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OK I have about 2 5 gallon buckets full of lead that I need to seperate and melt down before my wife kills me. does anyone have a pot and mold i can borrow? near Oakland
Lead melting pot and ingot mold
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Why melt it down. If you want it out of the house I will take it.
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Don't crud up a lead pot with dirty lead. get yourself a cheap cast iron frying pan or dutch oven from wall mart or yard sale and melt your lead down in that over a camp stove or best a turkey fryer. Obviously you can't use them for food later.
For molds use cheap metal uncoated cup cake pans ... I like the smaller ones but either will do fine.
To skim your lead clean use a kitchen scoop thing with holes in it ... don't know what they are called but Wall Mart again. To dip use a soup ladle or big spoon ... yes ... Wal Mart.
To clean the fine crap out use Leadex or at least a spot or to of beeswax flashed off the top. If you are making bullets you don't want crap in the lead to mess up your bore or throw off your bullets ... if you are making sinkers then I guess it wouldn't matter.
Good luck
For molds use cheap metal uncoated cup cake pans ... I like the smaller ones but either will do fine.
To skim your lead clean use a kitchen scoop thing with holes in it ... don't know what they are called but Wall Mart again. To dip use a soup ladle or big spoon ... yes ... Wal Mart.
To clean the fine crap out use Leadex or at least a spot or to of beeswax flashed off the top. If you are making bullets you don't want crap in the lead to mess up your bore or throw off your bullets ... if you are making sinkers then I guess it wouldn't matter.
Good luck
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Catfish, I am going to use it just everytime my wife goes to the shed she stubs her toe on the buckets lol.
However since i work at a tire dealer I can get you plenty of lead. If I don't use all of what i have I will be more than glad to give you some of that as well.
enfield, could I use a hotplate instead of a campstove. or even an old electric frypan?
However since i work at a tire dealer I can get you plenty of lead. If I don't use all of what i have I will be more than glad to give you some of that as well.
enfield, could I use a hotplate instead of a campstove. or even an old electric frypan?
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use a turkey deep fryer burner
enfieldp58 is right on. melt the dirty lead down, skim off the dirt and steel clips. scoop out the lead with a metal ladel, let it cool in the ladel. helps to have two ladels.
i wouldn't use it for bullets. the tin in the wheel weights makes them harder then pure lead.
enfieldp58 is right on. melt the dirty lead down, skim off the dirt and steel clips. scoop out the lead with a metal ladel, let it cool in the ladel. helps to have two ladels.
i wouldn't use it for bullets. the tin in the wheel weights makes them harder then pure lead.
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All of it was going to be used for sinkers, although I do have quite a bit of real lead weights. When you worked with those dang things as long as I have you can tell the difference.
Acura uses something now that is almost like a putty for the stick on weights. they suck to get off the wheel and go to the garbage.
Acura uses something now that is almost like a putty for the stick on weights. they suck to get off the wheel and go to the garbage.
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Yup, cheap cast iron pot or pan and I have used a turkey burner with propane to get the cast iron pot hot enough and then dump in a handful of wheel weights at a time. I let the pot fill up about half way and then skim the crud off the top and then pour the good lead out. I am scared of breathing in too much lead so I do this in my backyard away from the house and run an extension cord out to my work area. I then hood up a small fan and have that blowing right at me and I am hoping most of the fumes are taken away. I only stand near the pot when loading and emptying.
Just be safe and it's a nice hobby. I have 2 5 gallon spackle buckets in my shed filled with wheel weights so I might end up doing mine sometime this weekend or next week.
Just be safe and it's a nice hobby. I have 2 5 gallon spackle buckets in my shed filled with wheel weights so I might end up doing mine sometime this weekend or next week.
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Cuervo ... the electric will work but it will be S.L.O.W .... You will need to get it to about 800 degrees to burn most of the crap off ... propane makes a nice hot flame that works best.
Wheel weights are ok for round ball but anything rifled should be pure lead to expand and make groove contact.
I usually melt down a few hundred pounds at a time on the back deck .... stay upwind, and I wear a N95 mask when skimming and pouring ... probably not needed but it keeps the wife happy and gives the neighbors something to talk about.
To cast I use a Lee bottom pour pot and always keep the lead covered with a layer of beeswax .... no fumes to worry about and it keeps the lead clean so it won't crud up the spout.
Wheel weights are ok for round ball but anything rifled should be pure lead to expand and make groove contact.
I usually melt down a few hundred pounds at a time on the back deck .... stay upwind, and I wear a N95 mask when skimming and pouring ... probably not needed but it keeps the wife happy and gives the neighbors something to talk about.
To cast I use a Lee bottom pour pot and always keep the lead covered with a layer of beeswax .... no fumes to worry about and it keeps the lead clean so it won't crud up the spout.
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Lol, I pile it all up to keep my wife out. She hates that I have over a ton of it sittin on the floor. And more keeps comming in
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When the wife gets bored and the lawn needs it she breaks out the weedeater,do you really think i want to stop that? [rofl] besides all the pool chemicles are in there as well which she takes care of. she tried mowing once but her allergies really kicked in. i am going to make them into ingots and stacke them "nicely" as the wife said on the shelf. then fill up more buckets [rofl]
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