The detail that surprised me most is the final form of the metal: the liquid brass went straight from the crucible into a bucket of water, where the stream quenched and broke apart into irregular granulated shot. Those little kernels are meant for weighing out metal ahead of later casting or forging work, and White Squirrel Enterprises reported the method worked great, wishing it had been tried sooner.
The prep work stands out too. The feedstock was brass plumbing fittings, valves, hinges and pipes kept in a red plastic container. Each fixture was taken apart to strip out any non-brass hardware, and long pieces were trimmed down before everything was packed into a crucible. The melt happened in a cylindrical propane furnace lined with white ceramic fiber refractory blanket, with a glowing crucible inside. A steel rod skimmed the slag off onto a nearby metal plate, and pouring tongs lifted the crucible for the pour.
Safety and measurement look well handled. The maker wore leather protective gear and a respirator, and put fresh breather cartridges in given that the brass type was unknown. Once the shot was scooped out and drained in a plastic tray, a Starfrit digital scale handled the weighing, with one portion landing at exactly one pound, the display reading 1 00.0 lb:oz.
It was not all smooth. The maker said the melt was messier than expected, leaving plenty of dross to clean out, though the result felt worth the cleanup. The exact alloy content, including any lead, remains unknown, and how to get round shot rather than spiked pieces is still an open question. Copper and aluminum shot are planned next, aimed at easily weighing alloys like aluminum bronze.
Project by White Squirrel Enterprises. Watch it on their YouTube channel: