- Joined
- May 27, 2016
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- 3,479
This little adventure was all my own doing. About now, @RJSakowski will be LOL I think!
Lead melts easily, but the business of getting a chunk that is round, reasonably conveniently done, without making a smokey mess can be a bit challenging. I reasoned that the cut-off half of a 66mm diameter steel spray can that once kept Wynn's "Viscotene" tenacious adhesive lubricant would do.
Stage 1. Burn up the can.
This was to leave the can one evening in the woodburner, to get the surface as oxidized, and dirty messed up as possible, so that the lead would not stick to it.
Stage 2. Cut up the lead, and pack the can.
Stage 3. Leave it in the woodburner to melt.
This part of the plan was to duck all the hard parts, and simply put the right weight of lead in the can, and stand it amid the logs in the woodburner.
Here is where things got a bit awkward. The whole can got red hot, as did the lead in it. I could "see" the level of where the lead was from the outside, because the thinner can at the top was brighter red. It was all very "floppy" and "squishy". No way could I pick it up with the tongs.
I did throw a couple of cm of candle in. That stuff is a hell of a fuel in a woodburner. It flames up everything! I did not have good top access to stir, and even with leather welding glove, to hot to put one's hand in there. It was difficult to be in front of it with the doors open! I managed to dunk it a bit with the end of the poker.
Stage 4. No choice now! Let nature take it's course. It has to solidify sometime.
Yeah - I know! This is strictly amateur hour and all those experts who casually cast perfect bullets are either laughing or cringing.
I just checked, and the stuff is still all liquid. Maybe melting stuff needs a can thick enough to remain solid, and not flex all over the place when you try to pick it up. When I get it cooled, and out, of there, I will post about what happened, even if it was a total screw-up!
Lead melts easily, but the business of getting a chunk that is round, reasonably conveniently done, without making a smokey mess can be a bit challenging. I reasoned that the cut-off half of a 66mm diameter steel spray can that once kept Wynn's "Viscotene" tenacious adhesive lubricant would do.
Stage 1. Burn up the can.
This was to leave the can one evening in the woodburner, to get the surface as oxidized, and dirty messed up as possible, so that the lead would not stick to it.
Stage 2. Cut up the lead, and pack the can.
Stage 3. Leave it in the woodburner to melt.
This part of the plan was to duck all the hard parts, and simply put the right weight of lead in the can, and stand it amid the logs in the woodburner.
Here is where things got a bit awkward. The whole can got red hot, as did the lead in it. I could "see" the level of where the lead was from the outside, because the thinner can at the top was brighter red. It was all very "floppy" and "squishy". No way could I pick it up with the tongs.
I did throw a couple of cm of candle in. That stuff is a hell of a fuel in a woodburner. It flames up everything! I did not have good top access to stir, and even with leather welding glove, to hot to put one's hand in there. It was difficult to be in front of it with the doors open! I managed to dunk it a bit with the end of the poker.
Stage 4. No choice now! Let nature take it's course. It has to solidify sometime.
Yeah - I know! This is strictly amateur hour and all those experts who casually cast perfect bullets are either laughing or cringing.
I just checked, and the stuff is still all liquid. Maybe melting stuff needs a can thick enough to remain solid, and not flex all over the place when you try to pick it up. When I get it cooled, and out, of there, I will post about what happened, even if it was a total screw-up!
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