Can I use a cast iron Dutch oven for melting my lead for making ingots? 

Yes. I just wouldn't reuse it for food.


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Quote from: erdyalx on January 12 2023 07:35:53 PM MST
Yes. I just wouldn't reuse it for food.


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I have a old one that been laying in the storage shed probably 15 years. Was just wondering about the oil from it being seasoned.

I have a old 2 quart cast iron pot that I bought at a flea market.  I use it for smelting over a propane stove.  Zero problem with it except it?s darned heavy even half filled with lead.

Quote from: Rick R on January 12 2023 08:16:17 PM MST
I have a old 2 quart cast iron pot that I bought at a flea market.  I use it for smelting over a propane stove.  Zero problem with it except it?s darned heavy even half filled with lead.

I think the one I have is a 5 quart. I?m pretty sure the only thing I have used it for was to boil a deer head .

You sure can.  The oil will burn off.

I learned how to cast on a Coleman stove and a cast iron dutch oven. Like sqlbullet said, the oil will burn off. The cast iron will give you many years of service. Just leave enough lead in it, when you're finished casting for the day, to cover the bottom of the pot. It makes melting lead the next time quicker. A 4 qt. dutch oven will hold 90 lbs. of melted lead!

Have a bigger keyboard now.  Like James8719, I started on a Coleman stove.  My first scrap lead was actually melted in an old cast iron skillet.  The skillet was found abandoned in our back yard when we bought our house.  Once it was half full I found out it was abandoned due to a very small crack, and it began to weep lead through the crack.  I made a few ingots and couldn't help but try out my Lee 2-cavity 401TC-TL mold.  They were ugly bullets.

I probably melted down 1000-1500 lbs on that Coleman stove and a cheap dutch oven.  I am still using the dutch oven, but the white gas coleman was been retired and I now use a dedicated two burner camp chef that is propane.

I have mixed opinions on leaving lead on the bottom. 

It does speed the next melt a bit, due to the larger contact area with the bottom of the pot.  At most is a minute or two, as the heat really doesn't have anywhere else to go but into the lead, assuming you lid the pot.

OTOH, that mass of lead can trap moisture against the bottom of the pot and cause rust.  You can mitigate this by coming back to the pot the next day and standing up the "round" of lead that has cooled in the bottom of the pot on an edge.  Then you have it , but you won't get moisture trapped under it from condensation.  The rust is also not an issue if you store the pot in a climate controlled area.

I live in the mountain west, store my pots in a detached, unheated garage.  Generally there is a bit of lead in the bottom, but not always.  Usually I stand that bit of lead on it's edge, but also not always.

If you do start to have an issue with rust, wipe the pan down once it is cooled down some with a tiny bit of motor oil, trans fluid or whatever hydrocarbon lubrication liquid you have handy.  Used motor oil is always present in my garage, so that would get used.