Casting bullets for muzzleloader

HK_User said: ↑
Got one of the pots setting outside full of rusty nails.
For Real !

Well now, after last night, it's covered in snow.

Pics after the sun comes up.

 

Lead pot>nails>snow=rust.

 

But somebody has to do the work.

This was from two days ago and the ice storm. That is all sleet on the ground in a wooded area.

Just snow today.

HK

 

shame to see that go to waste like that.

 

Au contraire! The nails were long gone when found, placed in the pot for safe keeping and as a way to dispose of them in a safe manner. Kids and cattle end up in the wrong place and usually with a nail in their foot.

OTOH the lead, from being melted, bonded to the iron and I imagine went deep into the grains of the pot and acted more like an anti rust zinc coating than just lead on the surface.

As they say "proof is in the pudding" and I'll empty it and dry it then heat it and you will be surprised.

Yet another reason to have a single use pot and tools for lead use.

HK

 

Series starts with the now empty pot and as you can see there is no real damage to the pot and then onto rusted junk in the bottom spread out on a piece of cardboard. Looks like I'll need to salvage the stainless parts. Stainless so durable.

You will also notice that the bottom of the pot is stamped and it is quit legible. Reason? Well the pot was setting in the damp earth under a tree that puts out an acidic boughs. So my conclusion is that the lead inside the pot has permeated the pot and now protects the pot in total. Note the last shot is of the pot with Ospho setting inside and little rust was consumed or the pot would now be, as they say, black. Most of what you see inside the pot is "grout" and lead.

No pots were harmed in this experiment, pot will return to its natural state as a Lead or Aluminum Pot as designated by its number on the bottom.

Long Live The Pot.

FWIW and a bit on the "OFF" side of life. Plumbers had to let the pots cool on the work site before they could safely put them away. Now 20 pounds of lead at 750 degrees takes a while. An ongoing job to be returned to the next day may seem like a safe bet to leave the Lead Pot to cool on its own. Well if you know Yard Birds or other Construction Workers then you might know that they enjoy a bit of hijinks any time they can find a victim.

Plumbers know this and it is one of the reasons they often had cooling boxes built for their hot lead pot, with locks.

If not locked up they might return the next day to a Lead Pot that had become a CHAMBER Pot during their time away from the job.

More than you needed to know but that's the way it is.


Pot emptied of rusty mass and dried.


Odds and ends.




Pot heated on the stove to dry it out and tapped this crude from the sides.


Bottom markings indicate the weight of the material this pot will process.


OSPHO leaves a shiny surface but seems to ignore the fact of rust, this may be because of a reaction with the lead.

 

rats... now i want to to this

 

Hmmmm, I Wonder....

 

this one was used by a Jeweler to heat silver and gold.

 

In that case it got plenty warm enough, Heck, Try it out!

 

I shall when the weather permits.

 

But the burner build is in motion.

 

Need more picts?

 

Not yet.

 

Doing the math tells me that it "might" keep melted silver liquid but in the right type of small insulated covered container. No way will it heat your lead pot and melt lead in that pot.

Think the heat output of less than 1 300 watt light bulb. You will need at least a 1500 watt unit to melt a few pounds of lead.

 

Too bad, it looked like an elegant solution.

 

only one way to find out. if you do it do it over sand. if you melt aluminum and it spills onto concreat it flash boils moisture in the concreat and goes boom! lead might do the same in liquid form

 

Outside temp is 38° , heating element was checked after one hour. Lead is liquid.

 

Glad to see it worked. Does the thermocouple function?

Looks to be good for 900 degrees. Mantle Heaters