Let's talk LEAD

[Highland Lofts]

I've been buying scrap lead and processing it for own personal use and to resell.

So far processed over two tons.
Fairly new to the lead scene and learned alot in the past few months.
Two times had magor water problems plus a couple smaller problems.

When I first got into the lead scene I bought a new five quart cast iron Dutch Oven and borrowed a propane burner. Took three out dated 20 pound propane thanks it to 7/11 and got three fresh full tanks.
Now I can take them to the local Co-op and get them refilled.

I watched a butt load of melting lead videos on YouTube and learned a lot with the videos.
You can tell who has been at it and who is new to the game.

I seen two videos that recommended the GAS ONE propane burner. So I spent the $100 and bought one from Amazon.
Money well spent, it does work a lot better then the two that I borrowed. It does melt the lead down faster then the older version burners.
The only problem is the cast burner is twelve inches in diameter and the new cast iron Dutch Oven is around ten & a half inches so the flame wants to travel up the sides. So to correct that iwill pick up a piece of 3/8ths to a 1/2 inch piece of plate steel and have it cut to the size of the propane burner frame, 16 inches x 16 inches then have a 10 & 1/2 inch circle cut out in the middle so the Dutch Oven will fit perfect in the opening which will stop the flame from traveling up the sides.

One major safety concern is to leave the top on when you are not doing stuff to the lead, adding lead, cleaning the dress out, adding sawdust and candle wax.
I bought some roofing lead that had a lot of tar on it, once the lead melts and the tar turns to liquid tar it wants to burn. When first approach I turned the Gass of and tried scooping the goop out. I ended up throwing sawdust in to the burning mess and the flame went out and the soupy melted tar fused with the saw dust and became a powder that I took out with my slotted spoon.
Worked out really nice.
There is a bunch more to share if there are any of you who is interested.
We'll see where this goes.

 

[AJC1]

I pray that with the volume your handling you have at least read the Osha safety requirements. I don't wish acute lead poisoning on anyone. I would also recommend you have your blood tested regularly. I hate being a safety nag, but I feel reloaders are my people....

 

[troy fairweather]

My dad had bad lead poisoning in the 80s and I turned out just fine . A good box fan in the proper spot can really help, pre heat anything you put in the pot to help evaporate any water. I add saw dust, scrape the bottom/ side then mix, the add the wax and repeat. Get less metal in the dross and mixes the lead better.

 

[bullseye308]

I use a harbor freight Dutch oven on a turkey fryer and fill the pot with whatever I have wet or dry. Fire it up, set the lid on, and relax for 20 minutes before slowly opening the lid to check on it. Once mostly melted a slotted spoon removes the big stuff and when it’s all liquid drop in some beeswax and stir with a stick. Use a Solid spoon and scrape off whatever floats on the mirror finish and start pouring ingots. Works for me.

 

[BIZERKO666]

Watch any moisture introduced into hot lead. I dropped in some wheel weights that had a little moisture on the clips. Wakes you up quick.

 

[troy fairweather]

A apron is good to have on, a lot of guys pour sitting down it's a good idea to have something over your lap/waist. A family friend had the bottom of his Lee lot blow out after about 40 years of use, a lip on the bench is nice if there's any spills it won't run off on you.

 

[troy fairweather]

Water expands 1500 times it's volume when vaporized something to think about.

 

[Mark_Mark]

I have not started pouring yet, later project, but that 500 .452 230gn for $55 sounds like a bargain

 

[Highland Lofts]

I had two pieces of lead that looked like they pourd small amounts in to a steel coffee can over time then cut the cam off of the lead. It had lots of layers of lead. There must of been a decent size air pocket that had a good amount of water in it. When it melted down into the melt it exploded and sent lead out to the right about ten feet.

Another ti.e I was melting down downrigger balls, one of them had a stainless steel wire run through it with swivels on both ends. There had to of been a air pocket inside with water in it, when the water hit the melt it blew the top off of the pan and screw lead up and about two feet around the pan.
I probably watched every YouTube video out there. I seen quite a few melting lead and casting bullets in short sleeve shirt, shorts on and no safety glasses, a big mistake.
One guy was useing the short fat one pound propane tank with a burner head with a regular size cast iron frying pan on it full of lead.very good chance of tipping that set up over.
The volume of lead I have been doing the fastest way to make ingots is useing cupcake tins, I bought several lee, Lyman and RCBS molds, they are a lot slower going then the cupcake tins.

 

[Howa 9700]

To OP, where are you getting the scrap lead? Used to be you could buy wheel weights, but as I understand it, that is no more.

