so, while watching the best t.v. show of all time (A-Team) i thought hit me for a foundry setup, an old oil drum that i cut in two halves (like a burger, not hot dog) and i drill a hole in the side of it for the air, then i take the lid, and drill a 3in dia. hole in the middle, i was thinking of stuffing the bottom with wood and lighting it, then once it caught, stick the crucible in and pack the sides with wood, then start cranking for a bit.

my question is: practical?
and:
is this too MacGyver to even work?

You could melt aluminum that way. The drum probably wouldn't last all that long. A 55 gallon drum would be vastly oversized for this.

I suggest you google "Gingery charcoal foundry" or "flowerpot furnace."

W had quite a discussion in the chat room this evening about this..He wants help making something that to me is pretty dangerous for a young upcoming smith of his age. I left it with the thought that if he has a parent sign in I would be morfe than happy to give them m ore details....

Go visit www.backyardmetalcasting.com and poke around there a bit. You'll find lots of info on the subject.

i was only going to use this for melting aluminum and lead really. after i heard of the dangers of brass, i thought it would be better if i didnt use it. i plan on stopping by wally world and picking up a respirator like what painters use, will that work?

You feel that melting aluminum or lead is safer than brass? You really need to read more before you do any of this. Your entering into very dangerous territory. Add in lack of experience and lack of any knowledge, means you can blow up things.

If you had read even a little bit of the posts here, or any where else for that matter, you would know wood is not a good choice for melting, and that lead fumes are as bad as any other heavy metal, and any liquid metal can explode if any moisture gets in contact with it. Did you know water expands 1600 times when passing from liquid to vapor stages? and it happens very fast, pushing the liquid metal out of the way as it does so. Dont forget the heat itself, where will you pour? Concrete even properly cured retains a lot of water as well. Ever see a cement pad explode? I have.

Please read more before you attempt these ideas. this type of project is not for children, nor a person that just wants to jump in and see what happens.

wood is not the proper fuel; make charcoal from it first and use that. Too much of your heat energy goes into getting rid of the volatiles in the wood decreasing the temp you get from it compared to charcoal where all the energy goes into the burn.

I do not believe any of us on here would hand a 14 year old kid a loaded gun..To assist with these kinds of dangerous projects is to me the very same thing. It is the very nature of us as a group to help anyone posing a question on here and I am amazed at how much the new folks on here learn with that help. I expect the same thing will happen here, He will grow and develop as he learns. But it scares the snot out of me with the things he wishes to do without preparation or supervision. Count me out of this project. That may possibly change later on if he applies some effort to learning basic skills and learns to rely on the valuable experience available on here.

I backed out of a long post that I had composed earlier today, for more or less the same reason. Look, ramsies, if you want to learn something about metal casting, you'd be well served by reading both of the following links a couple times. They'll give you enough background to be able to start asking good questions, maybe:

http://www.iforgeiro...-for-beginners/
http://www.alloyaven...y-Tutorial-Book

There are also some excellent books out there, which you can probably get through inter-library loan if your local library doesn't have them. Steve Chastain's stuff is good: http://stephenchastain.com/shop.htm

I made a really nice melting furnace out of 55 gallon drum once. I lined it with two layers of fire brick, left an opening in the side for my forced draft gas burner and then did a monlithic cast for the lid that was pipe that allowed it to swing to one side. The cruicible held about four gallons of molten bronze. However you are correct in not letting beginner loose in using a furnace of this size. I think he'd be better off starting off with one made from a five gallon bucket like my first one was made from. That was a fun size to work with, I still have one stitting on the back porch that works like a wonder and they are so easy to build.