How do I ....?

[Nessmuk]

I'm all set to start casting round balls and I realize  I  don't  know  how  to cut my 10 lb  lead bar safely. 10 lbs of lead doesn't  fit it in 4 lb melter. So I go to plan B, use my recovered lead from the range. It's  been soaking in soapy water for a few days, I'll  just blast it off with the hose and dry it. Problem 2 shows up, oklahoma red dirt (clay) doesn't wash off, short of scrubbing each piece  with a toothbrush.

Question  1) How do I  cut bar lead safely?

Question  2) What the easiest  way  to  clean recovered lead.

[rollingb]

Nessmuck,.... when I process scrape lead into ingots, I use an old dutch oven for a melting pot (most any kind of metal pot will work though) and a propane burner.

If you put wet lead in the pot before turning on the heat, you won't get the "explosion" caused by steam that you get by dropping wet lead into molten lead.
NEVER introduce ANY amount of water (even sweat) into already molten lead!!!!
As lead slowly heats up the water has a chance to safely evaporate. 

After the scrap lead has turned molten, I simply skim the dross and dirt off the top of the melt, even the metal off old wheel weights will float to the top of molten lead.

To "flux" the melt, I drop in a pea sized piece of beeswax and stir the melt, then skim again when casting round balls (unless I'm casting "hardened" round balls, then I just stir and cast).

I'm not sure this is the way expert casters cast round balls, but it works for me. 

Old muffin tins work great for ingot molds.     

[Nessmuk]

Let me see if I  have this straight. I can use an old pot and propane burner to melt the lead bars, then pour into an old muffin tin as an ingot mold. Luckily, I  have  all that stuff,already.

I can use the DRY used lead and the dirt will float to the top to be skimmed off.

I've experienced water in lead when a buddy sneezed and it hit the solder pot in front of me. Lots of little burn marks on my left hand. Mostly faded now.

Thanks, Rollingb, as usual you're  a  veritable  font of wisdom!     

[rollingb]

Let me see if I  have this straight. I can use an old pot and propane burner to melt the lead bars, then pour into an old muffin tin as an ingot mold. Luckily, I  have  all that stuff,already.

I can use the DRY used lead and the dirt will float to the top to be skimmed off.

I've experienced water in lead when a buddy sneezed and it hit the solder pot in front of me. Lots of little burn marks on my left hand. Mostly faded now.

Thanks, Rollingb, as usual you're  a  veritable  font of wisdom!     

Yep,.... that's pretty much it. 

Unless, you're going to cast bullets for high velocity cartridges, where things can get a bit more complicated.   

For round ball molds,... I use Lyman, Tanner, and Lee molds, with the Lee molds being the most affordable.

I also play around with casting pewter and I make my own molds for that type of hobby. 

[doggoner]

 Nessmuk

You may benefit from reading Glen Fryxell articles. He is a common sense type guy and casts a lot. His are for the newer type firearms but the making of the projectiles is the same wheither in your shop or by your campfire in the woods. http://www.lasc.us/articlesfryxell.htm.

doggoner

[Nessmuk]

Thanks, Doggoner. I downloaded several chapters. The man really knows his stuff.

[Nessmuk]

About that Oklahoma red clay, I just found another good for that  harbor freight  pressure washer.

[doggoner]

Nessmuk  re pressure washer

"Adding wet or even slightly damp anything to a pot of melted lead will bring the tinsel fairy to visit you. Lets say you have a drop of water and it gets below the surface of your melted lead. It will convert instantly to steam at 10,000 times the volume of the drop of water. Poof--- the tinsel fairy has come showering you and a lot more with lead tinsel at 621 degrees. Yes Virginia, it will burn the hell out of you. For myself, I empty the pot into ingot molds or what ever then load the pot again and start all over when I'm melting wheel weights etc. When casting, adding the sprue lumps and deformed boolits back to the pot is fairly safe as they are dry. Just don't plop them in and splash yourself. Common sense can save you a lot of pain.

doggoner"

this is from another forum I answered about wet stuff in a lead melt. The key gem of knowledge is don't add anything wet to a pot of melted lead. Always start with a dry/empty pot. This gives the lead a chance to dry out before the lead melts. The voice of experience has just spoken and you should listen. Happy casting and BE CAREFUL.

doggoner

[Ironhand]

If you go to a craft store that has candle making supplies you can get beeswax pearls. These work great for flux. When I was casting commercially we used wax foundation for beehives. This is a thin sheet of wax with the honey comd pattern on it. Check you local farm supply store.

We cast thousands of bullets each year and beeswax was the best flux we found.

IronHand

[Nessmuk]

Thanks, Ironhand. I'll  check it out.

[Winter Hawk]

I cut the bar lead with an old axe which I pound through with an engineer's hammer (small sledge). 

Recovered lead I wipe off with a cloth, then melt it and skim off the dross.

It's been done for hundreds, nay, thousands of years.  You'll have no problems.  As noted though, don't drop moisture in the molten lead.  That will have disastrous results, and you will never do it again!

~Kees~

[Rocklock]

A saws all is my weapon of choice.