by truenorth on Wed Nov 09, 2016 4:10 pm
Believe it or not, you don't actually have to pre-sort very much. Lead has a much lower melting temperature (622 deg F) than steel (2,600 deg f) and iron (~2,100 deg F). As the lead melts, you can scoop out the non-melted weights and trash (stickers, etc), then add more weights until you have enough to make a pour. This went much faster than pre-sorting. Have a safe fireproof bucket to dump the non-melted weights. I used a clay flower vase; clay has a firing temperature of ~2,000 deg F. I bought the cast iron skillet, stainless steel straining spoon, and clay firepot for about $5 at a local thrift store.