How to reduce large ingots?

[JoeH]

I have 100 pounds of pure lead I would like to blend for bullet metal. It is in the form of two 50 pound ingots. My dilemma is how to reduce those huge chunks to a size that will fit in my Lee pro-four 20 pound melting pot. I have cut up some smaller pieces of pure lead with my chop saw with a carbide toothed wood saw blade. It didn't seem to do any harm to the saw but these ingots are much thicker and would require more work. I also have an acetylene cutting torch but have never tried cutting lead. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[skeettx]

Don't cut it, melt it, hang it up with a c-clamp and chain, put a pot(ingot mold, container, etc) nearby under the chunk, start melting it with your cutting torch.
Watch out for any possible splashes. When you get enough, transfer the smaller ingot to the Lee.

[Yodogsandman]

Melting is less labor intensive. I've used a propane torch and melted directly into the pot in times past. Easy to direct it to where you want the stream to go. Now I have a cast iron pot that will handle that size and a huge burner.

[Retumbo]

Sawzall

[bangerjim]

Your O/A torch is the real easy way. Just have a good catch basin underneath!

If you use a sawzall.......make sure you medical insurance is paid up! That thing will kill you arm and shoulder joints! And loosen fillings in your molars. I use a dual rotary saw to cut all lead hunks. Walks thru lead like a hot knife thru butter. HF as one on sale right now for dirt cheap. Not one bit of kickback or bone-rattling vibrations.

banger

[JSnover]

Yeah, you don't want to cut thick lead with a sawzall. I had some ballast that was about an inch thick years ago. Didn't have any appropriate saws so I hacked it into smaller pieces with an air chisel. Not the most fun I ever had but it could have been worse.
+1 on the torch method.

[mozeppa]

put mine on a dewalt cross mitre saw ...like cutting bread slices.

[country gent]

The c-clamp method may work but lead heats fairly even through its mass, One of the qualities of lead. Heating and melting supported from clamp may soften under clamp allowing it to drop. Drill a hole thru it and bolt it to a chain or spport on stand with metal rail. But above all be carefull. I have had good result with a heavy wood chiesel sharpened and 3-4lb cross peen hammer. You can peel chunks of pretty quick and fast.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

I have on a number of occasions used a log splitter, but if the ingots are too large or weirdly shaped then it becomes difficult to manage. The problem with sawing is that there are a lot of chips flying around. LLs

[Retumbo]

guess my saw must be broken then 'cause i had no such issues.


Your O/A torch is the real easy way. Just have a good catch basin underneath!

If you use a sawzall.......make sure you medical insurance is paid up! That thing will kill you arm and shoulder joints! And loosen fillings in your molars. I use a dual rotary saw to cut all lead hunks. Walks thru lead like a hot knife thru butter. HF as one on sale right now for dirt cheap. Not one bit of kickback or bone-rattling vibrations.

banger


Yeah, you don't want to cut thick lead with a sawzall. I had some ballast that was about an inch thick years ago. Didn't have any appropriate saws so I hacked it into smaller pieces with an air chisel. Not the most fun I ever had but it could have been worse.
+1 on the torch method.

[bangerjim]

Do you run a pneumatic jack hammer for a living? HA.....ha!

[flyingmonkey35]

Get a bigger pot!

[Retumbo]

Do you run a pneumatic jack hammer for a living? HA.....ha!

Just splashed the blade with water once in a while so it would stick. i think if the lead warms up too much it gets sticky, cut becomes difficult

[RogerDat]

Don't use an oxy acetylene torch the temperatures from that are high enough to generate lead vapor. Propane torch temps are high enough to melt lead but not so high that it vaporizes it.

I'm not sure I get the problem. 50# should fit in a harbor freight dutch oven which can be had for around $25 place over propane burner or wood fire. Use ladle to pour into muffin tin cups once it melts. Ladle and muffin tins should be available at Salvation Army or any thrift store. I'm pretty sure I can get closer to 125# of WW's into that HF dutch oven. You will find this gear to be continually useful in the future.

[Steve Steven]

I use a dual rotary saw to cut all lead hunks. Walks thru lead like a hot knife thru butter. HF as one on sale right now for dirt cheap. Not one bit of kickback or bone-rattling vibrations.

banger
Banger,
I got and used one of the HF dual rotary saws after reading of them here. I had an ingot of pure lead 4" square by 8" long,
cut it into 2" long segments. VERY messy, got chips all over. Also, had to cut from opposite sides and still couldn't cut all the way through, had to twist it off to free each segment.

All in all, not the best way but it did work.

Steve

[Outpost75]

Get a bigger pot and rent it out to your friends. Get a chain hoist like you use to pull engines. I melt 50-100 pound blocks all the time. Do so outdoors in good ventilation under the carport.

1 pound of linotype to 4 pounds of backstop scrap, boat or aircraft ballast or nuclear medicine shielding makes a god general purpose mix.

