I use a cast iron skillet on an electric hotplate for melting range scrap. I bought the skillet specifically for that purpose. It has never been used for food, and never will.
I use a cast iron skillet on an electric hotplate for melting range scrap. I bought the skillet specifically for that purpose. It has never been used for food, and never will.
I have used a cast iron Dutch oven to melt lead for about 20 years. It works great for this purpose. After melting lead and mixing in tin and antimony I pour it into muffin pans to make ingots that fit into my Lee 20lb. pot. Best wishes in the new year!
I have been sing a Lodge cast iron skillet for smelting. A Lee bottom pour for casting. The skillet really doesn't hold enough alloy. I 'spect I will find either an old propane tank or an old freon tank come spring to make a larger smelting pot. The freon tanks look like they are about half as big as a 20# propane tank but would hold maybe 3-4 times as much as the skillet. Anyone have any advice?
Jim
I have a medium size Dutch oven that Grandpa used for smelting. I still use it for small batches like blending scrap solder. I guess I need to get my die grinder out and write not for food or something on it.
I have a secondhand 8" that I think will be reserved for casting stuff.
A vote for anyone other then the conservative candidates is a vote for the liberal candidates.
I have a 12 qt. dutch oven that I use to blend alloys. I have some cast iron pieces that I use as ingot molds
I used a 2 quart cast iron pot with handle for molding boolits and smelting wheelweights on top of an electric hot plate. Oddly enough it cracked on the side when I tried to force in a too-big piece of lead, but I have never bothered to fix it because the surface tension of molten lead is so high it never leaks out the crack.
I was still using the 2 quart pot for smelting up until a couple of months ago. Then I converted an empty bottle that was formerly filled with carpet glue ( I never knew such a thing existed until I found two of these.) I cut the cylinder in half, and used one for the fire pit, one for the melting vessel. Works great, fueled with scrap wood.
Wayne
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger - or else it gives you a bad rash.
Venison is free-range, organic, non-GMO and gluten-free
It sounds like you bought a second-hand pan, want to use it for cooking, but want to test it for previous lead exposure? Not that many people reload, much less cast their own bullets, so lacking any evidence of industrial use it's likely ok. I don't know what a lead test would cost but combined with the cost of a used pan - I'd just get a new one and eliminate the history worry.
I’m a wimp. A cast iron frying pan is heavy, and heavier when filled with an inch or two of molten lead. If I needed to lift it, twisting, sloshing and spillage would be hard for me to control with a one handed grip on the handle.
A cast iron Dutch oven or pot with two handles or a bail and deep enough that the weight of the melt is well below the lifting points would be easier to lift and control, has capacity over a shallow pan, and probably allows more efficient ladle filling.
But if you don’t need to lift them full of lead, and can put up with or get around their limitations, they serve the purpose.
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 |