Zow. Glad I am where I am at for sure. Our neighborhood was started as summer cottages by a lake after the end of WW2 and I am the 3rd newest family on this dead end street and I've been here now 21years. There are now 2 other families that have just moved in within this last year. The one house across from me is on their second generation owners. Thankfully I get along well with all my neighbors.
Hope you can work something out.
Having seen some folks darn near drag strangers walking past on the street to show their gun collection to, and then wonder why they were burglarized, and having had a family member who rather obviously thought that "tact" meant that someone had hammered tacks through you, into lumber, I tend to be pretty quiet. That said, to be afraid of fools, is folly; Outsmart them, it's not hard
Marvelux Flux
Wind Screen to shield activity , not so much to block the wind .
Have the smoker going, in front of the screen, with a brisket on it .
Brisket + long, low slow cooking = good smells and dinner .
Get creative...where there is a will... There is a way .
Certified Cajun
Proud Member of The Basket of Deplorables
" Let's Go Brandon !"
Well one good thing about using a smoker or a grill as a cover , if one of your neighbors gets a whiff of of a stick on wheel weight with a little rubber on it you won't have to worry about them showing up at dinner time with a plate and a fork.
Go to your local grocery store and get some beef fat. Throw some on top of the wheel weights. If you get most of the stems and other stuff out first the best you can the fat will start melting and smell like a BBQ. Also another benefit is it helps with the fluxing. A couple years ago I did that and one of my neighbors came over and wanted to know what I was BBQing cause it smelled so good.
I like the suet or tallow beef fat idea I used bacon grease many years ago , worked and covered smell as I was doing it in a small backyard , only had one neighbor lean over one night to see what I was doing and he was not concerned about it .
I live in a townhouse in So Cal. I cast on one of my balconies and there is no problem. There is an 8' wall between my blacony and my neighbors and if they are there on their balcony, I just keep everything quiet and don't flux as much.
WWG1WGA
I like to smelt while it is raining, either in my garage or out on the covered deck. The rain takes care of the smoke and people tend not to be outside much, and certainly don't linger in front of my garage door. Use pine chips to flux, as they smell good, but bacon might work well too(: Don't dump a big batch of WW into a hot melt as it will smoke much more than WW slowly melting. I used to have a friend who had some property and it was no big deal. Nowadays I just buy cleaner scrap to melt. Casting itself is no big deal, no smoke or smell.
Update: I am on quarantine from work unexpectedly. So, this morning, I decided to take a stainless steel pot full of wheel weights and pulled out 90% of them, leafing about 3" of them in the bottom, spread out. I put this on my grill, hoping to obtain the 621.5 F melting point of lead. Nada! 15 min later, neighbors nosing about, and not even close to melting. So, mission aborted.
Thus, what turkey fryer is recommended, as there are a variety on amazon.com?
The end result was, I think, heat until melting, flux when necessary with sawdust, as the melt, take spoon with holes in it and skim off the top the wheel weight brackets and any other debris, pour relatively pure mixture remaining into Lyman moulds. Does that sound about right?
Over time, I collect the odd bits of scrap lead i.e. Reclaimed shot, pick-up cast (used) bullets and jacketed along with the odd battery-cable end, bits of lead sheathing, etc. I have a small SS pot, about the size of a pet-food bowl. When the bowl is about 3/4 full, I use an ordinary single-burner hot plate to melt the whole thing down. It can take awhile but it does melt the scrap. I have basically quit accumulating more bulk lead as I am 81 and have at least a ton of alloy components on hand. Shooting opportunities are somewhat limited so I have enough. Now, this may not help, but the point is there is always a way to work around a problem.
R.D.M.
Casting is no big deal, I used to do it on my apt balcony. Smelting though, yeah it can be very smoky & smelly. Consider swapping for ingots, something like 1.5-1 ratio for the persons time. Flat rate USPS is the way to do that or face to face with someone local. Austin, oh yeah I bet you get some calls from the neighbors!
EVERY GOOD SHOOTER NEEDS TO BE A HANDLOADER.
NRA Cert. Inst. Met. Reloading & Basic Pistol
Order a Bayou Classic SP-1 Jet Cooker @ 105,000 Btuh it will take care of all your smelting , crawfish and crab boiling and turkey frying needs . It gets an 82 quart pot filled with water boiling in about 20 mins . The word to look for is " JET" Bayou Classic makes a SP-2 Double Jet that puts out 210,000 Btuh if you feel the need heat .
Gary
Certified Cajun
Proud Member of The Basket of Deplorables
" Let's Go Brandon !"
My wife gives me her sense wax when she is done to use as flux, it smells real pretty.
Take everything to your shooting ranges and cast there, you'll likely pick up a couple of "acolytes" while you're there and you can then inveigle them into your hobby.
Gun control is not about guns.
Take everything to your shooting range and cast there, you'll likely pick up a couple of "acolytes" while you're casting and you can then inveigle them into your hobby.
Gun control is not about guns.
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |