How many ingot molds?

[lurch]

Get an old cotton bath towel or two and a 5 gallon bucket of water. Immerse the towels in the water. Take them out and neatly fold them into a square the approximate size of your ingot mould.

Cast your first ingots without the towel to ensure that the mould does not have any residual moisture in it. This is especially important if your ingot mould is made of cast iron, as high humidity parts of the country will cause moisture problems with cast iron.

Once the ingot mould is too hot to hold, then place it upon the folded wet towel. Then cast your ingots.

That's the ticket. Works great. I don't use the bucket of water, just keep a pitcher of water nearby that I can pour a little cool water on the towel from time to time. Needless to say - keep the water and the hot lead separate...

[crabo]

When I started this thread, I didn't expect this much interest and all the good answers I got. I did realize that I didn't want to spend a bunch of money on ingot molds. I got a piece of 3" channel and some angle and built 3 ingot molds. They each have 5- 8" ingots. I saved enough money on ingot molds to pay for a boolit mold. (I forgot who posted the picture of their homade ingot molds, but I appreciate it)

I've collected three 5 gal pails of WWs and stick ons. I am finding out that most of the shops will not sell me any wheel weights. A few of the shops are recyling to a person that comes by and knows what a bucket is worth. The weights are costing me $25-30 a bucket.

I may have a salvage yard that will sell me WWs for $25. I gave them the price. They have been throwing all their WWs in 55 gal drums along with nuts and bolts. I hope it pans out. I told them I would buy all they would sell me. It looks like I would have no problem selling the WWs if I get too many.

I would also like to thank everyone on this forum, everyone has been really helpful and willing to help a newbie out.

[BluesBear]

A five gallon bucket of wheel weights now goes for $35 in my area.
A couple of years ago they were free.



I do have one silly question. What is a bead frame? Is it bead welded?
And what is it about one that makes it a good ingot mould?

[imashooter2]

Bead frame is a mis typing of BED frame. 7 foot pieces of free 2 or 3 inch angle iron, usually found on the curb on trash day. Chop it up into appropriately sized pieces and weld them together to form V shaped ingot molds. A brief search here would be sure to turn up a picture or two.

It makes great ingot molds because it's free.

[BluesBear]

AH-ha, BED frame. Now that makes sense.