protection against the tinsel fairy. My cheap ladle is coming apart so I have a new one from Roto-Metals waiting for my next smelting session.

[Echo]

I use an old dutch oven that will hold over 40 lbs of alloy. When rendering down WW's, I pile them up as high as I can, and when they melt, they still don't overflow. Dip out the springs with a slotted spoon from Goodwill. And I use a ladle to dip out into my ingot molds. Real ladle with a long handle that would hold about 2+ lbs of alloy. Got it on eBay...

[Rugerman]

Let us know the results

[pjames32]

Garage sale dutch oven, slotted spoon for clips/debris, soup ladle for ingots. I keep my 32 qt stainless pot for brewing beer :)
I generally "work" 20-30 lbs at a time and spread cardboard under the pot/burner to protect my concrete patio.

[RustyMusket]

I remember getting ready to smelt the first time.....Uncle Dick Malchoff said the water had to be 41 degrees after the April rains.....when Red Creek would wash out through the gravel bar at Port Bay into Lake Ontario. The bullhead fishermen would dim their lanterns about 9PM and about 10, the first smelt would start to 'run'. When I was young, the smelt net diameter was 21 inches but on a decent night, I could not lift it. When they changed to a 15 inch net I fared better. They would run until about 1-1:30 AM...and then we plodded home with our buckets and started to snip the head with shears and clean them. Then....beer batter and into that cast iron skillet......nothing better than fresh smelt....especially the first time! But alas, the Zebra mussel has ruined the smelt on Ontario...and I live now in Arizona.. (I could not resist when I saw the title!:popcorn:
)