Cast Iron Pan - 600 degree max - Good for lead?

[psychbiker]

This pan if $6 at my local thrift store. Do you think it will last melting linitype and lead to make ingots? Online says it rated to 600 degrees. Read some horror stories about some cast iron cracking. Pretty sure I can grab a free propane tank and cut it too. Propane tanks are ok getting up to 700 degrees?

122302

[Cowboy_Dan]

I haven't used cast yet myself, but feom what I've read and heard, a lot of people do their smelting in cast. It's probably fine.

[retread]

Propane tanks are steel. Good for high temps and no cracking.

[NavyVet1959]

What size is it? Looks a bit small for smelting wheelweights.

[dikman]

I agree. Bit more work, but if you're serious about melting then a propane tank (or freon tank?) is the way to go. You can easily melt 100 lbs. at a time and they're virtually indestructible (definitely won't crack!).

[JSnover]

Burner temps are easily more than 600. If it really is cast iron the temperature shouldn't be a problem. I'd worry about the thickness compared to larger/more expensive ones. I've used a an 8 qt Lodge dutch oven for years to melt scap. My little cast iron pan is much smaller but is only used for lube.

[GhostHawk]

Depends I think a lot on intended use, how full you intend to fill it and how fast you expect it to melt the lead.

I have a 7" cast frypan that I have done everything with for the last 40 years, no cracks. But no rush either, and no turkey fryer.

I've used it on everything from a wood fire to natural gas. But I don't push it, I don't overload it, and I don't heat it with a torch trying to get it to melt faster.

If your going big, then I think I'd go with a propane tank, while it might cherry up, bend, or lose its shape it will not crack in half and dump melted lead all over.

Safety first.

[RG1911]

In the FWIW category, after cringing at the prices for large cast iron pots, I've been using a stainless steel pot for some time now. It will hold 90+ pounds and I've had the alloy hit 820 degrees (by accident). I picked up the pot at a Goodwill store for about $8.

I had bought a pot made from some type of tank by a forum member, but it's so wide (that is, it allowed a large surface area) that I could not keep the alloy liquid if the weather was cool and the wind was blowing.

Richard

[bangerjim]

A CI or steel POT is far safer.

Just try filling that skillet with water and carrying it to another location without slopping and spilling. Now imagine that water is HOT molden HEAVY lead!!!!!!!

Makes a pot with a wire bail handle look reeeeeeeeel good about now!

banger

[jsizemore]

Folks were having trouble with the Chinese cast iron when it was full of melted alloy and they rapped on the edge of the pot/pan with the edge of their stirring/scraping spoon. A crack would develop especially with new pots/pans. Take care when you knock the remnants of alloy off your spoon.

[Hickory]

Cast iron will become molten at just over 2200°.
My guess is that it would be safe for melting lead.

[5Shot]

I use a cast iron dutch oven...

[Petrol & Powder]

Cast iron will become molten at just over 2200°........
.

That should clear this up.

[country gent]

I used a cast iron dutch oven from Harbor Frieght for many years smelting and casting. It worked fine for many years. I always started the burner slow and easy to warm it slowly then brought it to full temp slowly increasing burners out put every 5-10 mins till molten metal was visible in bottom ( this told me pot was up to temps) then one cold frosty orning I fired the pot full bore ( last heat setting on the valve from previous session) I was doing something else near by and heard a "tink" seen lead dripping from bottom of pot it had cracked. Possibly cold metal subjected to full temp heat expansion all at once. I now have a propane tank pot that is working very well I perfer the rounded bottom over the flat bottom. The steel tank should handle the expansion better also though I still start slowly and bring up to temp.

[NavyVet1959]

Cast iron will become molten at just over 2200°.
My guess is that it would be safe for melting lead.

Considering how many of us use cast iron for smelting, the empirical evidence shows that it works well for this.

From a purely theoretical standpoint though, it's not just the melting point of cast iron that we should be concerned with, but rather the strength of the cast iron at the given operating temperature. Aluminum has a melting point of 1221F, but very few people suggest using it for smelting lead. It loses quite a bit of it's strength at elevated temperatures. Cast iron still has something like 76% of it's strength at 800F, IIRC.

http://www.matweb.com/search/datasheet_print.aspx?matguid=1b8c06d0ca7c456694c77 77d9e10be5b

[Le Loup Solitaire]

A cast iron skillet is safe to cast in. It however is somewhat awkward to manuver, but a lot of folks do it. Temperature-wise it is safe to use as the melting point of cast iron is over 2000 degrees. Problems with using cast iron dutch ovens sometimes occur because they are struck or tapped on when hot; cast iron when cold can be shattered when struck and when hot the possibility of causing a crack is worse. You'll probably be ok with a skillet though, but a somewhat bigger one than shown would be better. LLS

[dikman]

Country gent, don't worry about it. I put my propane pot on my forge (which is already roaring away :bigsmyl2:) and just fill it with the scrap. If it can survive that (and it does) you'll be fine.

