Joey H: Pleads the Fifth

The Kirksite melted easily. I had bought some tongs along with a crucible for this job but the tongs broke after one use and I learned that the crucible isn’t ideal for melting metal in with a direct flame. It’s more designed to be used in a furnace. I had a melting pot for making lead shot that was still new in the box. I didn’t want to use this because I didn’t want to contaminate it for lead work but WTH, I got it, I don’t want to spend any more if I don’t have to and I’ve had this damn pot for a couple of years now and I still haven’t used it so it’s now a Kirksite melting pot.

The form is a one time use thing. The form did not peel off as easily as I thought it would. The plug came out better than I had expected. I threw it up in the air and let it drop onto the concrete a few times to test the toughness of it. It chipped the concrete in a couple of places but it didn’t deform.

Put a slight bevel on the plug so it acts more like a wedge. A file didn’t even make a mark so I had to use a belt sander to shape the kirksite.

The idea was to use a hammer to drive the plug into the pipe but that pipes is pretty damn tough. The only thing I accomplished was to launch the pipe and the plug across the shop when I tried this method.

I grabbed a piece of J-pipe, formed the end in the die and then clamped it in a vice that I had placed on the hydraulic press from Harbor Freight. It took a little finessing to make it work and after a few tries, the pipe did expand. It was more like a bell mouth than an expansion.

This will not work for the short, curved starter pipes I need.

Time for another tool.