Patrick L
02-22-2013, 09:22 AM
I scored a small hit of tin at a local scrap yard in exchange for the steel and zinc ww I turn in after a sort.
Anyhow, I smelt it down into ingots this morning. I skimmed the dirt off and dropped it into my usual receptical, an old 2# coffee can. Then I notice a bit too much "silver" in the dirt, and think I better throw it back in the pot, remelt, and do a better job of skimming. The dross has all hardened of course, so I'm scraping and chopping away at it when I get the bright idea of just pushing up on the bottom of the coffee can. Do you remember the old kid game "Trouble" with the dice popper in the middle of the board? That coffee can acted just like that and gave me a facefull of hot (not still molten thank God) dross and tin.
I shudder to think what might have happened had I not been wearing eye protection. As it was I only got one small burn right between the nostrils, and of course I violated that rule about not eating while casting/smelting, since I ate a few particles of that crud (I think I spit most of it out.) This just goes to reinforce that cardinal rule of ALWAYS wearing eye protection. I think as shooters/reloaders/casters we sometimes get to the point where we think we know it all/have seen it all and we get complacent. Not necessarily careless, but complacent. That's why safety rules are so redundant; the redundancy will save your bacon when you loose your focus for just a second.
I'm going on 30 years reloading, 25 as a caster, and I'm sure many of you have a lot more years than that in. We DON'T know everything and we still need to be careful!
Anyhow, I smelt it down into ingots this morning. I skimmed the dirt off and dropped it into my usual receptical, an old 2# coffee can. Then I notice a bit too much "silver" in the dirt, and think I better throw it back in the pot, remelt, and do a better job of skimming. The dross has all hardened of course, so I'm scraping and chopping away at it when I get the bright idea of just pushing up on the bottom of the coffee can. Do you remember the old kid game "Trouble" with the dice popper in the middle of the board? That coffee can acted just like that and gave me a facefull of hot (not still molten thank God) dross and tin.
I shudder to think what might have happened had I not been wearing eye protection. As it was I only got one small burn right between the nostrils, and of course I violated that rule about not eating while casting/smelting, since I ate a few particles of that crud (I think I spit most of it out.) This just goes to reinforce that cardinal rule of ALWAYS wearing eye protection. I think as shooters/reloaders/casters we sometimes get to the point where we think we know it all/have seen it all and we get complacent. Not necessarily careless, but complacent. That's why safety rules are so redundant; the redundancy will save your bacon when you loose your focus for just a second.
I'm going on 30 years reloading, 25 as a caster, and I'm sure many of you have a lot more years than that in. We DON'T know everything and we still need to be careful!