Is a copper sauce pan suitable for smelting???

[AndreaCarrara]

Hello everyone,

I am wondering if a copper sauce pan (size as per pic) can be used as smelting pot for my dirty lead.

Any hint will be welcome.

Thanks,
Andrea136425

[docone31]

I prefer cast iron. It holds the heat better.
That should work, but cast iron is better.

[PB234]

If the copper is of decent thickness and it is stainless inside it is a valuable cooking tool better left on the stove cooking food.

[PB234]

If it is a tin lined copper pan then the tin will melt. Want some idea of what these are worth? Look at East Coast Tinning and see what they sell reconditioned old copper pans for. If it a cheap thin copper pan which has no weight when you pick it up the trash heap is about the right place for it.

[country gent]

Several things to think about doing this. If it is a thin pan it may not have the strength needed when up to temperature. A thick older pot may be okay if its thick. Another is some are alloying copper into the alloy to toughen it and you may inadvertandly pick up some copper content in you mix also. A cheap cast iron pot or heavy steel/ stainless pot or pan can be found at garage sales cheap enough. Or a 25lb propane cylinder can be cut to make what you want. Find an old out dated one they pretty much give them away.

[Ballistics in Scotland]

If you are single, yes, it will work. But as people have said, they can be quite valuable items. If your heat source is small for the job, you may find the copper is conducting away too much heat, and parting with it to the air, when you have only a little lead left. Another point is that the handle rivets may not be up to their job when the pot is full of lead. Metals lose quite a bit of their strength long before melting point. It would be best left on the burner until it is cold.

[bangerjim]

Weakest point will be those rivits holding the handle on. Lead IS HEAVY! I would NOT trust it.

Also that one looks thin. NOT good.

Stick with good HEAVY cast iron dutch oven or steel propane bolttle cut in half.

banger-j

[AndreaCarrara]

Thanks everybody for the replies.
I have to find a cast iron pan then.
Will look around, thanks again.
Andrea

[dikman]

Or you could use a stainless steel pot/pan. I've used a large stainless pot - cheap from a thrift shop - that worked fine. If that saucepan is simply stainless, with a thin copper outer coating, then it will work. (Many so-called "copper" pans were made with just a thin copper coating for marketing purposes).

[dudel]

Don't underestimate the weight of the lead and the affect of heat on the bottom of the pan.

My first smelt was done with the aluminum pot that came with the turkey fryer. When everything had cooled down, the bottom of the pot had sagged into the grid of the burner frame. I dumped that pot very quickly and got a cast iron pot. I count myself lucky on that one.

[bhn22]

Heavy stainless steel is the best way to go.

[EDG]

It is a copper layer over stainless steel?
It is unlikely to be solid copper with the $7 and up price per pound for copper.
If it is stainless it will work for refining the trash out of your lead but I would prefer something much thicker for a casting pot.

A cast heavy cast iron pot with a flat bottom seems to work the best. The volume of the pot should be about 3/4 to 2 liters.



Hello everyone,

I am wondering if a copper sauce pan (size as per pic) can be used as smelting pot for my dirty lead.

Any hint will be welcome.

Thanks,
Andrea136425

[pappy4]

I saw some one use a ss dog bowl and a ladle to clean up ww. It looked like it sat on the burner nice but dont know how much you could get in at 1 shot though.

[AndreaCarrara]

Thanks for all replies, will search for a cheap cast iron pan then.
Andrea

[nitro-express]

Most cookware was not designed for melting lead, or to withstand the heat required. Plain cast iron cookware can be used to cook over an open flame, it is not quite as thick as some cast iron lead pots, but it "should" be OK. I would steer away from the "cheap" stuff, thin areas and sometimes they fail when cooking. Look for older heavy cast cookware.

Some metals like aluminum and copper anneal or soften at lead melting temperature.

Making a lead pot from expired propane tanks is fairly common, and I haven't heard of too many incidents. They are made from good quality steel, but were never designed to melt lead.

Several manufactures make pots specifically for melting lead, we're not at the SHTF stage yet, why act like it. The sporting goods stores aren't all looted out, and a real lead melting pot should last pretty nearly forever.

I bought an old plumbers pot, burner ladles and all, for $5. How much cheaper do I have be?

[mold maker]

SS cook pots in the range of 1-2 quarts, if heavy walled will suffice, but don't trust the handles. As with cast pots, the handles aren't made for the balance or the weights we encounter. The plumbers pots, while totally capable are too small for cleaning (smelting) reclaimed lead.
When we get to the 6 quart and bigger pots, the weight involved becomes a huge problem because the heat source has to be much stronger than what is sold for other purposes.
Make sure the heat source will safely hold up to three time the weight involved, since the heat involved weakens it's structural strength.
If your just starting out be sure to cover the floor surface with something that will not be affected by drips or spilled lead. A metallic speckled concrete carport is not pretty, but is almost perminate.

[.22-10-45]

A better use for that copper pan would be as the bottom on a dbl. boiler for making bullet lube!