Couple of Quick Questions About a Lye Tank

M

MikeL

Member
I picked up some lye today and I have a couple of questions.

1. Do I need to hang the pans or can I just lay them in the tub?

2. How many can I put in the tub at one time?

3. Do I need to keep them separated?
 
Mike I've just thrown them in but made sure they were all covered with nothing showing.

How many would depend on how big the tub is.

I've have stacked them but check on them in a couple of days and move them a bit.

Some of the others that have done this longer than I will be able to give more of a deeper detail.
 
you can put as many as you want in it. I use a trash can and find it easier to hang them on old wire coat hangers. that way you can check the progress of each item.
 
I drop each one in the tank and make sure they are covered. Usually it is only one at a time....but that is only because that is all I have to clean.
 
You can lay them in - if doing it upside down make sure no air gets trapped. For deep tanks (big drums) it's easier to hang them so you don't have to reach down to the bottom.

As stated, depends on tub size. I can get 2 in a 6-gal bucket or more in the Rubbermaid, but I'm usually only doing 1 or 2 at a time anyway.

Try to keep them as separated as possible, but stacking won't hurt anything.
 
I stack them and have great results. I have a 20 gallon tub with over a dozen in it right now, neatly stacked together. Every weekend I take them out to see who's ready for the next step!
 
I put a little rack in the bottom, but I guess that's not necessary if no one else is doing it. (Can't remember where I got the idea...)
 
DonnaM said:
I put a little rack in the bottom, but I guess that's not necessary if no one else is doing it. (Can't remember where I got the idea...)
Click to expand...

I do this also, keeps my pans from sitting directly in the sludge that has accumulated over time. Right now 1" is sufficient but I always check that bottom piece for the day I have to raise it up!
 
Lloyd B said:
I do this also, keeps my pans from sitting directly in the sludge that has accumulated over time. Right now 1" is sufficient but I always check that bottom piece for the day I have to raise it up!
Click to expand...

Same here, small rack to keep it off the bottom. Peace of mind I guess
 
Jay, since I use a tub, I tie a length of nylon twine to the handle of each pan so I can pull it up out of the lye without sticking my gloved hand down into the solution. I weight the end of the twine with a washer and drape it over the side of the tub.
 
That's a good idea Donna and I'll have to use that. Although hand dipping into the dye bath when you have multiple pans in there is kinda exciting - you never know which one you'll pull up from the liquid black magic.
 
I know this is an old post, but wanted to give my findings being new to this hobby, they may help someone else.
I've been gathering all sorts of old cast iron pieces and have found the lye tank to be a good tool to decrud a large amount of iron in very little space.
I use a Rubbermaid 14 gallon heavy duty bin with 10 gallons of water and two pounds of lye. I Leave pans in stacks for days on end with no adverse effects and as previously mentioned, look forward to the next item to come out of the soup. I do try to rotate or move the pieces every couple of days or so, but haven't noticed any issues if they sit for a week or more.
Heavy duty dishwash gloves and eye ware provide all the protection I feel I need.
The hose is right there for flushing if required. I use it all the time as I have dogs that are very inquisitive. No problems whatsoever with them in the last month I've had the tank set up.
Just my two cents.
 
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