Lead Smelting - What Ladle?

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I am starting to accumulate supplies for my first attempt at smelting and I am stuck on the ladle...

I will be scooping out of a cut 20# propane tank.

I am seeing a lot of antique cast iron smelting / melting ladles on eBay which look nice and sturdy, but most of the handles are straight. I am not sure that would work ok with the propane tank setup?

The modern ladles that I saw at the restaurant supply shop are good for dipping into a pot, but they all look so flimsy and I am not sure they will hold up. I figured out that 8 oz = 5+ lbs of melted lead!

Thoughts?
 
Go to you local restaurant supply store and get a heavy weight Volrath ladle. Not the $5 ladle the $20 ladle.
They make both flimsy and heavy. One piece or two.
Get the best one you can. 8oz is about the right size before it becomes cumbersome.
 
I have a ladle that is probably 4' long and scoops 25-30lbs at a time and makes quick work of making ingots. I will look for it tomorrow and post pics.
Years ago I made my own ingot molds and traded one to BobJ for some stainless pins for my tumbler. I need to clean up the welds to use the ones I have left. I think the ingots will be easier to use with my RCBS bottom pour setup.20201017_214957.jpg20201017_215002.jpg
 
this one will hold just about 2.5lbs of lead which is about what the muffin pans, Red neck molds and other ignot molds that hold around 2-2.5lbs of lead
handle can be bent to angle that suites your needs.
or find the heaviest STEEL soup ladles you can

this one holds about 10lbs of lead and is a bottom pour which will help keep any crud still floating on your alloy out of your molds

to expensive for my taste. I just grab cheap ladles here and there.
 
Why would somebody want to make ingots that are too big to put in a typical lead pot i thought muffin tins were the rage..... [laugh]
Because I can. Depends on the pot. The sticks stand up and can easily be cut in half with a hatchet. They melt quicker.
I have hundreds and hundreds of muffin ingots, large and small. Just made these because I had extra iron and they will stack up nice and neat.
 
Because I can. Depends on the pot. The sticks stand up and can easily be cut in half with a hatchet. They melt quicker.
I have hundreds and hundreds of muffin ingots, large and small. Just made these because I had extra iron and they will stack up nice and neat.

plus one on sticks, it's easy molds to make and sticks are easy to cut and melt. In fact these shapes (with highest surface to volume ratio) were used as molds for currency since the dawn of man:

1602997686588.jpeg

In terms of dippers, soup dippers were never meant for lead. Soup cans with a coathanger wire through can be a good disposable dipper, also thin walls help with heating them up so shit doesn't stick too much.
 
Because I can. Depends on the pot. The sticks stand up and can easily be cut in half with a hatchet. They melt quicker.
I have hundreds and hundreds of muffin ingots, large and small. Just made these because I had extra iron and they will stack up nice and neat.
One advantage of sticks, is you can dip them slowly in the molten lead. As heavy as lead is, it still splashes a lot if you drop something in there.
 
Why would somebody want to make ingots that are too big to put in a typical lead pot i thought muffin tins were the rage..... [laugh]
GOLD is all the rage REDNECK GOLD that is
Range scrap on the right Soft Lead on the Left
YYm03TP.jpg
 
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