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Author Topic: Smelting in the rain  (Read 1846 times)

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Offline AtlLaw

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Smelting in the rain
« on: February 01, 2014, 06:57:00 AM »
Well, actually not rain...  :-\   More like water dripping off my deck onto the concrete patio below!   ;D
 
You see, I've been working down in the man cave for four days; cleaning and packing up all my stuff in anticipation of moving next month.  As I was working away, I saw the buckets, boxes, cans, etc. of lead in various forms stashed under my casting table.  I figured they would be easier to move in ingot form so I set up a "mini-smelter."
 
Actually it is one of those single element electric burners and a small (20 lb.) cast iron pot.  I set it out on the patio, loaded it with scrap and let it cook while I was a packin and a cleanin!   I'd check it every so often and when the melt was ready pour it into the ingot molds.
 
It's mighty slow work with that little burner and small pot only pouring about 16 pounds at a time after a long period waiting for it to get up to heat.   :-\   Hi-ebber, and day always be a hi-ebber!   ;D  I've managed to do all my pure lead and am well into my WW's!  Only a couple of hundred more pounds to go!   ::)
 
But, as slow going as it is, I'm able to other things during the process and all my lead will be in nice neat ingots when I set up my casting area in the new house!   ;)
 
Oh, the rain thing...  :-\  I didn't have any problem when it was cold out but the weather warmed up yesterday and the snow on the deck over the pot started to melt.  Naturally gravity saw to it that it looked like it was raining on the patio!  Not being one to be deterred by a small thing like a lead explosion  ::)  I took precautions and finished the batch I was working on yesterday.  But it's warmer today and consequently the snow is melting faster so I'm delaying further smelting until the deck dries off!   ;)
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Richard
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Offline okie44

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Re: Smelting in the rain
« Reply #1 on: February 01, 2014, 07:23:10 AM »
Seems a lot like frying bacon in a your underwear ;D
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Offline twoshooter

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Re: Smelting in the rain
« Reply #2 on: February 01, 2014, 08:12:40 AM »
We had a thread once on those who needed more excitement in life- like co-ed nekkid blackberry pickin'........ I suppose frying in your birthday suit would get in there......

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Offline mechanic

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Re: Smelting in the rain
« Reply #3 on: February 01, 2014, 09:27:06 AM »
You could get time off work for measles......them little red places would fool anybody.

Ben
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Offline Land_Owner

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Re: Smelting in the rain
« Reply #4 on: February 02, 2014, 12:23:15 AM »
Oooooooooo mechanic.  Those sound like words from someone that has been there and done that.    Never seen it myself.  Don't want to - so I am told.  Sounds "exciting" in a rogue sort of way though, "Tinsel Fairy" and all, provided no one gets hurt and mess is recoverable - some are not I have read. 
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Offline AtlLaw

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Re: Smelting in the rain
« Reply #5 on: February 02, 2014, 06:24:39 AM »
We ran errands yesterday so I wasn't tempted to try anymore smelting in between drops of water!   ;)  Unfortunately it rained last night.   :(  Now I'm just waiting for it to dry out a little before I start again!   :)  Shouldn't be long though; it's a warm sunny day.

Actually there's no hurry... just my desire to finish something I start as soon as possible.  :-\  'course that desire is tempered but the fact that the only strands of silver I want hanging from me is my hair!   ;D 
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Richard
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Offline darkgael

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Re: Smelting in the rain
« Reply #6 on: February 04, 2014, 05:59:25 AM »
Molten lead and water..... An anecdote about my most interesting experience:
Not under the deck but in an airy well-ventilated garage.
I was setting up to cast using a bottom pour pot. The lead was melted. I needed a bit more to fill the pot. About a year before, a friend had given me some lead plumbing taken from a Civil War era house. The piping had a fair amount of mineral fouling. Little did I know that mineral deposits absorb water out of the air and hold on to it.
I picked up a four inch elbow and dropped it into the hot lead. Fortunately, I had dropped it in with the cut end facing away from me. The thing went off like a gun and shot a gout of molten lead across the garage and on to the wall.
Nowadays I preheat the lead pipe.
Pete
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Offline BBF

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Re: Smelting in the rain
« Reply #7 on: February 04, 2014, 06:19:19 AM »
I found out just how much a drop or two of water on a just quenched bullet will do when it gets dropped back into the pot. :o 
 
Captain of Flying Horse !!
 
Heading North for you new place? ;D ;D ;D
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Offline AtlLaw

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Re: Smelting in the rain
« Reply #8 on: February 04, 2014, 08:43:45 AM »
Quote from: BBF on February 04, 2014, 06:19:19 AM
Heading North for you new place? ;D ;D ;D

Well yes actually!  About 5 miles north of our current location!   ;D
 
It dried out and I got some more done.  BUT!  I got an awful lot of steel weights in a pail I was working out of.   :(   And it doesn't take many of those to clog up production when you're using a small pot!   ::)
 
So I sat down with the bucket and a magnet and culled all the steel weights outa the mix.  Gave me something to do while I drank beer and watched TV in the man cave!   ;)
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Richard
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Offline sluggo

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Re: Smelting in the rain
« Reply #9 on: February 11, 2014, 03:34:23 PM »
...not fun at all and Murphy's Law stinks. Had a piece of range FMJ that wasn't dry go off like an M80 in the pot. Part of the mini volcano that erupted landed inside the cuff of my glove. I proved that I could dance without a 12 pack in me.
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Offline AtlLaw

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Re: Smelting in the rain
« Reply #10 on: February 12, 2014, 05:34:33 AM »
We finally got a couple of sunny days before the current ice storm hit so I finished up smelting my whole stock of WW's!   8)

For portability I boxed them all up in several small boxes but the movers are still in for a surprise when they try to pick those boxes up!   ;D

I have about a third of a 5 gal. bucket of steel weights left that I haven't yet figured out what to do with.  :-\  The zinc weights were just thrown away with the clips when I fished them out of the pot.  But there weren't many of those compared to the steel weights.

Actually, this was a good learning experience!  I found that the small pot filled with about 17 (+or-) pounds of WW's on the electric burner, turned up as high as it will go, just gets hot enough to melt the WW's.  No worries about it getting too hot and melting a zinc weight!

And, melting pure lead, the same applies if I only fill the pot half way up.

But DARN it's slow work!!!   ;D
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Richard
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Offline BBF

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Re: Smelting in the rain
« Reply #11 on: February 12, 2014, 06:13:02 AM »
Are you moving your loaded ammo, powder and primers by yourself?
I may be in the same fix and it won't be a mere 5 miles. Thankfully I don't have several tons of lead to move. :D
My mover would handle the firearms but nothing that could go BOOM !
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Offline AtlLaw

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Re: Smelting in the rain
« Reply #12 on: February 12, 2014, 06:22:27 AM »
Quote from: BBF on February 12, 2014, 06:13:02 AM
Are you moving your loaded ammo, powder and primers by yourself?


I hadn't planned to, but I was just thinking about it yesterday when I looked at my cans of BP.   :-\

I guess I'll have to ask whatever mover we decide to use. 

You coming back to the states?  Jawja maybe?   ;)
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Richard
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Offline BBF

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Re: Smelting in the rain
« Reply #13 on: February 12, 2014, 06:32:24 AM »
Quote from: AtlLaw on February 12, 2014, 06:22:27 AM
Quote from: BBF on February 12, 2014, 06:13:02 AM
Are you moving your loaded ammo, powder and primers by yourself?


........
.....................

You coming back to the states?  Jawja maybe?   ;)

We were there for Christmas and dodged the weather bullets by a hair going both ways :o :o .
 
 
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