6qt dutch oven on 'sale' - Harbor Freight

[dsmjon]

Just got this in the email bin... .FWIW, FYI, FyourI, for any folks that are in the market for one..

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=44705&?utm_source=internet_email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=3909B&r=6013_62051

$20 6qt capacity w/ lid...

[malpaismike]

Hello the camp! Ain't it a kick? I got a mail ad a couple weeks ago; needed a frl and added this pot for s&g. Intended for smelter, of course, but darned if it isn't the right size for a chili pot to go with my Lodge cornbread oven!!! Still puzzling on it, mostly to engineer a bottom-pour valve as shown on MOAS. All kidding aside, it seems to be good enuf campfire quality, even if 'furrin'. My .02. See ya round the campfire. mm

[Gerry N.]

It's a good deal if the lid isn't warped and the metal is even thickness all over. Some of these Chinese ***'s are no good at all, others are OK, mail order is a total crap shoot. What to do if you get a total lemon?

A dutch oven with an ill fitting lid or thin spots is only a crappy kettle.

Gerry N.

[mike in co]

a tall 50 cal ammo can is cheaper and works quite well..i have several...one for each alloy.

mike in co

[Gwmed]

This is the same pot I use for breaking down wheelweights. I think mine is 8 or 10 qt.

[cwskirmisher]

a tall 50 cal ammo can is cheaper and works quite well..i have several...one for each alloy.

mike in co

An ammo can as a smelting pot? Is it steel? I have a bunch of .30 cal cans -

[Dale53]

I have the Harbor Freight 6 quart (12") cast iron Dutch Oven and it is excellent quality. I have it "dedicated" to smelting. So far, I have run a thousand pounds of bullet metal through mine and can recommend it without reservation.

FWIW
Dale53

[Gerry N.]

I have another comment/concern. All you guys using cast iron cookware to melt and alloy scrap lead with all it's heavy metals including some which are quite oxic, what happens to this now contaminated cookware when you no longer have control of it? None of us will live forever and sooner or later Grandad or Uncle Skippy's old dutch oven, muffin or cornstick pans that he used for lead and bullet alloys for forty years will find their way back to the kitchen.

Do you really want your grandkids to eat out of these things? I have asked this question repeatedly, and gotten one answer. One guy told me it didn't matter because it hadn't been proven that cast iron absorbed toxic metals, oxides and such or that it transferred it to foods. I asked him how many batches of cornbread and stew he made in the oven he melted lead in then ate and shared with his kids and friends.

*crickets chirping*

Gerry N.

[jsizemore]

I have another comment/concern. All you guys using cast iron cookware to melt and alloy scrap lead with all it's heavy metals including some which are quite oxic, what happens to this now contaminated cookware when you no longer have control of it? None of us will live forever and sooner or later Grandad or Uncle Skippy's old dutch oven, muffin or cornstick pans that he used for lead and bullet alloys for forty years will find their way back to the kitchen.

Do you really want your grandkids to eat out of these things? I have asked this question repeatedly, and gotten one answer. One guy told me it didn't matter because it hadn't been proven that cast iron absorbed toxic metals, oxides and such or that it transferred it to foods. I asked him how many batches of cornbread and stew he made in the oven he melted lead in then ate and shared with his kids and friends.

*crickets chirping*

Gerry N.

Well, Gerry N., What do you want us to use?

*crickets are still chirping, they must have eat stew from the lead pot*

[mike in co]

I have another comment/concern. All you guys using cast iron cookware to melt and alloy scrap lead with all it's heavy metals including some which are quite oxic, what happens to this now contaminated cookware when you no longer have control of it? None of us will live forever and sooner or later Grandad or Uncle Skippy's old dutch oven, muffin or cornstick pans that he used for lead and bullet alloys for forty years will find their way back to the kitchen.

Do you really want your grandkids to eat out of these things? I have asked this question repeatedly, and gotten one answer. One guy told me it didn't matter because it hadn't been proven that cast iron absorbed toxic metals, oxides and such or that it transferred it to foods. I asked him how many batches of cornbread and stew he made in the oven he melted lead in then ate and shared with his kids and friends.

*crickets chirping*

Gerry N.

i'm not concerned....its just life........

there is only so much lead that could exisit in a given pot. it would be cleaned and washed at least if it was used again as a cook pot. how little lead woucl there be , how much come out ? what percent absorbed by bodies vs passed thru ?
have you ever heard of "seasoning" cast iron cook ware ?.....it basically seals the iron.


sorry way over blown.

and then just how much lead would be absorbed by ammo stored in an ammo can that had been used to smelt lead ??....lol

[Gerry N.]

