I'm looking to start casting soon but started off with smelting first to get my feet wet. I found this sight to be invaluable and I have already learned a lot. Being a tight wad I didn't want to spend a lot of money so everything I have done so far has been by scrounging. As an auto mechanic I started by melting wheel weights at work to get the hang of it.
If a picture is worth a thousand words then maybe this video is worth more. It should explain how thing went and how I ended up with my version of an ingot mold.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IVLgujGVAqU
Let me know what you guys think.