A picture thread: Smelting Bermining Ore

[cohutt]

Some of you might recall the colossal bermining thread on GTR last summer.

On President's day, i figured i;d go snatch some more from the berm but discovered it was waaaay to muddy to screen as before.

Regardless, i shoveled up a few buckets of mud that I hoped contained a lot of bullets and headed home. It dried into lead leaden adobe and I had to get creative to get the lead out; it was way to high a dirt to lead ratio to smelt and skim unprocessed.

After trying a few messy and not very effective methods, I built a mining type "sluice box" out of drain pipe and set up things so a sump pump could recirculate the water over the raw mud/dirt/bullet clumps until they fell apart.
I caught most of the dirt, rocks and other odd stuff that rinsed away from the lead and managed to end up with one heavy bucket of mostly lead, muddy lead.

I don't have any pics of the working setup but i did take a shot of the dry sluice run after i was done:

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m284/cohutt/bermining%202/misc009.jpg

[cohutt]

OK, so i'm done making mud pies and abusing my fingers getting the mangled bullets and jackets out of the sluice and into a bucket.

I end up with this:

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m284/cohutt/misc079.jpg

Too heavy to move real easily

[cohutt]

Fast forward a few days to today.

I set up my back saving smelting layout and get the ore in the pot, the big 22quart one. Note i have the burner and pot elevated on a 3/4" piece of plywood on concret blocks. This way i can stir, skim, pour etc without being hunched over like quasimodo

From above right after firing the pot (yeah that's my new 30lb propane tank, so this pot of lead is going to run $40 + gas):

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m284/cohutt/bermining%202/misc001.jpg

from another angle:

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m284/cohutt/bermining%202/misc002.jpg

[cohutt]

And finally a 3rd angle, the smelter's eye view:

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m284/cohutt/bermining%202/misc003.jpg

So what does it look like at the start?

Here you go:

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m284/cohutt/bermining%202/misc004.jpg

[cohutt]

i put the top on for a good while to help get it up to temp; the condensation was accumulating so i would take it off periodically to shake the water off and vent before i had any molten lead showing.

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m284/cohutt/bermining%202/misc006.jpg

After a while it gets hot enough and the water steams out of the pot:

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m284/cohutt/bermining%202/misc007.jpg

[cohutt]

After it steams off, the temp jumps wnough that the clay pigeon fragments start burning, putting a funky cloud out over the side yard:

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m284/cohutt/bermining%202/misc008.jpg

BTW i had the lead lab set up with a fan blowing into it from a back window. it did a good job (along with the bench fan over the pot) keeping the smoke from leaching back into my space in the doorway:

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m284/cohutt/bermining%202/misc010.jpg

[cohutt]

Ok, progress is occuring. While poking and pushing i could eventually feel the whole pile of "ore" float, so i stirred and poked to make sure the heavier unmelted suff settled to the bottom of the pile, where it pormptly melted. It is getting close to being ready to skin now:
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m284/cohutt/bermining%202/misc011.jpg


Skimming:
Pull up a scoop of jackets etc, shake and bounce so all that is left are the jackets and pebbles etc. You can see the lead splatters below; when it doesn't drip out anymore you know you've gotten most of it out of the little FMJ crucibles in the skimmer:


http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m284/cohutt/bermining%202/misc012.jpg

Eventually what is left is dirt, ash and very fine gravel:

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m284/cohutt/bermining%202/misc013.jpg

[cohutt]

With the ladle and slotted spoon in the previous picture, i skimmed the gravel and ash off of the pot til it started looking more like lead.

At this point i dropped a nugget of wax in and started the fluxing process:

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m284/cohutt/bermining%202/misc014.jpg

After fluxing I was ready to start pouring...

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m284/cohutt/bermining%202/misc015.jpg

[cohutt]

JJB provided me some big ingot molds and while back and that's all i used for this smelt:

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m284/cohutt/bermining%202/misc016.jpg

now we're rolling:

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m284/cohutt/bermining%202/misc017.jpg

I use a towel to cool things down some, these are sizzling hot on the towel:

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m284/cohutt/bermining%202/misc018.jpg

[cohutt]

BTW to prove a point, i poured some lead into a bucket of water.

A little water on top of a smelt, no biggie (like sweat or bird crap)
A little water under the melt, run like helll

Lead into water, no problem

here is was water dropped molten lead looks like:

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m284/cohutt/bermining%202/misc019.jpg

[cohutt]

End of the day, a nice pile of 6.25+ lb lead bricks for posterity:

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m284/cohutt/bermining%202/misc021.jpg

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m284/cohutt/bermining%202/misc020.jpg


I'm tiring of the berm thing, little time going forward for this sort of nonsense.

this time probably will be the last.