[bangerjim]

Banger,
I got and used one of the HF dual rotary saws after reading of them here. I had an ingot of pure lead 4" square by 8" long,
cut it into 2" long segments. VERY messy, got chips all over. Also, had to cut from opposite sides and still couldn't cut all the way through, had to twist it off to free each segment.

All in all, not the best way but it did work.

Steve

You have to put a tarp down! Yes it will throw chips, as any rotary saw tool will.

The depth of cut is around 2". I have used one many times to cut slabs of lead. I just did a cut from each side. If you are trying to cut something thicker, it will not go all the way thru.

But it is the best and fastest way I have found to whack hunks of lead into manageable pieces. You just gotta keep the capacity of the tool in mind.

I had it to do cutting of aluminum plate and channel and wood and PVC pipe. It will cut most anything!

But all my fillings are still in place and all my joints and bones are not shattered, like when using one of those horrible recipro saws......which I rarely ever use anymore. Got 2 of them and they remain in thier steel boxes in storage.


banger

[Redwoode]

I bought one from HF after reading banger's recommendation in an earlier post. Don't forget the chip catching tarp and flip piece over and cut from other side too if over about 1 3/4" thick. Best thing I've used.

[LAGS]

I smelt down 62 lb ingots I get from Sea Fab metals on a monthly basis.I set them on two bricks, so the end is over a cast iron pot and set my MAPP or propane torch on the side of it kind of facing up.I set the flame about 2" back from the end and let it melt into the ingot.Then a 1" thick slug will eventually fall off.Then transfer the melted metal that has solidified or the Chunk to my casting pot and cast it into ingots for making Lino Blend or just leave it at the 92-6-2 blend for later reducing to a softer alloy with pure lead.

[freebullet]

I melt about 150lb at a time. Don't see the value in creating lead dust & such.

[Yodogsandman]

If you need to lubricate your saw blade to cut lead, use beeswax.

[Screwbolts]

I agree with get a bigger pot! Use the bigger pot with a turkey fryer and blend and flux clean all your alloy in the bigger pot. An old Dutch oven or bottom of an old propane tank work well for this. Blend Flux Clean all your alloys before the go in your casting pot.

Ken

[Pipefitter]

A 3 to 5 pound hammer with a wide chisel will cut through soft lead with just a few blows.

[scorpion]

A shainsaw works good ! Schopped up some 250 pounds lead ballast blocks .

[singleshot]

I use a Sawsall with a metal cutting blade, goes a little slower than a wood blade, but no chips and no vibrations.

[lightman]

I'm with the crowd suggesting the smelting pot and burner. If you keep casting you will need it again and again. I have cut lead with about everything you can imagine and the burner is just quicker and easier.

[TXGunNut]

Yes, a smelting setup is a good thing to have around if you're serious about casting and want to use scrap lead or big ingots. I'm headed out to fire up a propane burner under a big, cheap steel stock pot shortly. Whole setup of burner, pot, ladle, welding gloves and face shield probably a touch over $100 but well worth it over the long run.

[TXGunNut]

Your O/A torch is the real easy way. Just have a good catch basin underneath!

If you use a sawzall.......make sure you medical insurance is paid up! That thing will kill you arm and shoulder joints! And loosen fillings in your molars. I use a dual rotary saw to cut all lead hunks. Walks thru lead like a hot knife thru butter. HF as one on sale right now for dirt cheap. Not one bit of kickback or bone-rattling vibrations.

banger

Dunno about the HF saw but I have a recip saw, won't be using it much after reading this post. Both elbows have been bothering me for months and I'm not looking forward to this visit with my doc. Seems I'm at the age where the adventures and hard work of my younger days are coming back to haunt me.

[skeettx]

AND let's put this into perspective,
we are only talking two 50 pound masses.
Child's play for a propane torch.
Mike

[country gent]

I used the rolling saw at work one weekend and it did a fine job but this was a large industrial saw and the band was 3 teeth per inch. with the power feed blade cleaners and coolant feed lines in the pieces were spaced 3/16" apart. It walked right thru that soft lead. Other wise I melt it in a big pot over a weed burner or wood coal fire now. A heavy aror press could be set up with a blade to cut chunks off also. Lead dosnt take much. One old timer here to split up the blocks uses an old pair of heavy pruning shears. I much perfer to shear or melt it, less dust less waste than cutting it up with a saw of some sort.

[JoeH]

Thanks to all who have replied. I guess it would have helped things along if I had said up front my 50# ingots are about 4"x3"x18" so the "bigger pot" would have to be really big. I do have a sawzall and metal cutting blades so I may try that, just two cuts to make three pieces of an ingot. I also have a bad shoulder and am waiting for it to heal so if the sawzall beats me up too much then melting seems like probably the easiest if not the quickest.

[flyingmonkey35]

Thanks to all who have replied. I guess it would have helped things along if I had said up front my 50# ingots are about 4"x3"x18" so the "bigger pot" would have to be really big. I do have a sawzall and metal cutting blades so I may try that, just two cuts to make three pieces of an ingot. I also have a bad shoulder and am waiting for it to heal so if the sawzall beats me up too much then melting seems like probably the easiest if not the quickest.
Stand it up on the 4x3 end. And let it melt down into a one time use throw away pot form a thrift store. Old pressure cooker pot should do it.

