Redneck Casting

by
posted on January 28, 2013
lessons_ah2015_fs.jpg

I have always had an admiration for what I call redneck ingenuity—basically the ability to make do or get by with something on the ultimate cheap. Often it means a total lack of sophistication, but it gets the job done. Last Saturday I witnessed a classic example of redneck ingenuity.

It was warm and clear, and feeling a bit of cabin fever, I dropped by a neighbor’s place to visit. As I pulled into his yard, I saw what is in the photo above: a stepladder with a weed burner torch held vertically by a piece of baling twine over an iron pot full of wheelweights. The fire was pouring directly into the iron pot, which rested on a railroad tie plate, normally used to set the rail upon the tie.

As the wheelweights liquefied, my buddy, Bill, would scrape the clips and trash from the surface of the melt and discard them. Then he turned off the weed burner torch and carefully lifted the pot and decanted the melt into waiting ingot molds. I laughed out loud, as he did, and I complimented him on his redneck engineering. “You know,” he said, “I’ve always done things the cheapest way possible my whole life. A smart guy would have a regular furnace. I still cast on a Coleman stove, but it’s too slow for this kind of stuff. I just thought I’d try it, and it works!”

His sometimes disheveled appearance and country ways belie his intelligence. Bill is one of the smartest and most analytical guys I know.

I looked over his set up, and crude as it was, I could find nothing that would constitute a safety issue. The set up was outside with plenty of ventilation. Bill used a long-handled spoon to add wheelweights, skim the trash and stir the mix. He was careful to inspect the wheelweights for anything that should not go into the pot. When it came time to pour ingots, he cut the source of heat. Crude? Yep! Effective? Undeniably! Cheap? Oh, yeah! God bless redneck ingenuity!

Latest

LEDE Marlin Dark
LEDE Marlin Dark

Hardware Review: Marlin Model 1895 Dark

If you think lever-action rifles should only have walnut stocks and a blued-metal finish, then the new Marlin Dark series with its polymer buttstock and aluminum AR-esque handguard probably won’t be your thing. That’s a shame, because this recent offering in Marlin’s line of modernized, capable lever-action rifles has a lot going for it in terms of performance, functionality and fun.

ATN Shipping TICO LTV Thermal Clip-On

This thermal clip-on device is a huge night-time gear multiplier for hunters and observers, transforming any daytime scope into a thermal sight.

MidwayUSA Named Official Sponsor of the 2025 NRA Annual Meetings

Glock, Inc. is the Presenting Sponsor of the Freedom Experience on Saturday, April 26th

First Look: Montana Rifle Company Marshall Hunting Rifle

Montana Rifle Company (MRC) has announced its Marshall Hunting Rifle—a rifle the company bills as being 10,000 rounds in the making.

Spring Gobbler Gear Roundup

Mike Roux lays out his winter's turkey gear discoveries, just in time for spring gobbler season.

National 4-H Shooting Sports Signs on as Official +ONE Partner

The National 4-H Shooting Sports program has joined the +ONE Movement, a national mentorship initiative led by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) that encourages peer-to-peer mentorship in the hunting and shooting sports.

Interests



Get the best of American Hunter delivered to your inbox.