First-time smelter...thanks, folks.

[Boolseye]

Had an old 20# propane tank that I cut in half w/ a metal bladed circular saw. Borrowed the big ol' propane ring. Picked up the cast cornbread mold at an antique shop, along with a couple nice dippers. Fluxed with only sawdust for the smelt. The wind brake ended up being handy for stirring while the bullets were still intact–had one FMJ pop despite trying to weed 'em all out. lead missed me, but woke me up, too. I was careful and stayed unscathed. Had fun...and ended up with a nice pile of clean ingots.
The community (as in castboolits) was very helpful in getting me going, and I'm grateful.

[RobS]

Looks like you're on your way and now to make those ingots into projectiles. Cast boolit up and let us know how they fly for ya.

[fryboy]

nice start !! but that's a cornbread mold ? never seen one like it ( nice mold tho !! ) looks almost like a cheese mold or something , is it a true half circle or just part of one ?

[blaser.306]

Looks to be a fair amount of brass in your pot ! I would be more concerned with a live round going "POP" than a fmj ! I had a .22 rimfire sneak past the initial sorting phse of cleaning and that made me glad to have a heavy steel lid on things for the first little part of the smelting process !!!
after a closer look they were just (bullet) jackets , but it is good advice none the less to cover a pot of range scrap at first ! it also makes it melt faster as you can't watch it doing "nothing"

[Boolseye]

yeah–no live rounds in there. Fair bit of good copper though...hopefully I'll get a few pennies for it eventually. Good tips, though–t'anks


nice start !! but that's a cornbread mold ? never seen one like it ( nice mold tho !! ) looks almost like a cheese mold or something , is it a true half circle or just part of one ?
Well–I s'pose you could have made cornbread in it before I started filling it with alloy! That's what the lady at the shop said they were for– biscuits and whatnot.

[fryboy]

i wont doubt that it could be use for that and may of been made for that just never seen one in that shape before nor biscuts and cornbread , it looks like a commercial mold of some sort , having spent a little time working in a foundry when i was young i know possibilities are endless , the main thing ? it makes great looking ingots ! thanx amigo for gettin' back with me !

[WILCO]

Picked up the cast cornbread mold at an antique shop......

Glad to see you've made the plunge. I was saddened to hear about the cornbread mold though.........hate to see cast iron ruined, unless it's the chicom stuff. :mrgreen:

[Boolseye]

I like your byline, Wilco. Cast iron's the %h&*.
This one had to be sacrificed for the silver stream, however.