Well then, forget about it I suppose. I don't use cookware to melt or cast lead in myself, you are all free to do as you wish. Just thought I'd bring it up.

I use a cast iron lead melting crucible from an old plumber's pot. For ingots, I use a four gang ingot mold made of 6" lengths of 3/16" X 3/16" X 2" angle iron welded to pieces of flat bar. For dipping and pouring into the ingot molds, I use an old plumber's lead ladle.

I will ask once again, how many of you cook food in or eat out of your smelting pots and ingot molds? Does anyone here KNOW for a fact that melting and casting lead and lead alloys in cast iron cookware is harmless? I certainly don't, but I'm not willing to cook for or feed my grandkids out of it. Are you?

"there is only so much lead that could exisit in a given pot. it would be cleaned and washed at least if it was used again as a cook pot. how little lead woucl there be , how much come out ? what percent absorbed by bodies vs passed thru ?
have you ever heard of "seasoning" cast iron cook ware ?.....it basically seals the iron.


sorry way over blown." And you KNOW that this is safe, exactly how? You KNOW how much lead is safe for kids? Are you willing to feed your kids and grandkids food prepared in your smelting and alloying pots and eat out of them yourself as well?

Gerry N.

[jsizemore]

Well then, forget about it I suppose. I don't use cookware to melt or cast lead in myself, you are all free to do as you wish. Just thought I'd bring it up.

I use a cast iron lead melting crucible from an old plumber's pot. For ingots, I use a four gang ingot mold made of 6" lengths of 3/16" X 3/16" X 2" angle iron welded to pieces of flat bar. For dipping and pouring into the ingot molds, I use an old plumber's lead ladle.

Gerry N.

Now, Gerry N., isn't that "cast iron lead melting crucible from an old plumber's pot" just a fancy name for a cast iron pot? If you are one of the uninitiated, then it just looks like a pot to cook sumthin in, especially over a fire, unless somebody shows them otherwise.

I bet if sowebody uses that pot, their babies will be born naked!

[Dale53]

I don't eat out of my cast iron dutch oven that is used for smelting. My family is WAY-Y-Y to intelligent to do it either (after I am gone). It'll be used for smelting then or destroyed.

I do suggest that all who do as I do with "cookware" warn the rest of the family of potential dangers. Then, as far as I am concerned the danger is minimal, at worst.

FWIW
Dale53

[John Guedry]

I use a plumber's lead pot to smelt in and if you've ever seen one there's no mistaking it for something to cook in.

[canebreaker]

I got a 6 qt pot at a carport sale for a dollar.
I don't really like it, to much flat surface.

[fatnhappy]

Well then, forget about it I suppose. I don't use cookware to melt or cast lead in myself, you are all free to do as you wish. Just thought I'd bring it up.

I use a cast iron lead melting crucible from an old plumber's pot. For ingots, I use a four gang ingot mold made of 6" lengths of 3/16" X 3/16" X 2" angle iron welded to pieces of flat bar. For dipping and pouring into the ingot molds, I use an old plumber's lead ladle.

I will ask once again, how many of you cook food in or eat out of your smelting pots and ingot molds? Does anyone here KNOW for a fact that melting and casting lead and lead alloys in cast iron cookware is harmless? I certainly don't, but I'm not willing to cook for or feed my grandkids out of it. Are you?

"there is only so much lead that could exisit in a given pot. it would be cleaned and washed at least if it was used again as a cook pot. how little lead woucl there be , how much come out ? what percent absorbed by bodies vs passed thru ?
have you ever heard of "seasoning" cast iron cook ware ?.....it basically seals the iron.


sorry way over blown." And you KNOW that this is safe, exactly how? You KNOW how much lead is safe for kids? Are you willing to feed your kids and grandkids food prepared in your smelting and alloying pots and eat out of them yourself as well?

Gerry N.

well gee. Near as I can tell any vessel used to smelt lead could be used to make soup. Big freakin deal.

Leave some lead in the bottom when you're done smelting. It'll speed the next melt and serve as a warning to marginally intelligent family members.

[waksupi]

How many have picked up yard sale cast iron, or stuff handed down through the family, and cooked with it? Want to bet some of those have had lead in them in the past? I would have to see some hard evidence of actual health threats to be too worried about a scalded and scrubbed pot.

[Gee_Wizz01]

I have thought about etching mine with an electric engraver, but I have never gotten around to it. I was also a little concerned about creating stress areas around the engraving that might crack the pot when heated. Mine usually sits out in the shed and filled with lead.

