Melting bulk lead

[doverdog]

I have about 125 lbs of bulk lead that has been cleaned and is ready to melt for pouring into an ingot mold. I have never done this before and was wondering if there are any little tricks to it. I will be using the aluminum Lee ingot molds and dipping the lead from a big pot with a ladle. Do the ingot molds have to be hot or will they work cool since the surface of the ingot makes no difference. Do the ingots usually drop out freely or does the mold need treated. What is the best way of getting all the scuzz out of a large amount of molten lead. Flux as usual? Anything else you can think of will be appreciated. I normally forge ahead and learn things the hard way but I thought I would try a different tack this time.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Whew.

Don't know if it's the best way(s), but here's my routine.

Use a cold chisel & 3 lb casing hammer on an anvil (a 1ft. section of railroad track) to chop the lead into managable pieces - about three lbs. If it is pipe or otherwise hollow I pound it flat (AND MAKE SURE THERE IS NO WATER IN IT). I have a 10 lb capacity iron pot I heat on a Coleman stove. DO THIS OUTSIDE. The fumes are funky, to say the least (especially the old plumbing gaskets from around iron sewer pipe - Euwuewweeww). Wear leather gloves & long pants/sleeves. I heat everything until it is molten and then drop in a pea sized bit of beeswax (parrafin/candle wax works, too) - which flames up so be careful. The scum that floats to the top I skim off with a large stainless steel tablespoon that I drilled a dozen 1/8" holes in. When hot enough the lead does not stick to the spoon. Stir & scrape the inside of the pot well. Skim off anything that floats. After a few minutes of this I pour into an aluminum Lyman ingot mold. This takes no special treating or coating. Lead just does not adhere well to aluminum. It might be wrinkled if the mold is cool, but in the long run it makes no difference at all. The final ball mold you'll have to worry about. Allow about 5 minutes to cool (chop up more lead) and flip the ingot mold over, tipping the ingots out. Don't 'tap" it on anything hard - use a wood mallet (I have a 16" section of hickory pick handle I use as my casting mallet) to tap the mold if they stick.

When it comes time to run ball I add ingots & lead sprues/reject balls to the electric pot and flux again with the wax & spoon. I also juggle my ingots so I don't get a variation in the lead purity. Plumbing lead is like 98.5%, Pipes can be 97 or 98%, etc. I figure mixing them up and adding the sprues & reject balls tends to average everything out. (I weigh every cast ball and keep only those that are the proper weight; +/- 0.2gr.)

(Jargon: some folks insist a "mold" is what is formed within a "mould." So you "mold" a cast ball in a "mould." Daniel Webster likes "mold" for both - Occam's Razor suggests the simplest solution is always the best - so I accept his simplified applications).