You shouldn't have any problems with melting aluminum in a furnace that was designed to do so. You may have a little problem with using wood or charcoal fuel because the original design was for gas. I would guess that cutting the fuel up finely and making sure you get some forced air into the fire would be helpful. You might consider just hooking it to a 20 lb cylinder of propane if it was on natural gas before. Find someone who can help you with the conversion but I don't believe it is anything special.

I've melted aluminum in a wood stove without anything special, so it can be done. For a melting pot, I used a piece of steel pipe with a bottom welded onto one end. Anything cast iron should work, too.



You'll need to get a set of long handled pliers to handle the pot of molten aluminum, and something to skim the slag off the top of the melt before pouring.

A word of safety: Keep everything dry, because molten metal will make water turn to steam and this can result in spraying hot metal everywhere. Use gloves, heavy boots, long sleeved shirt, faceshield, etc.

It will sure make your stash of aluminum look good when you have it all melted down. And it will be real compact, too! I've heard the same concerns about the yards being suspicious of home-made ingots, but maybe you have a yard that trusts you. Or sell it to others that use the aluminum--maybe there is a foundry or two in your area.

Let us know how it turns out! Take lots of photos!

Jon.