For now:thumbsup:

[jawjaboy]

Cohutt da man on mining expeditions. Anybody doubt that? ;)

[Oreo]

Out of curiosity Cohutt, how much time did you put into mining that lead & what was your final take after smelting it all into ingots?

I'm curious 'cause I found a place I can average about 25lbs / hr. Only problem is that it's a chore I do not enjoy & I make more per hour at work. So opportunity cost & all that, I'm better off just buying clean ingots.

[MullahElRon]

http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m284/cohutt/bermining%202/misc021.jpg

Did you ever know that you're my hero,
and everything I would like to be?
I can fly higher than an eagle,
'cause you are the wind beneath my wings.

[BigSlick]

Damn cohutt ya killin me man.

I ain't scored a bucket in almost two weeks

[AdamN]

Good job Cohutt. Looks like it must of been a mojority of jacketed bullets. The blue sheen on top of the melt indicates pure lead, im sure youre familiar with that.

[cohutt]

Out of curiosity Cohutt, how much time did you put into mining that lead & what was your final take after smelting it all into ingots?

I'm curious 'cause I found a place I can average about 25lbs / hr. Only problem is that it's a chore I do not enjoy & I make more per hour at work. So opportunity cost & all that, I'm better off just buying clean ingots.

I do stuff like this "just to see". Curiousity will kill me one day.

it was in NO way cost effective; no way to justify the time vs yield on this bunch. I wish i'd left the mud alone. I ended up with a pickup truck bed full of hard lead dirt clods that had to be dealt with.

If i look at what i make & what i shoot, I really can'y justify the time spent reloading if the truth be known. Same with casting. Lead mining is so far off the scale it is ridiculous.

Reloading and casting are a hobby i enjoy so i won't even consider the time spent/cost savings formula. As i said at the end of the series,

I'm tiring of the berm thing, little time going forward for this sort of nonsense.
this time probably will be the last.

til next time anyway. :cryin:

[cohutt]

Good job Cohutt. Looks like it must of been a mojority of jacketed bullets. The blue sheen on top of the melt indicates pure lead, im sure youre familiar with that.

Yeah, it seems like this batch is a little softer than the first batch, based on that. I also forgot to turn the pot down a notch til way after i started fluxing, so i was getting a lot of oxidation on top. the color is somewhat exagerated by the evening light and what the camera picked up, but it is definitely blooo.

The ingots still "ting-ed" a lot more than the soft pipe/flashing ones or the certified pure ones. tonight i'll do the relative hardness test and start clanking various one together. Previously the berm stuff was was ahead of pure, pipe, behind wheel weights and almost the same as a bucket of shot i smelted a long time ago from a boat keel.

[cohutt]

Damn cohutt ya killin me man.

I ain't scored a bucket in almost two weeks


i did this one for the new site, 'Slick. Figured people need to see where this sickness can take them if they don't get help early.



Did you ever know that you're my hero,
and everything I would like to be?
I can fly higher than an eagle,
'cause you are the wind beneath my wings.

el_ron, i'd conisider that exceedlingly ghey from anyone but the Mullah.

[lcarreau]

The range I go to has berms that I know dang well are full of lead, but I cat think of a time/cost effective way to get the lead out. I have used a rake and a shovel, but that yielded about a third of a bucket for an hour and a half of effort. I would like to do a bit better than that. Cohutts method could work if he had a tractor with a front loader maybe, but even then I am not sure its gonna be cost effective.

Very impressive setup though!

-Lonnie

[gwalchmai]

Excellent!

Thanks for posting this, Cohutt.

[BigSlick]

Well I am happy you posted em up for errybody ta see an all, it just make me wish I a find some more lead

Nice setup, them ingots look real nice, an I wias erry last one a them and hundreds just like em was mine :thumbsup:

[Anvil]

This thread should be archived (at least the bermining parts of it) for prosterity.

There's just some photos and videos that really add to this site as a resource and ultimately when combined on a DVD can help support this site.

[cohutt]

I'll reconstruct the original adventure here in a new thread as well, maybe by this weekend if'n i get time.

Condition of the berm (ie it was baked harder than concrete) was different so the sluice was not needed.

Either way there is a whole lot of skimming and shaking to get the melt out of and off the jackets. Makes WW seem like melting clean ingots i tell ya.
I leaned against the fan and bench an pecked away at it, but it took a lot more time than i thought it would. I guess i had to have every last drop of lead, a couple shakes got 90% of it. The last 10% was the killer.

