anyone else burn aluminum cans?

[volks-man]

i thought maybe i could melt an aluminum soda can in my garage wood stove. i figured i could just shovel the puddle out after it cooled.
i was wrong.
the cans are totally incinerated!
neat stuff!

anyone else have these bouts with insanity?
what have you tried to burn?



edit: i don't burn all my cans. i just burn one from time to time as a conversation point.

 

[November Wolf]

In michigan we take the cans back to the store and get .10 cents.

When I was younger I put bunch of plastic in my dads garage wood stove and that thing was cherry red for hours. Had to leave the overhead door open and watch it cause we thought the stove was going to melt and burn the place down.

 

[volks-man]

In michigan we take the cans back to the store and get .10 cents.

'kramer' and i crunched the numbers... the expense is too high, we can't make that trip and afford the truck rental and fuel. if only we had access to something like a mail truck..... hhhmmmm.

 

[jburlingham]

I have burned them before, just tells you that your fire is hot enough to surpass the boiling point of aluminum. As a kid I'd burn them up with a torch, now that I have a kid, those nickles pay for things!!!!!!

 

[November Wolf]

'kramer' and i crunched the numbers... the expense is too high, we can't make that trip and afford the truck rental and fuel. if only we had access to something like a mail truck..... hhhmmmm.

That is too funny. :hmm3grin2orange: I think michigan has a new law on the books this year because of Kramer.

 

[Rookie1]

Melted a few Jack Daniels bottles in the campfire before but never in the woodburner.

 

[smokechase II]

double up

When you go to the store for the next ration of beer.

Take the cans then.

============

Depending on the grade/type of aluminum, aluminum melts at around 1200 degrees F.
A decent wood fire gets that easily.

=============

Ever thought of making an incendiary device for the purpose of arson that would be in a completely consumed container that wouldn't attract attention?
(It wouldn't be a pop/beer can. Too many people could gather it.)

Also, someone would remember this post and turn me in.

*****************

If you want serious fun. Something more than a few million drunk hunters already know. Put Magnesium in a fire. Throw some water on it once it gets going to cool it off. 5000 degrees will burn right through your wood stove. Steel is nothing (around 2300 F. as I recall).

 

[Philbert]

i thought maybe i could melt an aluminum soda can in my garage wood stove. i figured i could just shovel the puddle out after it cooled.
i was wrong.
the cans are totally incinerated!
neat stuff!

anyone else have these bouts with insanity?
what have you tried to burn?

I had a friend who ran a scrap yard and tried to melt down cans into billets like he did with other aluminum scrap. Ended up baling them for the same reason as you discovered.

Aluminum does 'burn'. It is used in rocket fuel, thermite, etc.

Philbert

 

[WVwoodsman]

I will toss one in every now and then. Many years ago in my days of youthful indescretion when I was in scouts some of us had the idea to toss a plastic milk crate in the camp fire after the adults went to bed. This made a small fire huge within minutes. The burning melted plastic lit up the whole area and was not easily put out. Another time I as camping with a friend and he tossed some bullets in the camp fire. I saw him do this as he quickly darted behind a big tree to take cover. I told him he as really nuts and that we could have gotten hurt. This was stupid. Nothing bad happend, but it very well could have ended tragically.

 

[Wood Doctor]

Cash for Aluminuim Cans

Around here we can recycle aluminum cans for cash. Why burn them?

 

[forestryworks]

i've put unopened dr peppers and cokes in a fire and ran for cover...

the loud boom is enough to get the sleeping dead out of their tents - running!

 

[Ductape]

'kramer' and i crunched the numbers... the expense is too high, we can't make that trip and afford the truck rental and fuel. if only we had access to something like a mail truck..... hhhmmmm.

Aahhhhhhhhhh.................... Mothers Day ! The MOTHER of all mail days !

 

[clutch25]

I've burned thousands of cans and bottles and waste oil and.....

With the magnesium...old Lawn Boy mower decks are made with it...I had a couple laying around and broke them up with a hammer. Tossed em in the campfire and you won't be able to see for 3 days!

Now I have a buddy bring a couple a year from the scrape yard just for that reason...good show!

 

[mattmc2003]

an old inner tube in the shop heater makes for some nice heat and a cool train sound! lol

 

[ShoerFast]

This post won't mean much to many that read it, but to the metallurgist in some of us, I think it's a cool (well about 1300 deg cool ) trick.

Anyone that needs some super soft normalized steel, toss it in an aluminum can and keep a consistent fire around it.

It is my bet that a fire that just barely eats away an aluminum can is somewhere in the 1300 Deg. F range, perfect to normalize most steels if baked for a day or so and slowly allowed to return to ambient temp.

Look close for the can, it is wrapped with wire and full of projects, note the far right a chunk of bar stock to even the temp in the can.

After about a day in the can, even ball-barring steel can be carved with about any file.

 

[volks-man]

This post won't mean much to many that read it, but to the metallurgist in some of us, I think it's a cool (well about 1300 deg cool ) trick.

Anyone that needs some super soft normalized steel, toss it in an aluminum can and keep a consistent fire around it.




After about a day in the can, even ball-barring steel can be carved with about any file.

interesting.
can it be re-hardened?

 

[ShoerFast]

interesting.
can it be re-hardened?

Yes.

 

[EastwoodGang4]

There was a post a while back that said burning aluminum cans in the wood burner cleaned out creosote. So I tried it too and the cans just disapear.... and like others pointed out those cans are worth $$ so what's the point of burning them

 

[Suz]

Burning aluminim cans

I throw in 3 or 4 aluminum cans in my wood burner to help with the creosote build up in the chimney. I heard this works and it must because I've not had a chimney fire since using the cans.
When I clean the chimney all I find is a little 'dust' that gets knocked down with the brush.

 

[Geez]

Around here we can recycle aluminum cans for cash. Why burn them?

With the price down to about .10 a pound now, it doesn't cover the gas to take them in anymore.