Use it to mold it up. Be careful and have it very very steady. As that's a heavy pot.

[Geezer in NH]

[QUOTE=JoeH;3525708]I had said up front my 50# ingots are about 4"x3"x18" so the "bigger pot" would have to be really big. QUOTE]

Big? I thought you said big. I would put that in my smelter pot and if the lead got to high I would remove it as I had a chain holding it up.

That does not need a big pot my old AT&T smelter and pot would easily hold it

[longbow]

I have cut up lead with axe, chainsaw and circular saw. It cuts quite easily. I had to cut up some lead anodes at work for a test no long ago. They run about an inch thick and weigh 450 lbs. Used a circular saw and gave the blade a squirt of WD 40 now and again to keep it from sticking. Worked great but yes there are chips so put down a tarp or cut where you can sweep up, it is all good lead so don't waste it!

If you have a cutting torch that is likely even easier but just melt the lead, don't use the oxygen to try to cut it. Not sure how efficient that will be so it could use up a lot of acetylene.

Looks like you have lots of advice and lots of opinions and so options to try. Good luck!

Longbow

[RogerDat]

+1 on set it in the pot and let it melt down. 3x4x18 won't be a problem for a pot on a propane turkey/fish fryer. If you are impatient point a propane torch at the bottom or the middle of the bar. Even a big pot on a hot plate / camp stove would easily melt with a little help from a propane torch. Note the bigger propane bottles used for camp lanterns & stoves make a much more stable base for the propane torch when you want to be able to set it down while working. On sale in 4 packs at Lowes for $16 this weekend.

You always want to melt, flux and skim the garbage from lead before you pour ingots for use in your casting pot. One pot for "smelting" scrap and mixing alloys. One for casting bullets.

[Chill Wills]

put mine on a dewalt cross mitre saw ...like cutting bread slices.

BINGO
That works well and is fast!

I have a good band saw. It will cut any size lead as fast or faster than wood of equal size. Use a course wood blade. In other words, it cuts huge lead bricks faster than I typed this! Then your done!
A Sawzall with coarse wood blade is good - you want course open teeth or a skip tooth blade, not the fine bi-metal blade. I have cut thick sheet lead on the table saw - it works, but I much rather use the bandsaw.

[sandman228]

I bought an ingot a while back that was about the size of a large brick .I decided I wanted to cut it into smaller pieces after ruining about 3 or 4 reciprocating saw blades I tried a 4.5 inch angle grinder with a cut off wheel , after ruining a couple wheels I tried to melt it with a handheld propane torch it was taking forever and wasn't really doing much . so I was out in the shed a few days later and decided to put it in the vise and try a plain old hand saw .it worked very well I would advise wearing some type of dust mask though

[rr2241tx]

It helps if there's not "stuff" buried inside. I was sawing up a pile of sailboat keel chunks and ran across a copper bolt about 1" in diameter and a foot long. Made my saw blade into a hotplate accessory.

[montana_charlie]

Get a bigger pot!
Agreed.
The initial 'smelting' and cleaning should not be done in your casting pot.

[Tom W.]

I used to get 60 lb. Ingots from a local sawmill supply company. I melted them down with either a cutting torch or a propane torch, then blended them with coww. A few of the smaller ingots were left pure for my smoke pole.

[country gent]

One trick to using the oxy acetelene tourch is dont use a cutting head. use a rose bud one about 1" - 1 1/2" in dia should produce more than enough heat and a bigger flame surface. A cheap propane weed burner would do well also. With these once the end starts to melt it will go fast as lead transfers heat thru the bar fairly effiently. I watch die cast die makers melt casting from dies that were stuck and couldnt be pulled. The rose bud tip produces alot of heat in a broader flame than the cutting head does. Stood up in a pot with a 6 guart capacity and some "Slave lead" used wouldnt take long on a good burner either. The slave lead will melt and transfer heat to the bar better than just sitting on a bare pot bottom.

[JoeH]

Well I tried the sawzall and after getting a cut about 1" deep I decided that was too much like work. I then tried the propane torch. I couldn't rig up a way to hold the ingots safely vertical so just laid the ingot across a 8" aluminum sauce pan and tried to melt an edge. After about 5 minutes with not a drop of molten lead I concluded the torch just couldn't put enough heat into such a large area. I then got out the Black & Decker miter saw. It took a few minutes to get set up to catch the lead chips and to get myself decked out in face mask, gauntlets and apron to protect from flying lead chips but then about 30 seconds to make two cuts, reducing the 18" bar into three 6" blocks. That sure seems like the way to do it. Next I'll melt one chunk in the sauce pan over my propane camp stove, add about 7 ounces of tin and pour into muffin pan ingots for future use. For blackpowder 38/55 bullets I'll use those ingots as is and for harder bullets I'll blend with some magnum birdshot. Thanks again for all suggestions.