Need some adult supervision

[oldleadhead]

New member here. 70+ yrs. old. Been shooting cast for awhile but my Dad always cast them so I have only an idea of the process. The question is this: I have about 170 lbs. of old, old wheel weights, no zinc or steel. I was told I could get more for the WW lead if it was in ingots, makes sense to me.

So when smelting how can I get the impurities out and get good clean lead ingots ? I remember my father fluxing the furnace. What is a good, inexpensive flux to use when processing larger quantities of WW?

I was going to use a coleman stove as a heat source and a 2 quart stainless pot to smelt. Need some good ideas on how to get the junk off the top of the molten lead as well as the steel ww clips ?

Is a soup ladle good to fill the mold ?

I'm open to any suggestions or ideas.

Thanks.

[porthos]

you should buy a casting ladle!!!

[Joe504]

What part of the world are you in? Maybe someone is close by and willing to help.

As far as Flux, lots of things work well, my favorite is wood shavings if I'm smelting and wax or a commercial Flux if I'm casting.

Might be a food idea to grab a copy of the lyman casting book, that has a lot of answers in it, and the older editions are pretty cheap on ebay

Sent from my SM-N970U using Tapatalk

[bimus]

Sounds like you are not really set up for the task. sell them as is .

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Your's is one of those questions that will likely get somewhere between a few and many answers with different information and opinions. As for myself, I secured several 5 gal. buckets of old wheel weights at least 20 years ago and this is how I proceeded. I put those to be melted into a large cast iron cooking pot, guessing about 3 qt. size, which I obtained at a secondhand store, put the pot onto a burner fueled by propane, and when it melted I used a dipper to first skim off the obvious debris that was on the surface. Then I fluxed the mix using candle wax chunks, about the size of an unshelled almond. I put in two or three chunks at a time and then lit the fumes with one of the long butane woodstove lighters. I let the flames die down a bit, then stirred with a big spoon, and lots more "junk" floated to the surface. I skimmed that off using the big spoon, then repeated the operation twice more, wax and skim. One must be careful not to skim off the dark grey film floating on the surface of the molten lead, as it adds to its "castability". Then I added a piece of pure tin from a bar, the piece being about the size of a medium walnut. I stirred that into the melt, then poured it into the ingot molds. The stuff that you skim off the surface of the molten lead is very toxic, so you want to put it into something like a coffee can on the side of the operation and then later wash your hands very well.

DG

[The Dar]

I was told I could get more for the WW lead if it was in ingots, makes sense to me.

I'd leave them as they are, most bullet casters want to know exactly what their getting.

[WRideout]

Since you are all set up to melt, I would go ahead and try it. I have used all manner of stuff to flux with including vegetable oil, wood shavings, paraffin wax etc. It is the carbon that does the work. Once up to temperature and the lead is melted, the trash and junk floats to the top, where it is easily skimmed off with a large spoon. Fluxing helps the steel clips let go from the lead.

old muffin tins work well for ingot molds. I had trouble with lead sticking to my tins until I let them get rusty, then the lead drops right out. University of U-Tube has videos showing how other people do it.

Wayne

[Mk42gunner]

A Coleman stove will work for a heat source, sort of. It will be slow, going by my experience.

A propane fish fryer works much better, if you have one.

If you are just going to sell the WW, I would sell them as is.

Robert

[JimB..]

Echoing some of the comments above…
If the goal is to cast your own bullets, making clean ingots is an important step.
If the goal is to sell the COWWs, then sell them exactly as they are.

[memtb]

If you intend to actually use them yourself…..you can do quite well with the minimum!

A cast iron pot, a ladle, and something to flux (many things will work including saw dust) with. When I was 17 or 18, I used my wife’s kitchen stove, covered the stovetop and adjacent surfaces with aluminum foil to be certain that no lead splatters could get on anything!

A few minutes of research, will explain the fluxing and casting procedures. Once done you can proceed with casting bullets (assuming you have molds) or making ingots!

