Melting My Wheel Weights

[ScottV]

When I got the wheel weights, they weighed 48 lbs in the bucket. Here they are in the pot.

The smoke does stink!

 

[ScottV]

Finally melted and all the slag came to the top.

Here's what I skimmed out.

I also fluxed it two times with wax.

 

[ScottV]

Pot is just about empty now but look at all the ingots.

 

[ScottV]

I put all of the ingots in a bucket and weighed it on some digital scales and it all weighed 46.5 lbs.

 

[SaltyBuckster]

Very nice haul.It's a little bit of work,but,when you are done,well worth the effort.If I am making smaller heads,I'll mix 2 of the hard ingots,with 1 of the soft lead ingots.Very nice mix of lead that way.

 

[ScottV]

Thanks for the tip.

 

[StumpHunter]

Those look good. You didn't lose much weight either.

 

[ScottV]

The glue on the back of the weights was the only thing that wasn't lead.

 

[Fatman]

Great clean out!!!!!!! Nice looking bars!!!!!!! Anything you want in trade!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[LedHed]

Way better than clips! cool deal - congrats

 

[ScottV]

Thanks guys, I wound up with some good soft lead.

 

[Ron Don]

Good deal Scott. I have get and clean some lead myself ... Bout to run out of the clean stuff!

 

[ScottV]

It was a new experience to me and I was a little gunshy after reading about Jungle Jim's incident. Luckily everything went as planned though.

 

[ScottV]

A friend gave me two boat anchors made out of lead. I'm thinking of melting one of those down eventually. They weigh about 40 lbs each.

 

[LedHed]

DC X 2. You can't wash your hands enough! Use gloves.

 

[hunter7711]

I noticed the water bottle also. I never have any water within 50 feet of me when melting.

 

[ScottV]

Thanks guys, I did have a bottle of water sitting on my 4-wheeler and it was parked about 20 ft away from the pot, upwind I should say. Thanks to everyone's warnings and tips, I'm being careful, wearing gloves and washing my hands after handling any lead. After reading about JJ's incident, I was scared to get close to the pot.

 

[Fatman]

I'd take that eyelet right out of the one before melting down - that's where moisture can get in. If you're really worried about big splatters get a chunk of plywood and use a little of the clean stuff to get a base going in the pot - but one of those in and cover with the plywood.

I have a cast iron pot and mine has the lid that goes with it - but most of my lead is all cleaned so I'm only using the bottom pour for making my jigs. Thinking about getting rid of it.

 

[ScottV]

The other lead anchor has a piece of chain coming out of the other side. If I try to melt one I'm gonna cover the pot with something and stay away from it till its melted.

 

[Fatman]

Just be careful with it buddy!!!!