Will 8000 btu's of Butane melt lead?

[.41LC]

Or how about 7500 btu's of propane or 8000 or 10,000? I'm looking at small camp stoves and these are the ratings I am seeing.

[imashooter2]

How much lead?

In my experience, a Coleman stove can handle a 2 - 2.5 quart pot (about 40 pounds). Anything more and there just isn't enough heat to melt it in a reasonable time frame.

[.41LC]

20lbs.

[imashooter2]

Then yes, that is plenty of heat. Watch your support structure. Some of those stove types are not very stable. Standing in a 20 pound puddle of molten metal will ruin your day.

[JSnover]

Shop around for a turkey fryer or similar burner. I started the same way as you, with a 20,000 btu Coleman. You'll be a lot happier with 50,000 btu and it doesn't have to cost an arm and leg.

[imashooter2]

IMO, turkey fryers are the hot ticket if you want to smelt 80 - 200 pounds of lead at a time. But 50,000 btu is way overkill for a 20 pound pot and all the heat wasting up from around that tiny pot will make it a PITA to try and cast from.

[JIMinPHX]

You can push your luck a little by putting some insulation around the pot when you heat it.

[.41LC]

Thanks for the replies. I ended up getting a propane camp stove with 10,000btu's that uses the little 16oz cans. I can attach a 20lb can with an adapter hose.

I will be casting again tomorrow and give it a try, but I'm not sure how the cold temperature outside will affect it. It snowed today.

[lwknight]

I just want to know where you get butane in a #20 can?

[.41LC]

I just want to know where you get butane in a #20 can?

I only saw butane in 1/2# cans made specifically for these small portable 8000btu burners.

The burner I bought is propane.

[mtgrs737]

Turkey fryer, large cast iron dutch oven, RCBS or a "Antimony Man" thermometer, 3 or 4 pound ladle, a skimmer, ingot moulds, and a sheet metal wind shield to keep the heat focused. I got one of my ladles from ebay and the skimmer from Sportsmans Warehouse but most big box outdoors stores have them and they work better than the ladle for skimming clips from Wheel Weights.

[imashooter2]

I'm still under the impression that .41LC wants to dipper cast off this heat source using a 20 pound pot. A turkey fryer is not the best choice for that venture.

[.41LC]

I'm still under the impression that .41LC wants to dipper cast off this heat source using a 20 pound pot. A turkey fryer is not the best choice for that venture.

I think I know what you mean, and yes that's what I did. I got my lead from a metal distributor because I needed pure lead for my black powder guns and wasn't interested in sifting through alloyed lead at the recycler to find what I need. I am going straight to casting with my setup as my lead is already in ingots that I just cut on my bandsaw to fit into the pot.

My 10,000btu burner worked great. I had it a half turn off high and had lead pooling in 5 minutes. 15 minutes later I was casting. I turned it down a full turn off high and it was still fine. I cast for 2 hours and made 200 boolits. Even worked fine in the winter air.

After a false start with a Walmart hotplate I am very happy. :p

:castmine:

[leadman]

Most of the current hot plates won't get much above 400' unless you play with the thermostat.
Probably to keep from burning the teflon pans.

[bigdog454]

I've melted a lot of lead over a old Colman 2 burner stove using Colman fuel,( that was before the new unleaded gas stoves) in a cast iron 6 qt bean pot.

[JSnover]

For that size operation, you'll be happy. For a while.... This time next year, who knows?
Welcome aboard 41LC.

[JIMinPHX]

I just want to know where you get butane in a #20 can?

I think that he means propane. I've seen adapters in camping supply places that let you use the gas grill size propane tanks on the little camp stoves that were designed for the small portable cylinders that screw on. I've also seen adapters for refilling the small disposable cylinders that say "do not refill" on them. The adapters were about $20 IIRC. You would need to use up a lot of those little tanks to make that thing pay for itself.

[chris in va]

My hotplate works pretty well with a small iron skillet. Until I feel like spending $50 on a turkey fryer and another $35 on a big pot, this will do.

[TAWILDCATT]

Its not to save money on refilling the cylinders its convence. of using a hand held torch.especially if the stores are to far away I have one but I bought it when they were about $6.[smilie=1:

[JSnover]

My hotplate works pretty well with a small iron skillet. Until I feel like spending $50 on a turkey fryer and another $35 on a big pot, this will do.

I thought the same thing. Until I started casting lots of big boolits. The last straw was when I stumbled onto almost a half ton of lead. $100 for a burner, big dutch oven and a big ladle was money well spent.

[Idahoshooter]

Ive been using small camping stove and 1lb propane canister so far. Been melting 50lb pots of lead shot. It takes about 45 min. to go from cold pot to pourable melt with pot covered. The stove cover opens up with little side wings that act as windbreak. Its kinda slow but im cheap so i make do. Pretty cold sometimes..was single digit temps on my first smelt so that probly saps a lot of heat as well. 50 lbs is the most i would put on this stove as i dont want it to collapse..not to mention how long it would take to melt it.