I found I could put a lot of nasty stuff in the dutch oven with the wheel weights.......rubber stems, can be wet, etc, as long as you put it in cold, before it starts to melt. I'd never put anything in when hot. Seems weird watching steel clips, etc. float on top of the lead. And working with a liquid that doesn't leave anything wet.

I did all my melting outside in the open. I also wear long cuff leather gloves and a face mask. I used small bread pans for molds.

 

[noylj]

When the lead melts, you need to Flux. Igniting the tar and fluxing the lead through the flames works perfect. Many people prefer sawdust, but anything burning works fine.
After flux, remove the detritus floating on the surface and cast ingots.
Lead poisoning is mostly a problem for prepubescent children, not adults. Wash hands and face and blow your nose, don't eat, drink, or smoke. Would take shower when I get home if I was processing hundreds of pounds at a time.

 

[WestKentucky]

I cut a piece of plexiglass about a foot wide and 2 ft tall. When I am pouring I essentially am protected by a blast shield that I can see through. My arms aren’t behind the shield but are inside of a leather welders jacket when I pour. Only thing I don’t do that I should is have better ventilation. A fan blowing from behind me with clean air is nice but I need a hood pulling fumes off of the melter since I cast in my garage. I also need to set up the casting space in the new house… but that’s WAY down my project list. Gotta rebuild and sell the Jeep first, then replace it with anything not mopar or bowtie. Not working on vehicles constantly will help free up time.

 

[Bandit67]

I use a 20 lb. Propane tank cut in half to melt lead for ingots. I use the top half for a lid and a turkey fryer burner.
I also use muffin tins that I got from the salvation army or estate sales. I wait for day with a slight breeze and also use a fan like Troy mentioned and stay upwind.
I cast bullets in my garage with the big doors open and a fan blowing away from me.

 

[lightman]

Lots of good advice above.

My #1 rule is to NEVER add lead to a pot containing molten lead. When I'm melting scrap lead I wear safety glasses, a long sleeve shirt, long pants, boots and leather gloves. I work in my shop but I have a 36" exhaust fan in the gable end of the shop and a 48" fan in the doorway. I can see the smoke moving! I work up wind of the melting pot and I'm careful to not rub my eyes, nose, ect without washing my hands. Also, no smoking, eating, drinking ect before washing.

If I were melting those down rigger weights I probably would hang them over my pot and melt them with a weed burner, letting the lead drip into my pot. The Tinsel Fairy can give you a nasty surprise!!!

My smelting set-up is a steel pot that will hold 400 pounds, a homemade jet burner, 8 cast iron Lyman type ingot molds, a Rowell ladle and skimmer, and a slotted and a solid serving spoon. I have the ingot molds sitting on a piece of 1/2 X 6" steel bar that acts as a heat since and it sits on a wood 2X6 thats across 2 30 gallon barrels. I have tried to get everything at a comfortable height and arranged so that I have a minimum amount of moving, stooping and bending. Usually after I fill those ingot molds for the 4th or 5th time I have to wait for them to cool and while I'm waiting I'll flux again. I use pine sawdust in my smelting pot.

I've melted about every form of lead that you can name. Wheelweights, cable sheathing, roof flashing and vent caps, X-Ray room sheet lead, water pipe and drain traps, Isotope containers, battery cable ends, aircraft counter weights, reclaimed shot, reclaimed bullets,ect. You name it, I have probably melted it. The only trouble I ever had was with down rigger weights holding water. With wheelweights and most other types of lead any water will be cooked off before the lead melts.

Good Luck with your lead sales and be careful!

 

[Bazoo]

I use a cut off propane tank for a pot and I cut a steel car rim’s center out to accept the base. This directs the heat up the sides of the pot and melts quicker. I use both propane and wood to smelt. Depending on what I have. Both work about the same.

 

[Highland Lofts]

I wrote a response and really messed it up and deleted it.

 

[Bazoo]

Here’s the thread on the other forum with pics of my smelting rig using fire. I also use the same rim and pot with propane on an old grill side cooker I scavenged (neighbors garbage). It doesn’t put out the btus of a turkey cooker, but it works with my rim because it directs the heat. I don’t use a lid. Though, I have the tank half if I want to try it.

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?335783-Smelting-with-fire&highlight=Bazoo+smelting+wood

 

[Rule3]

I use a cut off propane tank for a pot and I cut a steel car rim’s center out to accept the base. This directs the heat up the sides of the pot and melts quicker. I use both propane and wood to smelt. Depending on what I have. Both work about the same.

Where is our resident, casting guru? I have not posts from him?
Can't remember his name. He knows LOTS of stuff on casting! Made bullets from 22lr cases as well.
He did the same thing I believe.

