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Coffee Cans?
- Thread starter Hunt200
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bluetopper
Member
Aren't all the coffee cans plastic now? I use my plastic Folgers containers for different brass calibers.
I never used a coffee can. I used to have a large cast iron plumbers pot I bought from a hardware store to melt large quantities of alloy. I'd also used a large cast iron skillet from a garage sale, but it wasn't as nice, or as safe.
I would NOT trust a coffee can to handle the weight of much lead! Get a cheap chinese cast iron dutch oven or check your thrift shop for a used one.
oldguy66
Member
I did the same thing when I was a kid. Sometime the seam would spring a leak and would have to let the hot lead run on the ground. Let it cool and put it in a new coffee can and start over again.
+1 The thoughts of of 700+ degree molten lead running around on the floor would cause me to look for something else!
I wouldn't use a coffee can (seam) or anything aluminum no matter how "heavy duty" it looks. A cast iron or stainless steel pot works fine. Cast iron is brittle, though, and I've read (on the cast bullet forum Cast Boolits - Dedicated To The World Of Cast Bullets!) of the cheaper, Harbor Freight, etc. pots developing cracks.
When I get around to it, I'm going to have a piece of pipe (10" diameter) welded to a flat base for "rendering" wheel weights on my turkey fryer. The iron pot I've used has rendered thousands of pounds of wheel weights but the base is a bit small for my turkey fryer burner.
When I get around to it, I'm going to have a piece of pipe (10" diameter) welded to a flat base for "rendering" wheel weights on my turkey fryer. The iron pot I've used has rendered thousands of pounds of wheel weights but the base is a bit small for my turkey fryer burner.
Thanks guys, I picked up a stainless "utensil holder" and it worked great!! It is about 7 inch's round and 10 inches high. It was just the ticket. Smelted about a hundred pounds already and could get the temp up to 700 degrees.
Skip Sackett
US Veteran
Nobody that casts boolits(bullets) is so tight that they can't spend $10 for a cast iron pot. Folks that are too poor to get a $10 cast iron pot could save enough money by not going to McDonalds just once, not getting those two packs of cigarettes they need so badly or saving the change from their pockets for a month or two. Better safe than sorry.
oldRoger
US Veteran
No to the coffee can which likely has a soldered seam.
I have found HD stainless steel dutch oven type cooking pots at TJ Maxx for a very reasonable price.
Cast Iron is good but the typical iron cooking utensil is a fairly thin grey iron casting, grey iron is quite brittle, and with a load of lead must be gently handled. Most purpose made cast melting pots are thick and have a more round bottom, less likely to break.
I have found HD stainless steel dutch oven type cooking pots at TJ Maxx for a very reasonable price.
Cast Iron is good but the typical iron cooking utensil is a fairly thin grey iron casting, grey iron is quite brittle, and with a load of lead must be gently handled. Most purpose made cast melting pots are thick and have a more round bottom, less likely to break.
It's not about the money, it's just using what's laying about. I could just buy the dang bullets also, but that would not be fun.
I have a cast iron pot I was using and it worked fine, but it was too big for what I am doing, I wanted something taller and a smaller circumference to accommodate a huge thermometer that works best when 3 or 4 inches of the stem is submerged.
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