"James Johnson" writes:

would probably make the total
cost prohibitive. Otherwise I would be very interested.

Then find an asphalt contractor who does parking lots.

They use a 500,000 BTU hand held burner /w/ a hose connected to a 20 lb
propane bottle to seal the edges of the asphalt joints.

Find out who sells them in your area. About $60 will get you the whole
thing.

SFWIW, a 500,000 BTU burner is just about minimum if you expect to get
anything done, based on my experience.

IMHO, screw any cobbled together molten lead control valves.

They are destined to be a bigger PITA than they are worth.

Buy a plumber's ladle, it holds about 8 lbs of molten lead, and ladle the
lead from the molten pot directly into the mold.

(If you can believe it, I probably did close to 30,000 lbs this way, one
ladle at a time.)

Working with molten lead can be a little tricky.

It transitions from solid to liquid rather slowly.

It transitions from liquid to solid very quickly, but is still very
dangerous if not handled properly.

A 500,000 BTU flame thrower working for you settles a lot of problems before
they develop.

A word of CAUTION:

NEVER IMPINGE A OPEN FLAME DIRECTLY ON LEAD.

NEVER.

Find a piece of angle iron, 4"x4"x1/4"x48"-60" long.

Weld in 1/4" dividers on 12" intervals.

The above ingot mold will produce 30 lb triangular lead pigs, 12" long, that
can be stacked in an interlocked pattern for trim ballast.

HTH

Lew