Used Motor Oil

[richhodg66]

I rendered down some range salvage this afternoon. The past couple of years, I've been using wood fire to do this in an old cast iron dutch oven. The scrap is mostly from a pistol range and mostly FMJs, so a royal PITA to get all the jackets emptied out.

While I was getting set up today, I noticed the jug of used oil from the last couple of times of changing it in the truck and I thought some of that burning in the pot might do some good, so I poured maybe a cup in with teh scrap. Takes a while to get it hot enough to where the oil will ignite, and it burns quite a while, but it sure got those FMJ jackets emptied out a lot easier.

I have a couple of five gallon jugs of this scrap left to go, so I'm glad I stumbled onto this technique.

[Outpost75]

Don't throw out the copper jackets.

Use a cow magnet to pull out the steel ones, and the copper which is left will bring $1 a pound or better at the scrap yard!

[richhodg66]

I've been saving them for a while now. I probably have 40 pounds or more. I'll either take them back to the range and see if the guy who sells the scrap brass for the range can get anything for them, if he doesn't think it's worth it, I'll try to trade them to a scrap yard in town for whatever lead he has lying around.

[slim1836]

I processed some range bullets a while back for the lead, however, quite a bit of lead still stuck to the copper jackets. The jackets look too bad to get scrap brass price due to the excess lead on the brass. Don't know what I need to get the rest of the lead off the jackets in order to scrap the brass.

I used a steel wok on top of a turkey fryer but it doesn't seem to separate the metals like it should. I don't have any specs. on the burner, however, I never had problems with refining wheel weights, just the copper jackets have proven to be an issue.

Any help is appreciated.

Slim

[bangerjim]

Ahhhhhhhh....the smell of old contaminated dirty motor oil burning! Hope you live waaaaaay out in the country with no neighbors around! I would never use garbage like that to burn in a re-melting pot. The gunk from smoldering COWW's is bad enough, let alone adding dirty motor oil to the range scrap.

Horrible lung-clogging stuff in there. Clean new motor oil would be bad enough. But all the poisons and pollutants in USED oil??????

More power (and long life) to you if you decide to use more of that stuff! I'll stick to clean-burning propane.

banger

[bangerjim]

I processed some range bullets a while back for the lead, however, quite a bit of lead still stuck to the copper jackets. The jackets look too bad to get scrap brass price due to the excess lead on the brass. Don't know what I need to get the rest of the lead off the jackets in order to scrap the brass.

I used a steel wok on top of a turkey fryer but it doesn't seem to separate the metals like it should. I don't have any specs. on the burner, however, I never had problems with refining wheel weights, just the copper jackets have proven to be an issue.

Any help is appreciated.

Slim

The problem you have is the lead has "soldered" itself to the copper because a flux you used "tinned" the copper, just like when you solder copper wires. You will probably never get it out.

The batches I have done, I just left the Pb in there and got whatever the yard would pay. Not worth messing with.


Try not using any fluxing material the 1st time you melt the Pb out. Just heat and skim out the Cu jackets. After getting the lead out, use sawdust the next few times for flux cleaning.

banger

[richhodg66]

Well, I do live way out in the country with no neighbors around and I'm smart enough to not stand in the smoke.

It actually smoked a lot less than I'd have guessed.

[BK7saum]

I've had reasonably good luck getting the lead to separate from the jackets by fluxing with sawdust and Parrafin wax. The soot seems to coat the jackets and helps keep the lead from sticking. Much better luck with the sawdust and Parrafin wax than just trying to melt the lead out with no Flux.

[Green Monster]

I built a small smelting furnace out of some large metal pots with perilite iirc for the fire proof liner, a steel fire extinguisher with top cut off and a propane torch rigged up to a tank. Not my idea i stole it off you tube. It gets hot real fast and melts lead like butter and it runs right out of the jacket. I works great and i plan on building a forge style one for making knives soon.

[rking22]

Green Monster,,, gottalink for that or some pics,, thanks

[ReloaderFred]

I smelt a lot of range scrap, so I made a wooden frame and stretched 1/4" steel wire mesh across it. As I ladle out the jackets, I spread them out across the wire mesh and stir them with a heavy leather glove. That knocks most of what's left of the lead out of the jackets. After they cool, I run a large magnet over the jackets and sort the steel into one bucket and the copper jackets into another. My scrap dealer pays me for #2 copper on the jackets.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[richhodg66]

I'll keep doing the range scrap thing from the range I'm a member of, but I'm doing most of my shooting on my own place now and probably 95% of that or better is cast. When it comes time to minemy own berm (will take years before I do) I won't have many of those jackets to worry about.

I have quite a bi of other lead, and am always on the lookout for it, so once I'm done rendering this batch down (should be at least a couple hundred pounds of ingots when I'm through) I may just get a five gallong bucket whenever I go to the range there and keep it unrendered just in case I need it.I fear lead may get difficult to find someday.

[Geezer in NH]

UMO is nice to light brush piles but will pass on it in my smelting Pots.

[Don Fischer]

Well I've never been real sure about the flux I used, I see someone mentioned saw dust. I've used wax for my sizer, some stuff in a white plastic can that sucks, paraffin candle's and now I read a couple years ago, a hardwood tool handle to mix the stuff with. Not sure it works that well or not but I did try it. Mostly I use candles. When I'm melting down lead, I don't flux at all. every thing floats to the top and I have an old steel serving spoon I drilled holes in to take out the metal. I do it with the temp just above the lead melting point and zink floatd to the top in one piece.

[Mal Paso]

I've had good luck rolling the jackets against the side of the pot with a fryer spoon after the lead has melted. The empty ones are lighter, wind up on top, and get removed. After the jackets, then the dry crud is removed and I flux with sawdust.

Used motor oil especially from gas engines is seriously toxic.

[ProfGAB101]

You need to make a basket like they use for French fries - then you can toss and shake the jackets to get all the liquid out. I ware full welding leathers so if there are and little splashes I'm covered - but so far there have not been any.

[FLINTNFIRE]

Yeah used old motor oil for years , dont stay down wind , any more toxic then other stuff in the smelt and flux that is used ? Do not think so..
It does make the lead flow a whole lot smoother , does what I want it to do and is cheap , wheelweight have so much brake lining valve stems and other debris in them it was never much more smoke anyway , but use whatever works for you. I use it in my smelt and will continue to do so, and I use sawdust also , and oh no some of it is from plywood and other woods cut on table saw , seriously folks we are smelting scrap , when you smelt scrap from dirt berms there is plenty of muck in the mess . Old used oil does work for what we want it to do.

[mold maker]

Smoke from used motor oil, preservatives in treated wood saw dust, lead oxide dust, tire valve stems, adhesives on SOWW, it's a dirty hobby. It's all up to you to protect yourself and family.
I've known some nasty people, and I've known folks with filthy jobs that were meticulous in health habits.
The requirements for safe handling of all lead are well known.
It isn't rocket science. It's called personal hygiene.