However as others have stated……if you’re not going to cast for yourself, don’t waste your time making ingots. Also as stated……prospective buyers will see “exactly” what they are buying! memtb

[country gent]

170 lbs of wheel weights is a lot with out proper smelting equipment, A larger pot a few ingot moulds and steady heat source. A pot in the 30-50lb range would be a big help, when a 50 lb pot is filled wit cold wheel weights youll get around 20-40 lbs of alloy after skimming and fluxing (air space and clips). Then add in a long heat time when using a minimal heat source. Your soup ladle is fine for ingots provided it constructed solidly. Remember most factory ingot moulds hold 3-4 lbs of metal, thats a lot of pours.

If your not planning on using it I also second selling as is.

If you want to cast it into bullets a dutch oven on a fish fryer soup ladle and a piece of flat stock or large serving spoon, And some ingot moulds. Then melt and flux several times. here wood chips sawdust wax or paraffin can be used. Then while molten add your alloys as needed ( wheel weights may require some tin to fill out good. Depending on bullets and loadings some pure may be able to be added to stretch it out). Then when blended and mixed good cast your ingots

[oldleadhead]

Gents, Thank you for all the responses. It would seem that the majority recommend leaving the WW's as is since I was not planning on casting. I was under the impression most casters wanted ingots and not WW's, this seems not to be the case...

So now I have the dilemma of selling as is or smelting. Knowing what I do now I will likely sell as is. I may just smelt a small quantity just to try it. Some of the processes almost sound a bit like alchemy, the changing of a base metal into gold. Well these days boolits are like gold right ...

Again, I would like to thank all those that responded.

Enjoy the day,
oldleadhead

[deltaenterprizes]

Welcome to the forum!
If you’re going to sell them now a days people like to buy the wheel weights in the raw form that way they know exactly what they are getting.
In ingots they lose the identity and it is only a guess as to what they really are.
Your location would be a big help because you may be able to do a face to face meeting and save yourself a lot of work, time and money and meet a mentor.

[oldleadhead]

Make perfect sense knowing the composition of the lead. I am located a little south of Albany, NY. in the foot hills of the Northern Catskill mountains.

[William Yanda]

Check out thrift stores for a slotted spoon to clear floating debris. Crayons, old candles, sawdust, even motor oil will work for flux, what is needed is a carbon source. Just be aware of flammable fumes.

[oldleadhead]

I've seen various items mentioned for flux. How do you know when you've added enough flux ? This sounds interesting, I may have to give this a shot...

[Soundguy]

I agree with the other posters..selling as is may be best.. but if you do tgem..then a slotted spoon works.. propane furnace is easier..but lots of casting has been done on a Coleman. you will need an ingot molds too.. anything from commercial ones to end capped angle iron..or half cut/split round pipe with angled ends to help drop out the ingots.
old candles from yardsales and wood chips make good flux.. many people lije their ingots fluxed at least twice.. the steel clips float too. have a dross bucket ready..a big old gallon tin can works. melt and stir.. zinc and steel float long after you hit kead melting temps..so get those out.. stir..flux..stir.. scoop ash out.. pour ingots... repeat. etc..

[country gent]

It dosnt take a lot of flux usually a pea sized ball is enough. To much dosnt hurt anything but creates more smoke and possibly flames on the pot. As or more important is how you stir the pot when fluxing scraping the sides good and pulling the alloy up thru the flux and then the flux down thru the alloy.

[oldleadhead]

Got it. It's all about the technique...

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

SNIP>>>
>since I was not planning on casting.

>I may just smelt a small quantity just to try it. Some of the processes almost sound a bit like alchemy

Do not,
I mean DO NOT melt any lead alloy "just to try it"
Because if you are not planning on casting bullets and you just try melting some lead alloy, you are gonna find out how fun it is, and you will have coerced yourself into the bullet casting hobby.

I should add, many of us have coerced ourselves into casting, by thinking we would save money by casting our own...YOU WILL NOT SAVE MONEY, in fact, every day you will be planning and plotting where to get your next bullet mold purchase money from.