 

[kcofohio]

I'm just 2 years into casting. When reclaiming lead, I'll use either wax or sawdust.
When mixing alloys and casting, I prefer sawdust only. Mainly to reduce any oxidized alloy back into the mix. A good read on fluxing;
http://www.lasc.us/Fryxell_Book_Chapter_4_Fluxing.htm

When skimming dross, I re-add back into the pot anything shiny.

Like @troy fairweather said, I scrape loose the sides and bottom. Amazing what will float to the top. I read some will use wood sticks to scrape with. Not sure, but think I will try that once.

 

[Bazoo]

I use sawdust to help remove debris in dirty lead but I prefer beeswax for my casting pot. Fryxell says sawdust checks all the boxes (from a scientific perspective) but the lead acts different when fluxed with beeswax. It flows better and casts better after having fluxed with beeswax.

Candle wax doesn’t act the same and doesn’t work as well as beeswax.

 

[Highland Lofts]

I need to pick up a old propane tank and try it out. I need something to melt down more lead at a time. The five quart Dutch Oven only holds about sixty pounds of lead. When you want to process 400 to 600 pounds of lead in a day it takes time doing only sixty-five pounds at a time.

I like to get the five quart pot as full as I can when filling the molds so I have to add lead as it melts. I melt the same types of lead together as I process it. That way all the melts are the same hardness. I mark each batch of ingot as I pour them so they will not get mixed all together.
I need to keep adding lead as it melts to get the pot as full as I can.
When the plumbing lead, roofing lead renders down it doesn't fill the pot up that much so it takes a lot of pieces added to the pot to get a full pot.

I need to make my set up a little more user friendly. The burner needs to be a little higher and the table I put the cupcake tins on a little lower. I do need to kind of close in the melting area in a little with plywood or OSB and dig out the fan for proper ventilation.

I bought a bunch of ingot molds, Lee, Lyman, RCBS, but they only hold three or four pounds of lead per mold and they take lots of room up on the molding table compared to the cupcake tins.

I use sawdust for removing all of the impurities out of the lead. I get the sawdust from the hardware store - lumber store a few blocks from the house. They cut up plywood for customers with their big saw and create a lot of sawdust. I just picked up some more of it Monday afternoon.

For candle wax I pick up the small packs of candles from Walmart.

For shipping the lead you can ship up to seventy pounds in the medium size USPS flat rate box.
The total weight is seventy pounds including the box & tape. A fraction of an ounce over they will not except it.
So you have to be exactly seventy pounds or leas
I keep it around sixty-nine pounds.
I put the lead in the box in layers and each layer is in the tyvek shipping bags just incase the box gets busted open the lead stays contained.

I bought the SAECO Lead tester and the Lee lead tester.
The SAECO tester you need to cast bullets to test.
With the Lee tester I cast real small ingots to test.
I just set them on a shell holder and run them up to the die then I can check them.
Trying to hold that cheap little pen like magnifying scope by hand is nearly impossible.
On another thread a guy took a Styrofoam rifle bullet holder, set it on two glasses and stuck the microscope through it to stabilize it.
I tried that and still couldn't get it to work.
So some one else wrote about the microscope stand and mini-flashlight stand. It works like a charm.
Thirty-five dollars well spent.

The little ingots I make to check the hardness is in the microscope stand. I can also check the bigger cupcake tin ingots.

 

[troy fairweather]

I would use a old 100 pound propane tank or something bigger and make it wood fired I save on gas

 

[Bazoo]

I don’t know how much the propane tank half holds. I only fill it half full. But It’d probably hold over 100 pounds. I only do a couple hundred pounds at a time or less. Course, I ain’t selling lead, but using it.

 

[Highland Lofts]

I looked on Amazon and they have 10 quart, 12 quart and 13.2 quart cast iron Dutch ovends from $89.99 to $99.99.

I think I'll try the cut up 20 pound propane tank. When things pick up I'll buy a bigger Dutch oven to try.

If I went with wood as a fuel I'd make a nice brick fireplace that I could modify to get the best use of the heat.
I'm sure cut up pallets would work as feul to melt the lead. I cut pallets up with my Sawzall for my fireplace.
Could take a bigger propane tank cut it down and cut a firewood at the bottom to put the wood in. Put some rebar in the top to hold a cut up 20 pound tank and try casting lead that way.
I'll stop by the propane place and see what they have for old out dated tanks.

 

[Bazoo]

Instead of cutting the tank in half, leave it tall. 3/4 or so. You’ll be able to get 150-200 pounds in it. That’s enough to satisfy even a hungry bigbores appetite.