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Melting Lead

Steve Jeffery

Steve Jeffery

Senior Member & Supporter
I have read some very helpful threads about making your own feeders (especially Richard Issac's tutorial) and have accumulated some lead over the years, so fancy giving it a go, broadly following Richard's approach.

Many years ago I tried it on a very small scale to adapt small feeders I used for match fishing, but don't have any equipment now and our kitchen has an induction hob so would need to buy everything from scratch.

So, I am after some advice about the melting hardware. Options as far as I can see are a camping stove ,a blow torch, or an electric melter, all of which can be bought cheaply. I don't want to spend a huge amount on equipment as it would only be for very occasional production of a few feeders/leads.

Anyone have any recommendations or tips?
 
Always do it outside,lead fumes and other vapours, really aren't good for you. Use leather gloves. I use a small stainless pan, the ones that you would boil an egg in size. If you can get one with a spout even better. Make sure your lead sits in the bottom of the pan, it aids it melt. Always leave some melted lead in the pan, between melting. This aids it meltin quicker, when putting more lead in.
If the moulds aren't filling properly, the lead isn't at a high enough temperature.
Hope this is a starter for you.
 
Jon Frisby said:
Always do it outside,lead fumes and other vapours, really aren't good for you. Use leather gloves. I use a small stainless pan, the ones that you would boil an egg in size. If you can get one with a spout even better. Make sure your lead sits in the bottom of the pan, it aids it melt. Always leave some melted lead in the pan, between melting. This aids it meltin quicker, when putting more lead in.
If the moulds aren't filling properly, the lead isn't at a high enough temperature.
Hope this is a starter for you.
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Cheers John, so what do you use as a heat source?
 
Something at least as important.

Make sure the lead you want to melt is bone dry, water and hot lead do not get on , and will explode ,
Its no fun when that happens, I make large sinkers by the hundred for my boat fishing friends /club, and over the past 30 years plus have had a couple of near misses . One was when I was melting lead pipe that I thought was dry inside, it was not and exploded. Luckily I was nowhere near when that happened .
The worst was when I was melting a container full of airgun pellets , probably well over a couple of thousand from a local gun club. I poured some of the pellets into my crucible and set my blowlamp underneath it to melt .Luckily I turned my back on the crucible
,suddenly there was an explosion and the whole crucible of lead exploded , the lead splashing up and out , probably a couple of pounds of lead hitting the garage wall, roof and covering the back of my coat and hair in melted lead splashes.

After recovering from the shock, I checked the pellets, there were about 30 blank firing rounds mixed in with them that I had not noticed.I must have poured a couple into the crucible without noticing .
Had I been facing the crucible instead of having my back to it I would probably have been in an ambulance en route to the local Hospital.

David
 
Stoves are a thing of the past. Use a Lee melting pot it will save you a small fortune
It’s just better in every way.
Get the one with the spout at the bottom
 
David Craine said:
Something at least as important.

Make sure the lead you want to melt is bone dry, water and hot lead do not get on , and will explode ,
Its no fun when that happens, I make large sinkers by the hundred for my boat fishing friends /club, and over the past 30 years plus have had a couple of near misses . One was when I was melting lead pipe that I thought was dry inside, it was not and exploded. Luckily I was nowhere near when that happened .
The worst was when I was melting a container full of airgun pellets , probably well over a couple of thousand from a local gun club. I poured some of the pellets into my crucible and set my blowlamp underneath it to melt .Luckily I turned my back on the crucible
,suddenly there was an explosion and the whole crucible of lead exploded , the lead splashing up and out , probably a couple of pounds of lead hitting the garage wall, roof and covering the back of my coat and hair in melted lead splashes.

After recovering from the shock, I checked the pellets, there were about 30 blank firing rounds mixed in with them that I had not noticed.I must have poured a couple into the crucible without noticing .
Had I been facing the crucible instead of having my back to it I would probably have been in an ambulance en route to the local Hospital.

David
Click to expand...
Yes solid point Dave. Do not put even remotely damp lead into a liquid pool.
If your not sure just flash over it with a blow torch first to evaporate the moisture.
 
Richard Isaacs said:
Stoves are a thing of the past. Use a Lee melting pot it will save you a small fortune
It’s just better in every way.
Get the one with the spout at the bottom
Click to expand...
Thanks Richard, have seen them but probably more than I can justify for just a few occasional productions!

On a related note, I have seen your tutorial thread and was wondering how you pour the lead with the feeder cage in place in the mould. Is it just a precision exercise between the cage mesh or do you tilt the mould and pour the lead in through the end of the cage?
 
Steve Jeffery said:
Thanks Richard, have seen them but probably more than I can justify for just a few occasional productions!

On a related note, I have seen your tutorial thread and was wondering how you pour the lead with the feeder cage in place in the mould. Is it just a precision exercise between the cage mesh or do you tilt the mould and pour the lead in through the end of the cage?
Click to expand...
That’s the beauty of the spout on the melting pot. Just pours a fine stream through the mesh.
It is worth the investment
It’s a fraction of the cost of gas to run you just let it tick over on the lower settings and once it’s bought so long as you look after it, you’ve got it for life.
Mines paid for itself in potential gas savings alone, dozens of times over.

Trust me if you start knocking out quality feeders, you’ll have a lot of people wanting them.
 
Iam a lead maker👍 I’d say for a small scale lead pour a camping stove would be fine, a small milk pan the one with a pouring spout is perfect. a ladle to skim the slag off. Make sure you pre heat your moulds this will help greatly with the pour. Good gloves I use the welders type ones, goggles, plus a fume mask thats a must.
I tend to smelt my lead and pour into muffin tins forming ingots to be used at a later date this has the added bonus of cleaning/refining the lead which in turn aids the lead making process👍
 
I gave it up as a bad job a few years ago, heard a few horror stories.

DRY DRY DRY

If I still did it I'd enclose everything in a brick/block frame with a heavy lid.
 
I use a small saucepan with spout camping stove and blow torch. Always pre heat the moulds for better flow avoid anything wet at all costs and make sure the area is well ventilated gloves mask and goggles are a must.
 
Doing a bit at the weekend
Just topping up 👍🏻
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Robert West said:
Must get myself a lee Richard there the biz 🎣
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Oh I couldn’t go back to pissing about with gas/pans/ladles and mess now.
This thing is just streets ahead as far as cost savings and convenience are concerned.

If you get everything spot on and the lead at just the right temperature you can go straight in to a stone cold mould. But you do need a perfect fitting mould and an accurate fine pouring spout to do that.
 
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