Range lead - to clean or not to clean?

[Gunslinger]

Last time I took home range lead, I hosed it down when I got home and dried it on the bathroom floor for 2 days. I had 160lbs. It took me forever to wash off the dirt, place it on towels on the floor and store it afterwards... we are talking 3 times the time it took me to dig it out. And it was so messy!! Not to mention my mother's disgruntled look after I had rendered one of her bathrooms useless [smilie=1:

Is it even necessary to clean off the dirt? I know all impurities will be skimmed off anyway... but will there be too much dirt if I don't hose it down before putting it into the pot? Or will it take too much time to skim it all off?

The bank consists of "normal" soil. No clay, or sand etc.

[docone31]

I dry mine, shake it off in a collander, put it in a bucket and shake it, then put it into my melting pot. I skim off what floats and make ingots.
I have not had an issue to this day with contamination in my pouring pot.
I melt and make ingots seperate from my pouring pot.
I remember your thread. I thought you made things harder than you needed to.

[Gunslinger]

I dry mine, shake it off in a collander, put it in a bucket and shake it, then put it into my melting pot. I skim off what floats and make ingots.
I have not had an issue to this day with contamination in my pouring pot.
I melt and make ingots seperate from my pouring pot.
I remember your thread. I thought you made things harder than you needed to.

Which thread are you referring to?

[docone31]

It was a while back, perhaps someone else did the same thing.
Meantime, I just melt my range scrap in my ingot making pot and do not spend a lot of time washing.
I get jackets, pieces, sand, non-organic crud that just floats up and is scraped off.

[Gunslinger]

Okay, I think I'll try that next time, and see how it goes. I'm already looking forward to melting all my WWs into ingots... man I had no idea casting would be so addictive :roll:!

[docone31]

That is why we flock together, and,
there does not seem to be much off topic!
I have gotten a lot of help here.

[0802]

This is an untested theory, so take at that.

I've been thinking of getting a roughly 3x3 sheet of 1/4 in mesh, steepling it to a frame, reinforcing it underneath with treated 2x4 (or even steel) and spreading range scrap out on it. Just the rain take its course, maybe even rig a down spout to run over it. Let time be my ally, pick what looks clean off for the smelting pot after every rain. Probably wouldn't hold 22 rimfire bullets, but...

If you didn't have a lot of range scrap at a time, I think it might work.

Or take a plastic 5 gal bucket, drill it full of holes in the bottom, elevate it on 3-4 bricks, and set in under a down spout. Wouldn't eliminate rocks or wood, but those can come out in smelting. I would think if your soil didn't have too much clay, it might work.

No sense in working too hard in this hobby. After all, it IS a hobby.

[Gunslinger]

I like the ideea about the plastic bucket. Though it doesn't eliminate having to dry the scrap after the dirt is gone... but worth a try!

[R.M.]

You're creating more work than needed. Just smelt it. The water and lead are a bad mix. Keep your lead dry. :drinks:

[largecaliberman]

Just smelt it. H2O and Pb is a bad mixture. Smelt it, and flux it well. I use candle wax---cheaper and with a large batch 250 - 300 lbs, I usually flux it three times before I pour in the first ladel. As I pour the mix into ingots and when the pot gets to around 2/3 full, I would flux this time with Marvalex , then 1/3 full, flux again with Marvalex.

[Down South]

I just dump it all in my smelting pot without washing. The dirt and crud float to the top and I skim it off. Granted, I haven't cleaned more than a couple hundred pounds of range scrap and most of it in small batches (30 - 40 lbs or so at a time).

[targetshootr]

Or take a plastic 5 gal bucket, drill it full of holes in the bottom, elevate it on 3-4 bricks, and set in under a down spout.
Or line a milk crate with wire mesh and let rain do the rest.

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b233/targetshootr/DSCN0050.jpg

[Gunslinger]

Nice ideas, I guess I'll just flux some more. I usually just use old candles. Recall having read somewhere that candles are just as good as the fluxing stuff you buy!

[TomT]

I've tried it both ways- washing in a wheel barrel then letting it sit in the sun for a few days to dry out; and just smelting the pickup straight from the range. I no longer try to wash it first as I could never get all of the dirt and mud out of it.

Lately I have tried screening it at the range. Works OK as long as the dirt and clay clods will bust up and pass through the screen. The small twigs and leaves that stays with the lead helps in the flux process. The ash and dirt (along with split jackets) will float to the top. I flux after getting most of the float off, then flux again when I re-melt the ingots from smelting when I alloy a large batch.

I was surprised at how many lead drops are suspended in the float at the top. I have screened the jackets and rocks off after the float has cooled down, then shifted the dirt through a fine screen to re-capture the lead drops for another round of smelting. I dump the cleaned dirt back on the berm next time I am at the range. You'll have to decide if trying to recover the last few pounds of lead in each batch is worth your time.