[Yodogsandman]

I used a cast iron fry pan when I started smelting. It was small, maybe 7"-8" in diameter. I attached an extension handle on it to keep the most of the heat away from my hands. Full of molten lead, it was some scary to move it about to make ingots. Besides being heavy, the leads weight shifts back and forth, side to side. This is not the situation you want. It felt like it wanted to flip over all the time. You do not want a bigger skillet!

I found a cast iron plumbers pot and a good iron ladle and it's much safer. It holds about 20 lbs of WW, which worked fine on a propane stove. With this set up, it took about 6 hours to smelt a full bucket of WW's.

I just upgraded again to a 10 qt cast iron dutch oven, it should hold about 100 lbs of lead. I just need to find a safe, heavy duty platform and a suitable heat source for it.

[Dale in Louisiana]

Years ago I 'helped' Dad and Grandpa run some cast iron pipe for plumbing, back in the day when cast iron with leaded joints was the standard. Grandpa's lead pot was cast iron, on top of a gasoline-fired burner, and he didn't pay a lot of attention to how hot that thing got. I'm thinking cast iron will handle lead a lot hotter than you will get it with any kind of care at all.

I wish I could find that burner, though.

dale in Louisiana

[Forgetful]

I started out with a cast iron pan, 12". The biggest problem was trying to pour it one-handed. When it's got 20 lbs of molten lead, and you try to pour, all that weight shifts quickly to one side. A little scary if you don't have strong forearms, I can imagine. Also having all that surface area (12" across but only 1-2" deep) was a pain to flux without splashing, and produced a lot of dross.

My mother was throwing out a dutch oven because a piece of the enamel came off the inside bottom. It was a KitchenAid and covered by warranty. While visiting, I took it out for her and repurposed it for lead. Best decision ever! Nice and deep, but 8" wide or so provided a nice stirring basin. You can turn the heat down, put on gloves, pick the whole pot up and pour two-handed if you wanted to. I would use one-hand and tilt it when it got low so I could still get full ladles (1.5 lbs), and when it was on its last (or two) ladles you can tip it right on its side and over to pour into the ladle for emptying the pot. I cook on an AMERICAN MADE turkey fryer, a Bayou Classic 16" grill. Great buy. Avoid the fryers that are imported from China and repackaged. At. All. Cost.

The grill will support 150lbs easily. I'm 225 and can stand on it, but I wouldn't try jumping up and down or taking a sledgehammer to it. When I ever need to upgrade, I'll take an 'expired' 20# propane tank and cut a piece out of the top and side (large enough to get a large ladle in and out and still be able to stir), ding a pouring lip into it, and keep the handles on it. I could even weld in a bottom-pour spout and use a long screw coming out the top to open it like a spigot. Or possibly use a lever system like the RCBS furnaces..... with that you could pour a gang mold of 2000gr boolits in a couple of seconds! If I ever get a 20mm cannon and find myself reloading that, this is what I would do.

[knifemaker]

I have been using a large cast iron Dutch oven pot that will hold about 50 pounds of melted lead and I still have about 3 inches above the molted lead to the upper edge of the pot. It has a pour spout and heavy handle bail so I can use it to pour from after dipping about 30 pounds of lead out of it. wearing welders gloves to handle the bail and channel lock pliers. It is a older American made Dutch oven pot and has thicker walls then most China made cast iron pot and fry pans have that I have seen selling in stores. I have been using it for smelting for about 5 years now and no problems.
If you prefer to use cast, I would check second hand stores and get a better built American made cast iron that was made years ago. To avoid the high "ANTIQUE" prices, look for one that has some rust in it and they sell for a much lower price. Also a good place to get the corncob muffin pans for making ingots that will fit even in a 10 pound casting pot. I picked up 4 of them for a price of 7-10 bucks each. They also had a little rust showing and got a reduced price on them.