Backwoodschemist
posted this
02 October 2008
Hi Ed,
Can you use a stainless steel mixing bowl?
I know they look pretty thin, but stainless is fantastic, tuff, stuff.
I have two, one flat bottom bucket that will hold 75#+ that goes on an old turkey fryer burner.
The smaller one (2Qt?) goes on top of an electric hot plate with a heat shield around the base. Heat shield is a bit of #10 can cut to fit.
The large one cost ~$3 at the local junk/antique store. Small one I found at a garage sale with the muffin pans for ~$1
I make the master alloy in the big pot, block it out in muffin tins, then melt muffin blocks in the little pot as required.
While I've only used these for about 3 years, they show little if any signs of deterioration. I expect to get at least 3 - 5 more years of moderate use out of them.
I'm casting between 100-200# per year.
BWC