Getting close to "doing" my first smelt.........Got a question.

[Chris C]

Okay, here's the deal. I've got ingots of known value (94.1% Pb and 5.9% Sd), pure lead sheeting, lead wheel weights, stick on wheel weights and pure tin. When I smelt, should I combine the whole shebang, or put them up in separate marked ingots? I don't think I have any plans of making different mixes down the road. If I do the whole shebang, I'll send BNE a sample and then correct from there to make the hardness I'm after. As I stated in the title, this is my first smelt but I'm thinkin' it would be smart to separate them all so I can be more precise in my final smelting for ingots. What say you of much experience?

[slide]

I would keep them separate. As you go along with your bullet making you will want to try different recipes.

[rancher1913]

I kept my soft by itself and am glad I did as now I'm casting black powder and shot gun slugs which like the soft lead. you don't tell quantity's so its hard to answer, I would dump the known ingots and clip on wheel weights together and add some of the tin for fill outs, that would be one batch then dump the sheet lead and stick ons together for batch 2

[Chris C]

Just recently, I was told to take my "known" ingots and add an equal amount of pure lead, along with 2% tin. I didn't have anything to do that in but my 20# Lee Pot, but it worked great and I ended up with an alloy that measured 11 bhn............just what I was looking for. I've enough pure lead and tin to do another 80# or so, so I'm going to do that with my first smelt. Then I'm thinkin' I will cast the WW by themselves and the pure lead stick-on WW by themselves. Then I'll need to locate more pure lead to do the same 50/50/2% mix with the rest of my "known" ingots. It's gonna take me some time to get it all organized. Sounds complicated to a newbie like myself, but I'm sure most of you are used to it. I've got all my tools gathered and am waiting on a pot to arrive and I'll be a smeltin' fool.

[BNE]

I highly recommend keeping your known alloy types separate. Clip-ons in one smelt, stick-ons in another etcetera. I found that over time I wanted a variety of mixes depending on what I was loading for. It seems a little daunting at first, but it is not so difficult. It also saves you having to send me samples....

[Rooster]

I like to keep them separated too. No telling what one will need/want them for down the road.


ETA: Dang #243. Oh well, pew pew pew.

[Chris C]

It also saves you having to send me samples....

Will do.............but I'll still send you a sample of the wheel weights and stick-on wheel weights to make sure I know the content. Cheap enough, considering the knowledge I'll gain.

[white eagle]

I to would keep it separate
just because you don't think you will
make different alloy's at this point doesn't mean you won't
want to later down the road of casting and if combined there is
no going back

[country gent]

One way of looking at this is you can always blend more of a given alloy if seperate ingots. Once blended thats what you have no real easy way to seperate once alloyed.

[scottfire1957]

Personally, I would mix all the lead stuff. Add the tin at whatever percentage you want/need.

It depends a lot on what you're casting for, basically.

[6622729]

Personally, I would mix all the lead stuff. Add the tin at whatever percentage you want/need.

It depends a lot on what you're casting for, basically.

Keep it all separate. Your needs could change down the road or you might want to tweak an alloy you're already using.

[lightman]

Another vote to keep it separate, for all of the reasons stated above.

[Walter Laich]

and another vote for separate piles. you don't know what alloy you want 5 years down the road

[MrWolf]

And another seperate. I use the letter punches from Harbor Freight and mark them, COWW, SOWW, etc.. Good luck.

[Oklahoma Rebel]

get you a good sized cast iron pot and smelt in that, using a turkey fryer, I try to limit the weight to 60lbs or so, and why out your separate components before you start putting it all together. that's how I do it. I use a kitchen ladle and cast iron muffin pan to make ingots. don't use a steel pan, they will stick!

[bangerjim]

Agree. Keep ALL know alloys separate! I have never understood why some brew up several hundred pounds of an alloy, only to find out down the road they want something different!

I keep all my stuff separate, stamped with a code and the ends sprayed with transparent colored lacquers for easy ID when in stacks. I just grab what I want based upon what I am casting for and throw them in the casting pot.

Keep them separate.........you will thank us later!

banger

[scottfire1957]

Personally, I would mix all the lead stuff. Add the tin at whatever percentage you want/need.

It depends a lot on what you're casting for, basically.

Ya'll did note I said what I would do (that's what "personally" means,) and also "it depends," since we don't know what OP is casting.

Personally, I would blend all the Pb with Pb.
Personally, I would blend all the Sn with Sn.

Blend together as needed.

But that's just me.

[Chris C]

Enough votes for "keep 'em separate"..............so that's what I'll do. Thanks. Now if my pot would just hurry up and get here!

[scottfire1957]

Good luck with your casting!

[Chris C]

Thanks...............but it's the smelting I'm looking to do. This will be my first time. I've got about 400# to smelt and have everything gathered to do the job except for my pot. It's supposedly being made, but hasn't shipped yet.