I apologise for raising this but it's driving me nuts!

[UKShootist]

Melting or smelting? As regular as clockwork I see references to people 'smelting' lead when it's clear from their post that they mean they are 'melting' lead. Smelting is the recovery of metals from metallic ore. Melting is a process of heating lead until it turns from a solid to a liquid. In one sense it may appear unimportant I know, but it's not difficult to get right, is it? It's a bit like calling nitro propellants gunpowder, it seems to me.

(Now diving for cover, flameproof gloves, bug out bag, and tinfoil hat at the ready)

[chuckbuster]

I think the term smelting is used since our process often does involve recovering usable lead/lead alloys from wheel weights, range dirt, old pipe, etc. Fluxing and such required so using the term smelting is not that far off base. If used when referring to converting pewter objects into ingots your point certainly more valid,,,

Now the constant use of caliber when cartridge or chambering ( chambered for) is What really drives me nuts. I personally load for only 6-7 different calibers but there are over 20 cartridges involved.

Just throwing a little gas on the flames
Kevin

[leftiye]

Give up, they're wrong, you're right, it's just the term that we use.

[koehlerrk]

Depends on what you're doing. I have a dedicated smelting pot for turning dirty scrap into clean ingots. I also have a melting pot that I use for casting said ingots into various size boolits.

Ahh, you're from Britain... That explains the conundrum! American vs English... It all depends on the language my good sir!

[matrixcs]

Even then either smelting or melting are not the best or accurate words for our process of rendering and recovering usable lead from various sources...

[StrawHat]

That's not mot much of a drive, more like a short walk.

Wait until you hear them talk about what caliber their firearm is, ie 30-06 or 38 Special, when that is actually the cartridge for which the firearm is chambered.

Kevin

[dragon813gt]

You won't last long.

[dudel]

Clips vs Mags anyone?.....

[JSnover]

We can melt lead.
We can render scrap or unknown alloys into useable lead.
We don't smelt.

[Sasquatch-1]

Beat me to it. I was going to ask if "RENDERING" would be more to his liking.

I believe I remember this same topic coming up about a year ago. Maybe it should be placed with the abbreviation at the bottom of the page:
"Smelting is the word used for the melting of any bulk material (other then ingot) into a useable ingots for casting. We know this is not the correct use of the word but we are trying to emulate democrats."

We can melt lead.
We can render scrap or unknown alloys into useable lead.
We don't smelt.

[Tatume]

Smelt:
1. to fuse or melt (ore) in order to separate the metal contained. 2. to obtain or refine (metal) in this way.

Ore:
A mineral or an aggregate of minerals from which a valuable constituent, especially a metal, can be profitably mined or extracted

If you think of range scrap and wheel weights as a form of manmade ore, then we are smelting when we heat it to recover lead.

[Newboy]

Most of us are aware that we are not truly "smelting". But we do not have a proper word for the process of "rendering" scrap lead into ingots, so we use the smelt word. The word "melt" is reserved for melting clean alloy for dispensing into molds/moulds.

[Hickory]

Plants for the production of lead are generally referred to as lead smelters. Primary lead production begins with sintering. Concentrated lead ore is fed into a sintering machine with iron, silica, limestone fluxes, coke, soda ash, pyrite, zinc, caustics orpollution control particulates. Smelting uses suitable reducing substances that will combine with those oxidizing elements to free the metal. Reduction is the final, high-temperature step in smelting. It is here that the oxide becomes the elemental metal. A reducing environment (often provided by carbon monoxide in an air-starved furnace) pulls the final oxygen atoms from the raw metal.
Lead is usually smelted in a blast furnace using the carbon from the sintering machine to provide the heat source. As melting occurs, several layers form in the furnace. The molten lead layer sinks to the bottom of the furnace. A layer of the lightest elements, including arsenic and antimony, floats to the top and is referred to as the speiss. A "matte" layer also forms from the copper and metal sulfides. Finally, a layer of blast furnace slag, which contains mostly silicates, also forms. The speiss and the matte are usually sold to copper smelters where they are refined for copper processing. The slag is stored and partially recycled, if the metal content is sufficient.

==============================,=================== ========================
​
I never understand the term 'smelt' by boolits casters.
Maybe they feel smarter or more important when they 'smelt' as opposed to melting lead.
I worked in an iron foundry for nearly 30 years and we never "SMELTED" one ounce of iron, we melted it.

[Walter Laich]

my neighbor is from MI and told me stories of dipping for smelt.

Also mentioned their deer can be bigger than we have in the South

and don't get me started on his ice fishing stories...

[imashooter2]

You're on a board called "Cast Boolits."

[bedbugbilly]

Thank you for pointing that out . . . . I needed something really important to worry about today.

[OS OK]

Oh my gosh...'smelt', 'melt', 'render'...I thought I was 'refining' the scrap, and at the pour pot...I thought I was 'blending' to get the boolit metal I need.

I just hope that it doesn't turn into another 'acronym'!...

[DerekP Houston]

color vs colour, grey vs gray, etc. I *know* I'm not smelting, but I've gotten over the need to nitpick others over their language choice. My dad still refers to magazines as "clips" and other funny sayings. As long as I can understand the gist of the conversation from context clues I just go with it. Also I frequent many international sites where english is not the first language and I rely on translator apps to read. I have yet to have my gaming buddies complain that I *tried* to communicate in their language to the best of my ability, though sometimes they tell me the translations are completely off and hilarious.

[mold maker]

Melting or smelting? As regular as clockwork I see references to people 'smelting' lead when it's clear from their post that they mean they are 'melting' lead. Smelting is the recovery of metals from metallic ore. Melting is a process of heating lead until it turns from a solid to a liquid. In one sense it may appear unimportant I know, but it's not difficult to get right, is it? It's a bit like calling nitro propellants gunpowder, it seems to me.

(Now diving for cover, flameproof gloves, bug out bag, and tinfoil hat at the ready)

Personally, I came here to learn, and I try to use the terms common here. To do otherwise is to insult those who try to share thoughts and info.

[swheeler]

Smelting/melting, fluxing/reducing, in our world just semantics, don't sweet it. Stick around long enough you will see a lot of things, pill, head, pipe, tube, Remmy, Winny, Webby, Loopy and even P17 from a few! Shake it off and read between the lines.