Anyone Use A Cast Iron PanFor Casting Boolits ?

[BucketBack]

I was told to get my secondhand cast pan tested for lead, since it used to be common to use cast pans for casting.

[TjB101]

Yes, I have a Lodge cast iron pan used to melt scrap lead. If I cleaned it up you would never know it was used in that manner. If you even think it could have been used for that do not use for food prep.

[Sasquatch-1]

Lowe's sells lead surface test kits. There are also several videos of cast iron collectors on YouTube who address this problem. And yes, I have several cast iron items I use to melt and cast lead.

[country gent]

I used a cheap cast iron dutch oven to cast for a long time until I got in a hurry and cracked it.

what makes cast iron non stick is the carbon pores absorb the oils and fats from whats cooked in it over the years. The longer its used the better it gets. I can see ine used for lead absorbing small amounts and holing it in these pores. Its just not worth the risk. High heat and grease might clean it out but the seasoning would be ruined and its just not worth the risk.

[Rick R]

I have a two quart saucepan I paid less than $10 for at the flea market that I use to smelt in. I honestly never thought about it but in days of yore a fellow had to make rifle balls somewhere…

[GregLaROCHE]

I started using a cast iron skillet before going to a Dutch oven to melt scrap lead to cast into ingots.
We do most of our cooking with cast iron cookware. I don’t think I would want to use a used skillet. Unless there is some special value to the pan, I would get a new one. If you shop around, I think you can a new one for not very much.

[bdicki]

I used a cast iron fry pan for casting in my early days with a Coleman stove, when done with it for that purpose I hung it in a tree and used it for a 22 target. CB's were okay but regular 22's cracked it. I didn't want anyone to use it for cooking. If the sun was in the right spot you could watch the CB's fly.

[reedap1]

Yes, I use a cast iron dutch oven pot that I bought at Tractor Supply. I wanted to buy a new one to avoid the grease, oil, and other junk that accumulates after cooking use. They have a couple of different sizes so you can decide how much you want to spend. I hacksawed off the legs and ground the stubs smooth with the base as the legs don't sit well on any burner. They come with a heavy good sealing lid that I use when I start the melting process and then remove it to further process. To prevent food use in the future I engraved "not for food" on the lid and the pot. I do all my melting on a deep fryer burner, higher BTU is better if you are buying one.

These pots work really well as they hold temperature for a good time and are easy to work out of. Use that pot and a very sturdy ladle for mixing and making ingots and you are good to go. I use these pots for mixing alloys or my initial melts as that process is often very dirty. Use your cast pot for only clean well-formulated alloys to cast bullets and you will be good to go.

Good luck

[405grain]

Way back in the day, my casting pot was a small cast iron pan on top of a one burner Coleman camp stove. I cast about a trillion boolits with it. Today that little skillet is the catch tray for my drip-tastic Lee bottom pour pot.

[Ithaca Gunner]

I started out casting out of a Lyman cast iron 20lb pot. They used to sell a cast iron ''saucer'' for those too so you didn't get mama's cooki'n stove all messy with lead drippin's.

[jonp]

Sure. Started with a cast oven to melt scrap. Still have it and if it wasnt so heavy id sell it here for cheap so someone else could get some use.
Used cast iron corn cob and other shape molds for cornbread.

[Mk42gunner]

I started out using a one pint Lodge cast iron sauce pan on a Coleman stove. When I retired, I bought an electric Lee 4-20 and a Dutch oven from the Cummins tool truck (think lower grade than Harbor Frieght).

I used the Dutch oven over a turkey fryer to smelt with for a while until I came up with a section of eight inch steel pipe to make my smelting pot out of.

I still use the sauce pan as a dipper when smelting.

Robert

[Rapier]

I started bout 67 with cast iron fry pan and a hand pour ladle on the kitchen stove. Was too slow to cool so had to get my own lead pot and stove……:-P

[BucketBack]

I guess I'll use my 8" secondhand Lodge for a target or melting.

[Soundguy]

I use some cast cornbread molds for ingots...flea market buys.

[Bad Ass Wallace]

I use a 3qt iron pot that holds 70lb of alloy!

https://i.imgur.com/kFpZ9y4l.jpg

[GhostHawk]

7" cast iron fry pan was my smelting and casting pot for years.

Started out over wood fire outside for melting down wheel weights. Clean lead got poured into ingots. In colder weather I would cast on the kitchen stove, propane or natural gas worked fine as long as you were patient.

Eventually joined here, bought my first lee 4lb dipper pot used, then a new one with a thermostat. Then I learned about 20 lb magnum melters. Never looked back.

But cast works. Don't trust aluminum.

[Juan Jose]

I use a cast iron PRC imported sauce pan I found at the CVS in Truckee, CA. It easily accomodates four large muffin size ingots.

[DK'dUranium]

7" cast iron fry pan was my smelting and casting pot for years.

Started out over wood fire outside for melting down wheel weights. Clean lead got poured into ingots. In colder weather I would cast on the kitchen stove, propane or natural gas worked fine as long as you were patient.

Eventually joined here, bought my first lee 4lb dipper pot used, then a new one with a thermostat. Then I learned about 20 lb magnum melters. Never looked back.

