Is it worth it?

[snuffy]

Wa chew talkin about "RIDGES"? That mold looks perfectly fine to me. If by "ridges" you mean that cross-hatch pattern on the face of the blocks, that's there to provide a path for air that's trapped by the incoming molten lead. Air channels are essential to making good boolits.

Taking a file to ANY part of a mold is a VERY bad idea. They're made to mate up just-so to be able to make round boolits.

Dipping from a pot or pan used for smelting lead is done with a ladle. No one I know even considers trying to pour from a pot. My smelting pot holds 150 pounds of hot lead full to 1 inch from the top. There's just no way in hades I would try to lift that thing to pour from it. Get yourself a big ladle to make ingots, like one of the Rowell ladles here;

http://www.rotometals.com/Ladles-for-Casting-s/8.htm

http://www.rotometals.com/product-p/casting_ladle_bottom3.htm

The #3 is what I use most, it's easy to "one-hand", and has enough capacity to fill a lyman ingot mold with one full dip.

 

[Super Sneaky Steve]

Wa chew talkin about "RIDGES"? That mold looks perfectly fine to me. If by "ridges" you mean that cross-hatch pattern on the face of the blocks, that's there to provide a path for air that's trapped by the incoming molten lead. Air channels are essential to making good boolits.

No, I don't mean the crosshatching. It's hard to see on camera, but if you run your finger along the top of the mold (base of the bullet) there's jagged alluminum.

I don't know how to describe it better, but if you took a stick of butter and stood it on end then with a cold butter knife tried to hack off a chunk samurai style you'd see that the butter woudln't cut clean and you'd have some form that ridge. That's what it looks like to me. It's like a line of burs.

The big ladel is a great idea! I'm going to get that. Cutting the doughnut worries me. It's more than an inch thick I don't think bolt cutters will hack it. And I dont' want to make lead saw dust.

 

[hornetguy]

man.... those are some LARGE donuts!
You might try finding a dutch oven, or cast iron skillet large enough for them to set down flat in, and melt them on a turkey fryer...

or, whack em up with an axe. You could count that as an aerobic type exercise and hobby all rolled into one.

Cutting them with a saw wouldn't be bad, as long as you contain the dust somehow.. just throw the dust into the smelting pot and go on. Normal precautions apply... don't eat the dust, don't lick your fingers. Breathing it should be no problem, unless you are using a powered saw.

 

[FrankenMauser]

I don't know how to describe it better, but if you took a stick of butter and stood it on end then with a cold butter knife tried to hack off a chunk samurai style you'd see that the butter woudln't cut clean and you'd have some form that ridge. That's what it looks like to me. It's like a line of burs.

I believe that's actually the damaged remainder of what was supposed to be a minor bevel on the base of the bullet.

I had a 2-cavity Lee 401-175-TC show up in the same condition, recently. It was clear that the cherry had cut the mold that way, but then the edge was damaged. I took an eXacto knife (#11 blade) to the lip, and very carefully cleaned it up (along with some other trouble spots and the alignment notches). It's amazing, how easily a sharp blade will slice through the aluminum Lee uses.

Don't worry about the lead shavings from a saw. As long as you use something with teeth (not something like a concrete or tile blade), it will create heavy shavings, not particles. Be careful, though, lead likes to bite hard, if you try to push things too fast.

If it were me, I would probably pull out an old axe, before cranking up a saw. Whack each piece in a few places, bend it away from the cuts, whack the other side, and you should be able to break them apart fairly easily by hand (depending on actual thickness and the alloy).

 

[Super Sneaky Steve]

Thanks to you guys I'm now the proud owner of 310 one pound ingots!

I really underestimated the amount of physical activity this would be. My knees and back are killing me.

The lube is 2 parts beeswax 1 part Vasiline and one orange crayon. I put it in a muffin tin so I could melt small chucks as needed.

Lessons learned. Wear gloves. I earned a few blisters the hard way.

Also, adding Remoil to your bullet lube is a bad idea. Expect a violent reaction!

Now does anyone know how to dewax my mom's double boiler I borrowed?

 

[Edward429451]

Dewax is easy. Boil a huge oan of water and submerge what is to be dewaxed in the boiling water and boil for 15 minutes. All your wax will be floating. Retrieve your piece and rinse in scalding hot water.