G

[boommer]

IF SOMEBODY looked at my pot and cooked in it!! I would say maybe the lead that they eat is probably not the worst thing they have ever ate.

[dualsport]

It's a good point. Food and lead should always be kept seperate, just common sense. Take some precautions, use a little sense. What's the big deal? Do we need the gov'mint to ban using cook pots to melt lead? I have several cast iron pots, different sizes, I'll let my heirs know not to use them for cooking. I also use one steel pot, not reccomending it, but it gives me no trouble. Gerry is being a good grandpa, lookin' out for those babies, can't fault that.

[dubber123]

IF SOMEBODY looked at my pot and cooked in it!! I would say maybe the lead that they eat is probably not the worst thing they have ever ate.

:lol: Your pot must look about like mine... Rusty, crusty, cooked on left over valve stems...

[warf73]

My grandma has a big kettle ( Cauldron) she made her soap in the spring. I remember filling it up with apples for her to make apple sauce and apple cider in the fall. I remember her talking about when her and grandpa didnt have much she would wash cloths in that same kettle and hang the wash on the line.
Guess what I'm getting at is my dad and his 9 brothers and sisters were never hurt from eating out of a kettle that was used for several different things other than cooking.

Here is a link to what it looks like http://www.sacredmists.com/kw-caul-ket3.html and she still has it today. But she has flowers in it now, I still cant talk her out of it no matter how hard I try.

I know lead is diffenent than soaps but my point is we have no idea what somethings have been used for that we buy 2nd hand.

[ETG]

Wonder which would result in greater lead in the body - eating something cooked in a pot that had been used for melting lead or eating rabbits/birds that had been cooked with lead shot in it???????????

[Wayne Smith]

Nope, I'll not tell my kids not to cook in it. They know that. I'll tell them that if they don't want to use it for the intended purpose, take a big hammer to it and have fun! They will.

[Spector]

Pass on bullet casting to your kids and they'll fight over the pot after you are gone. Not to cook in but to smelt lead in. Microwaves are for cooking.....Mike

[Le Loup Solitaire]

It is perfectly reasonable and safe to not want to cook in a cast iron vessel that was used to melt lead. But it is also reasonably factual that a cast iron utensil can be effectively and totally cleaned by following certain guidelines that definitely will do so. As a collector of cast iron cookware I acquired pieces that could have contained just about anything or everything. To restore and/or totally clean a piece for cooking use, a number of procedures can be used. One is to prepare a plastic vat containing a mix of water and caustic soda, or Red Devil/Draino drain cleaner which is essentially and chemically----lye....submerge the cast iron piece on the end of a coat hanger and leave it the solution for a couple of weeks. It won't harm the cast iron, but anything else that was in or on it won't be there any more. Another way is to fill the cast iron pot with white vinegar and let it sit for a couple of hours...not more, as the vinegar contains acetic acid which will eat away any rust and most other metals---including the cast iron itself....so after a couple of hours, rinse out and wash out with hot soapy water. A third choice would be to put the cast iron vessel into a bonfire which will never get hot enough to melt the cast iron, even if it gets slightly red (dull red is more than enough), but it will certainly get lead or an kind of build up crud out of there. If you have any doubts do all three and afterward reseason the piece by coating the interior with veggie oil, put it in the oven upside down so that any excess oil drains, and bake it for an hour at 400 degrees. When it is cool the interior will be coated with a fine layer of seasoned skin to which food should not stick. If you still then believe that a lead or other problem can still exist then I would advise making a 2"x4" metal tag & engraving or stamping it with an appropriate warning of your choice. Punch a hole in the tag and attach it to the wire handle/bail with a piece of iron wire twisted with a pliers into a knot. LLS

[RollerCam]

Thanks for the good post, LLS.

I avoid all ChiCom goods, even when I buy something second-hand.

I recently bought a good, Wagner "Made in USA" dutch oven from an antique shop strictly for casting use. When I'm gone in 30 or so years, it will probably end up back in some antique store...

Let's hope they still remember the words caveat emptor in the future.

[lmcollins]

When you give up casting and want to throw it out, just take it and put it on the ground and take a big hammer to it. Cast iron breaks real easy.

Then it's junk forever!

[dualsport]

Would a high temp paint like stove paint work on a cast iron pot? I know it works on a cast iron stove. If it did stay put and not mess up the alloy I think it would discourage cooking in it.

[lwknight]

Sounds like painting the pot pot may be a good idea. We may find out for sure after someone tries it.
Paint should by all rights discourage most people from considering cooking in it.
The concept of looking forward to tha fact that you could just drop dead and your tools may end up in ignorant hands is a real possibility, is noble at worst.

