As pure lead melts at about 620°F., and antimony at 785°F., an ordinary gas flame will furnish sufficient heat. For the small shop, without an artificial gas supply, a plumber's furnace which can be secured from Hardware Jobber or Plumber Jobber will work satisfactorily. See page [19] for gas melting pots.
An ordinary cast iron solder pot will be found the most suitable container. It should be about 8 inches in diameter.
It is advisable to obtain as large a pot as above, because for steady pouring a sufficient supply of melted metal should always be available. Then too, the constant addition of scrap or pig lead in a small pot will often change the proportion of antimony so that the castings crack and have to be melted over again.
Wash the pot thoroughly with gasoline or kerosene to remove all traces of oil. Then after it has been carefully dried, put it over the flame and heat it gradually. Do this before putting in any lead.
The only other equipment necessary to handle the melted lead is a ladle. For this purpose a malleable iron melting ladle five inches in diameter should be purchased. It can be used for stirring, skimming and pouring, and the type with a spout, illustrated in Fig. [5] will be found most suitable. The ladle should be cleaned and treated exactly like the melting pot.
Figure 5
The scrap or pig lead can now be put in the pot and melted. It is a time saving plan to pick out carefully all the pieces of wood, rubber and sealing compound from the scrap lead before it is put in the pot. Old plates are not worth while melting, but a lot of good lead can be salvaged by sawing the strap and post off old groups. Above all things make sure that no wet parts or moisture of any kind ever gets into the lead pot.
CLEANING THE LEAD
As the lead melts most of the dross or dirt will come to the top and float. When all the pieces are melted stir the lead with the ladle and then skim off all the dirt.