Sometimes my brain works in unexpected ways. I haven’t started any new electronics projects lately, but my thoughts have been spinning in other directions.

Last weekend I jokingly told my kids that I was starting a home-based ore smelting business. Because today’s busy families just don’t have time to process their bauxite, taconite, and other ores at home, the way Grandma used to. Keeping up with the household’s demand for antimony and zinc can be such a chore – but now there’s a better way! My friendly staff will pick up your ore, lovingly smelt it, dispose of the slag responsibly, and return the processed metal in 100g nuggets stamped with your choice of fun logo designs. Naturally, this ore smelting business will be named He Who Smelt It Dealt It.

Three things I learned from this groan-worthy joke:

1. It’s taconite, not taco night
2. I’ve been pronouncing the word antimony (an·tuh·mow·nee) wrong for my entire life
3. Melting converts a solid into a liquid. Smelting converts ore to its purest form.

Yet somehow this smelting comedy gradually transformed from a bad joke into a semi-serious idea for a fun backyard project. Actual smelting probably isn’t a great plan, because where the heck would I find ore? And do I really want to process large piles of messy rocks to extract a bit of tin? Instead of smelting, I soon found myself researching designs for a backyard metal foundry.

I was fascinated. This Mini Metal Foundry design looks simple to build and operate, but can easily reach temperatures of 660 C (1221F) – hot enough to melt aluminum, zinc, lead, tin, and pewter. The molten metal can then be poured into steel molds or sand cast to make tools, toys, and trinkets. Sure the quality won’t be great, but if you perked up at hearing the words “molten metal”, then I like your thinking and we should hang out sometime. Check out this video:

Of course I immediately began planning for my backyard metal foundry. My wife, however, was considerably less enthusiastic about my prospects for doing this without making the neighbors call the fire department or outright killing myself. She has an advanced degree in materials science, and actually has real lab experience working with large pools of molten lead, germanium, and other metals, so she probably knows what she’s talking about. I began to pay more attention once I learned about what happens if there’s a metal spill onto outdoor concrete. Moisture held in the concrete can instantly flash into steam, shooting globs of molten metal in all directions at high speed. See the example at time index 7:35 in the video. It looks horrific. So I’ll hold my backyard foundry plans in the “maybe” category for now.

Enter plan B, an inexpensive 500 Watt electric ladle. Designed for small metal casting projects, this little gem can’t melt aluminum, but it’s still hot enough to melt lead and maybe zinc (though I’m not sure exactly what I’d do with molten zinc). For about $50, it could be the perfect tool for DIY-enthusiasts who want to melt some metals without burning down the house.

A few metals that might pair nicely with this tool, ordered by melting point:

zinc (maybe) – 419C, 787F – The tool says it’ll melt lead, but the melting point of zinc is not too much higher. What can you do with zinc? I’ve heard of zinc plating, but don’t think I’ve ever seen a solid zinc object.

lead – 327C, 621F – Lead has a bad reputation these days, but how great is the risk assuming you’re not eating the stuff? Maybe it’s best to avoid it anyway.

pewter – 295C, 563F – In my mind, pewter is what 18th century candlesticks are made from. It’s an alloy of tin, antimony, and copper. It’s also sometimes used for jewelry and can be polished to a shiny finish.

bismuth – 271C, 521F – I have no mental concept of bismuth except as an ingredient of Pepto-Bismol. What does metallic bismuth look like? Is it safe to handle? Is it ever used for metal casting?

babbitt – 249C, 480F – I’m including babbitt on this list because I’d never even heard of it until yesterday. I learned that babbitt is an alloy of tin, lead, copper, and antimony, and is commonly used for making low-friction bearings.

tin – 232C, 449F – In years past, tin was popular for making cups and dishes. It should be cheap and safe, but maybe not very exciting. At this melting point, I wouldn’t even need any special heating tools: I could just melt tin ingots in steel molds with my kitchen oven.

solder – 183C, 361F – Solder wouldn’t normally be used for casting, but why not? Probably because it’s too easily bendable, and there are better alternatives. Lead-free solder has a higher melting point of 217C/422F, but it’s still lower than any other metal on this list.

Why do all the metals with low melting points have a silver/gray color? It would be nice to have more variety. To find a metal that’s a difficult color, I believe you have to climb the temperature scale to about 890C/1630F to melt brass and bronze. Copper and gold have melting points that are even higher. If I were a super chemist, I’d probably have some explanation why metal colors are related to their melting points.

Have you ever experimented with metal casting for making jewelry or tools? Ever built a backyard foundry and melted some aluminum soda cans? Leave a note in the comments and tell us your story.

Yesterday’s upgrade to PHP 7.1 has broken the BMOW store checkout process. You can add items to your cart and authorize your payment, but the final “confirm payment” step leads to a blank screen. The payment never gets processed, and the items remain in the shopping cart. Please bear with me while I sort this out… UPDATE: It’s working now.