[moses]

If my biggest worry in life is eating out of a cleaned pot that was once used for smelting lead, I would take that.

Jsizemore wrote: "I bet if somebody uses that pot, their babies will be born naked!"

That's some funny ****e, I don't care who ya are!

[TAWILDCATT]

unfortunately this is another lead will kill you posts.and is more from the standpoint of the "CHILDREN YOU KNOW"it really started in the 60s.and no one knows where the lead came from. but I would suspect it was more from lead in gas and entering the atmospher.but lead paint was made the scrapgoat,and then bullets.remember the thousands of pound of deer meat destroyed because of a fanatic activist who was proved wrong.I am 85 and been casting since 1937,I have been up in lead,and when gas was deleaded I was down.lets stop the fantisy and realise theres much worse than lead.and very few get lead poisoning.
and its not from casting.many people are carring bullets in them.and no ill effect.
so why are they not at risk. are we dumbed down that far.:killingpc

[bkbville]

Have your children bury you with it if your concerned.

[jcwit]

Not being able to look inside Gerry's mind and not knowing his thoughts, I think he was just bringing up a point for all of us to be aware of and take note of. Instead of joking about it take it as a mild warning about what can happen down the road with the pot and take a little consideration about the future. And by saying that I do not mean to say to not use a camp/dutch oven for melting lead, just use a little of something that is in such short supply these days.

COMMON SENSE

[lead-1]

With that said they also have 6 qt dutch ovens on sale till Sunday at TSC or Tractor Supply Company for 14.99.

[Cadillo]

If we are going to worry about the future use of these dutch ovens, we should warn the world not to be using our ladels to serve from their gravy boats in years to come. And who knows what some motivated candymaking gal might find to pour into those bullet molds right before Halloween or Christmas. :violin:

[tonyb]

If we are going to worry about the future use of these dutch ovens, we should warn the world not to be using our ladels to serve from their gravy boats in years to come. And who knows what some motivated candymaking gal might find to pour into those bullet molds right before Halloween or Christmas. :violin:

Bullet mould candies..chocolate wadcutters......gummie 308's:p

[Fixxah]

Just leave an asterisk in your will specifying that any cast iron cookware must be destroyed as it was used in the ancient art of casting lead projectiles. Problem solved.

[chuck4570]

Where can I find the bottom pour spout design. I am not familiar with MOAS.

[jtaylor1960]

A friend recently gave me a Dutch oven and boy do I like it!It holds over 60lbs. of alloy so you can cast for hours and never have to add to the mix.

[340six]

Got a 6 qt at harbor today they were out and just came in! And went out 19.99 and as things would happen I had a coupon for 15% when I got home that I could have used had I gotten it first.........

[canebreaker]

While out shopping saturday we spotted an estate sale. Flutterby loaded the truck with the things she wanted. I looked over some of the things I wanted. We returned sunday afternoon. I got a plumbers pot, a burner that stands about 10", with a 15 foot hose, with regulator, about 1/2 20 lb. tank of propane, 7 5 lb ingots of lead and a ladel that holds about 4 lbs of melted lead for 20.00. If I had bought it saturday, it would have cost me 125.

[1hole]

A some point the therotical seems to be over-run by the rational. If not, we could do little!

There will always be those at the botton of the gene pool out foxing all efforts to make things fool-proof. But that cast-iron 'smelting bucket' with 3" legs seems as safe from casual home use by anyone else without a through cleaning as anything I've ever seen.

[Ted]

If nothing else you could clean the pot using the methods listed above then go out and buy one of the home test kits for lead and see if it still shows lead.

Ted

[Leadforbrains]

Worry about Cast iron pots used to smelt lead in? What about all the old corn bread muffin pans we pour our lead ingots? Simple solution is a cheap electric engraver and engrave LEAD HAZARD all over it. Also most my smelting stuff is in the area as all my lead so it is reasonable for me to believe that my kin are smart enough to keep using it just for the purpose of making boolits.

[goon]

Speaking as one of the younger generation, unless I'm in a very dire situation, I'm not going to be cooking in any pots I find in my dad's garage.

[lylejb]

Better yet, why don't you TEACH your childern / grandchildern what those old pots are used for. SHOW them how to pour a boolit, what a mould is, and what precautions need to be taken.

Most of this tread ASSUMES those who come after us will be completely ignorant. THIS DOESN'T HAVE TO BE SO. WE CAN FIX THAT!!