But cast works. Don't trust aluminum. My story is similar. One can totally cast off a small skillet and a Coleman stove. I’ve done it for 45 years. I’ve never even needed to use a thermometer, I just gauge how far the flames lick above the side of the skillet to estimate temperature from experience. Even can make nice hollow points off this primitive method. Finally though I’ve ordered a Lee electric ladle casting pot to finally move into the 20th century LOL.

[Chaparral66]

I started with a Lodge fry pan from Wally World and a turkey fryer burner for making ingots from random shapes. I found it heavy and HOT by the time I poured the last ingot. So I upgraded to a cut down 20 pound propane tank. What an improvement. Now I can place my 16 pound x-ray shielding tubes into the pot without having to half melt them in the fry pan. When the "tank" is half full it is about 50 pounds of molten lead. Ladle into ingots and melt more. I now get more consistent sized ingots. With the turkey burner I can boost the heat for melting the large shapes and then once melted turn down to maintain my desired temperature. With the larger surface and higher temperature I find I get better dross removal without much lead in the dross.

[Froogal]

I use a cast iron skillet on an electric hotplate for melting range scrap. I bought the skillet specifically for that purpose. It has never been used for food, and never will.

[kerreckt]

I have used a cast iron Dutch oven to melt lead for about 20 years. It works great for this purpose. After melting lead and mixing in tin and antimony I pour it into muffin pans to make ingots that fit into my Lee 20lb. pot. Best wishes in the new year!

[Jim22]

I have been sing a Lodge cast iron skillet for smelting. A Lee bottom pour for casting. The skillet really doesn't hold enough alloy. I 'spect I will find either an old propane tank or an old freon tank come spring to make a larger smelting pot. The freon tanks look like they are about half as big as a 20# propane tank but would hold maybe 3-4 times as much as the skillet. Anyone have any advice?

Jim

[Froogal]

I have been sing a Lodge cast iron skillet for smelting. A Lee bottom pour for casting. The skillet really doesn't hold enough alloy. I 'spect I will find either an old propane tank or an old freon tank come spring to make a larger smelting pot. The freon tanks look like they are about half as big as a 20# propane tank but would hold maybe 3-4 times as much as the skillet. Anyone have any advice?

Jim

Freon tanks are made of much thinner material than propane tanks. I have a Freon tank that was already somewhat compromised, so I used it for target practice. .357 magnums penetrated it quite easily.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

293764

Still use this today. Cast iron pot, propane burner, bottom pour ladle. Hard to beat once you get the hang of it.

DG

[lightman]

I have a medium size Dutch oven that Grandpa used for smelting. I still use it for small batches like blending scrap solder. I guess I need to get my die grinder out and write not for food or something on it.

[BucketBack]

I have a secondhand 8" that I think will be reserved for casting stuff.

[Rfeustel]

I have a medium size Dutch oven that Grandpa used for smelting. I still use it for small batches like blending scrap solder. I guess I need to get my die grinder out and write not for food or something on it.

I think that’s a great idea.

[Sasquatch-1]

I have been sing a Lodge cast iron skillet for smelting. A Lee bottom pour for casting. The skillet really doesn't hold enough alloy. I 'spect I will find either an old propane tank or an old freon tank come spring to make a larger smelting pot. The freon tanks look like they are about half as big as a 20# propane tank but would hold maybe 3-4 times as much as the skillet. Anyone have any advice?

Jim

I have used an 8 or 10 qt SS stock pot, a cut down freon tank and a cast iron Dutch oven. Out of all of these I find the Dutch oven the easiest and fastest.

I know a lot of people use them, but to me, frying pans have never been an option.

[rockrat]

I have a 12 qt. dutch oven that I use to blend alloys. I have some cast iron pieces that I use as ingot molds

[WRideout]

I used a 2 quart cast iron pot with handle for molding boolits and smelting wheelweights on top of an electric hot plate. Oddly enough it cracked on the side when I tried to force in a too-big piece of lead, but I have never bothered to fix it because the surface tension of molten lead is so high it never leaks out the crack.

I was still using the 2 quart pot for smelting up until a couple of months ago. Then I converted an empty bottle that was formerly filled with carpet glue ( I never knew such a thing existed until I found two of these.) I cut the cylinder in half, and used one for the fire pit, one for the melting vessel. Works great, fueled with scrap wood.

Wayne

[crackers]

I was told to get my secondhand cast pan tested for lead, since it used to be common to use cast pans for casting.

It sounds like you bought a second-hand pan, want to use it for cooking, but want to test it for previous lead exposure? Not that many people reload, much less cast their own bullets, so lacking any evidence of industrial use it's likely ok. I don't know what a lead test would cost but combined with the cost of a used pan - I'd just get a new one and eliminate the history worry.

[kevin c]

I’m a wimp. A cast iron frying pan is heavy, and heavier when filled with an inch or two of molten lead. If I needed to lift it, twisting, sloshing and spillage would be hard for me to control with a one handed grip on the handle.

A cast iron Dutch oven or pot with two handles or a bail and deep enough that the weight of the melt is well below the lifting points would be easier to lift and control, has capacity over a shallow pan, and probably allows more efficient ladle filling.

But if you don’t need to lift them full of lead, and can put up with or get around their limitations, they serve the purpose.