Rocket stove for smelting, etc

[Nobade]

I have been learning a bit about rocket stoves recently, and am thinking about building a steel rocket cook stove for various tasks, and smelting scrap lead is one of them. Normally I have used a turkey fryer and propane but with the cost of that recently I think I'll switch to wood for fuel. A well designed rocket should have no problem melting lead, making charcoal, firing clay plugs for Enfield bullets, and any other job I need it to do. Has anybody else here tried one of these yet?

[zymguy]

I ve been gonna make one since before steel prices dramatically increased . I was thinking square tube (pic stolen from interweb )

[Rcmaveric]

I personally wanted to try melting lead with a cinder block rocket stove. If you try it i wanna know how it goes. Cinder blocks are cheap. I have loads of other peojects at the moment.

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[Dale53]

Our gun clubs indoor range backstop requires lead removal, from time to time. This typically results in several hundred pounds of bullet metal mixed with sand. One of the guys took a 50 gallon drum, punched air holes in the bottom, cut the top out, and hung a large metal bucket in the top. Wood fire in the drum worked amazingly well. We operated it over many years time with excellent results.

FWIW
Dale 53

[Outer Rondacker]

I personally wanted to try melting lead with a cinder block rocket stove. If you try it i wanna know how it goes. Cinder blocks are cheap. I have loads of other peojects at the moment.

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I have used this method for years until I got a pickup truck of coal for free.

Wow I need more coffee. I guess I should ad how it works. GREAT. Blocks do not last to many uses. Rocket stoves get HOT.

The square tube works good but you need to create a venturi affect so round tube is better. The idea is heat rising draws in the air and only burns the tip of the wood. As this increases the flame will start to spine into a vortex hitting a terminal velocity controlled by the air intake size.

All in all they work good. Careful sometimes to good. HOT Lots of youtube videos.

[Nobade]

Looks like I'm not the only one who has thought about this.
The cinderblock stoves work, but should have pretty short life. Something similar but with refractory block and insulated would be a lot more durable. I'm planning on one of those as a mass heater for my shop but first want to build a smaller one similar to the picture above for melting lead, etc. Should help get rid of yard waste as well, and no smoke to annoy the neighbors.

[rancher1913]

I have done it and it did work but you can not control the heat worth a dang and the lead can get way hot way quick. I use heat to catch any odd zinc that somehow missed my sorting so I went back to propane.

[nueces5]

I have tried, but it seems that the amount of heat that my rocket stove provides is not enough

[HWooldridge]

Only issue with a wood fired stove vs. a turkey fryer is control. Gas is easy to tune - wood not so much. On the other hand, a RS would be fine for initial melt on pure or scrap lead if the purpose was simply to produce clean ingots.

[country gent]

You can control the temp thru the draft but you have to stay on top pf it its not a quick adjustment as the fire needs t slow and heat dissipate to see a change.
I smelted over a coal fire with stoker coal and a blower. It was a lot of heat but when close to molten shutting the blower off would allow it to come up just about right. With the rocket stove you may need to Block the air vent when close to temp and let the coals do the rest. Maybe a sliding dampener on the bottom tube to regulate air as needed.

I have thought about a waste oil burner for a heat source. Old motor oil dripped into a cast iron ring burning like the wick of a lantern or candle. Once the ring warms to temp they are pretty efficient to use and fuel is a item thrown out normally. A ribbed face with ridges 1/4" deep and wide should give plenty of heat