[Oreo]

It's a great picture documentary though Cohutt. Great job man.

[AlPackin]

truly an inspirational story teller :thumbsup:

[jawjaboy]

truly an inspirational story teller :thumbsup:

That cause he from Georgia, AP. No other reason. :smilewinkgrin:

[gwalchmai]

Dat right. Down heah we learn at an early age that it's not right to hurry up and tell sumpin' in a minute dat you can take half an hour to tell. Dat way folks a 'member it mo better and it a have a bigger impact on 'em. Dat way dey enjoy it better, too. Why, I 'member my grandmaw axin me over the course of a Saredy monin once if I thought she talk "long". She had this new yankee preacher a come to her church (up there where they use to sing wifout a piana cause Jesus didn't have one, you know) and he said she had a beautiful Southern accent and talked "long". But I tol her I didn't thing she talk long at all, just nacheral like all us talk. Dat new yankee preacher (he yankee from up north there in Maryland or somewheres - we always figger anywhere north o' us was north enuf ta count. Heck we was a little bit worried about Rome... ) he didn't last too long over dere, nohow.

[jawjaboy]

:yesnod:

[AlPackin]

Dat right. Down heah we learn at an early age that it's not right to hurry up and tell sumpin' in a minute dat you can take half an hour to tell. Dat way folks a 'member it mo better and it a have a bigger impact on 'em. Dat way dey enjoy it better, too. Why, I 'member my grandmaw axin me over the course of a Saredy monin once if I thought she talk "long". She had this new yankee preacher a come to her church (up there where they use to sing wifout a piana cause Jesus didn't have one, you know) and he said she had a beautiful Southern accent and talked "long". But I tol her I didn't thing she talk long at all, just nacheral like all us talk. Dat new yankee preacher (he yankee from up north there in Maryland or somewheres - we always figger anywhere north o' us was north enuf ta count. Heck we was a little bit worried about Rome... ) he didn't last too long over dere, nohow.
:rofl:

[cohutt]

- we always figger anywhere north o' us was north enuf ta count. Heck we was a little bit worried about Rome... ) he didn't last too long over dere, nohow.

:hand:

I'll tell them about the folks down there in Esom Hill if you aren't careful


http://butlersheetmetal.com/tinbasherblog/images/deliverance_dueling_banjos.jpg

[gwalchmai]

Naw, we eventually got along OK with the Floydians. We was just a little xenophobic an' all.

BTW, my granddaddy grew up in the Esom Hill suburbs. Talk about the Wild West! ;)

[Trooperdan]

Heck we was a little bit worried about Rome... ) he didn't last too long over dere, nohow.

I grew up in Rome... in another century! I was West Rome Hi, class of '60! My old school has been a Wal-mart for over 20 years! At least they put up a marker! :( I go back every year for the "All Chiefs Reunion", not many 'chiefs from my class.. some of 'em boys is daed! :skep:

[gwalchmai]

Hiya, Chief! ;)

[cohutt]

I grew up in Rome... in another century! I was West Rome Hi, class of '60! My old school has been a Wal-mart for over 20 years! At least they put up a marker! :( I go back every year for the "All Chiefs Reunion", not many 'chiefs from my class.. some of 'em boys is daed! :skep:

trooperdan you still haven't come down to see what all has changed, I mean beside the walmart.

[cohutt]

bump up 1.5 years, juct cuz i can

note: still haven't mined a berm again since this thread

[AlPackin]

wow ... GOOD memories y'all

[Oreo]

Maybe not so long before you're feeling the itch again Cohutt? The weather is starting to cool off again. Might be a nice day come around before long that you could spend your leisure chasing the blue dragon.

[Steve Koski]

This is an all time "best of" thread, fo sho!

[cohutt]

No itch, none at all.

Actually all 3 of my bermining smelts are documented.

the 2 big ones i just bumped and the cohutt incident was the 3rd. I had collected one small DO worth of ore just picking up a little in front of the old berm; this pot was the one that 'sploded on my foot when I managed to get water in it.

Technically i do have the itch, but it is the scar from my burns. It is coming up on 1 year ago now too. <<shudder>>

[Sky Pilot]

I had been told that when the need arises to clean up the berms, don't declare it hazardous material removal. Too much expense, permits, disposal headaches, covered trucks, stainless steel barrels, exposure suits and treehuggers waving signs and screaming.
Declare it RECYCLE.
This bermining event as so well documented above is recycling in its finest form!
Well done, my friend, and thank you for leading the way!

[cohutt]

:cohutt: