Smelting Lead

[mikld]

Making leather washers at home shouldn't be too much trouble. I've used hole punches to make leather plugs and washers. After cutting them out I'd either soak them in some light oil or lanolin...

I've been using a single burner Coleman propane stove and a 20+ lb. homemade pot for my smelting. A small can of propane lasts for a few hours and can be refilled from my 5 gal. propane tank..

[cj8281]

I use a Coleman white gas stove and a little RCBS iron pot. I have smelted about 250 pounds of wheel weights on about 2 gallons of gas. Takes awhile but gets the job done.

[Ranch Dog]

Making leather washers at home shouldn't be too much trouble. I've used hole punches to make leather plugs and washers. After cutting them out I'd either soak them in some light oil or lanolin...

When the smelter caught on fire, I could not put it out. The heat from the melted lead creates a real issue in this situation. I spent an extinguisher on it and had to back away and let it go. The smelter was ruined. Luckily, I don't do any of this indoors and only on a concrete surface.

[Ranch Dog]

Been prepping for the new furnace's arrival. I just work until I'm tired a couple of days every January. I've done well with the wheel weights over the years. Eyeballing the bin, I think I have about 1500 pounds rendered into the Lee ingots. I haven't scratched the surface with the linotype so that will be my focus this year, I would like to knock out about 500 lbs.

I've always melted small amounts of linotype to meet my needs, but it is now going to be a primary part of my alloys. I'm using 60/40, linotype/wheel weights with my rifles and 40/60 with my pistols. No longer using the tin to increase the definition of the fill nor magnum shot for hardening, linotype handles all of that.