I had a R.E.A.L. close call.

[docone31]

I was casting away, merrily, merrily, merrily, I finished up the last pair of castings for my Walker. They all came out great.
I went to put in the filler up ingot of lead, something I got from the boneyard. I put a screw in it to keep it out of the melt long enough for the obvious moisture to evaporate. The screw popped right out! Into the melt it went.
I jumped back and was ready for the tinels fairy. I had just been congratulating myself as the mold itself was less than 100 balls for the Walker. It went so smoothly it was amazing!
At any rate, nothing.....
Then all of a sudden a geyser of steam! Just a pronounced geyser, no tinsel. It was a large chunk of lead, and it had an obvious cavity.
That was it. Just a geyser.
The chunk had completely gone under the surface before the geyser.
The tinsel fairy must have been on lunch break.
It would have made a serious mess.
Whew.

[hoosierlogger]

Sounds like you got very lucky. You will remember that situation every time you put lead in the pot from now on. If I have any weights or any other pieces of lead that I think are damp, they get put in the pot before the burner is turned on. And I usually go in the house untill they are all melted and the danger is gone.


Be careful out there

[docone31]

It was the first time I had a crumbly top ingot!!!
I think I will remember that one for a while.
Lucky is one way to describe it.
Back when I was working at a lead casting plant, The owner tossed a wet ingot into the batch! I knew nothing about steam and lead. We picked up tinsel for weeks after. At least no one got hurt.

[motorcyclemac]

Whew!...that topic has always scared me silly. I generally cast in long sleeves and a plastic face shield. I generally melt my WW in a pot and then pour that pot empty in molds. I then reload the pot with WW. I have had a couple good bloops and bubbles that made me jump. Scary stuff.

Cheers
Mac

[mooman76]

Sounds like you got very lucky. You will remember that situation every time you put lead in the pot from now on. If I have any weights or any other pieces of lead that I think are damp, they get put in the pot before the burner is turned on. And I usually go in the house untill they are all melted and the danger is gone.


Be careful out there

+1 on this one. That's what I do if I have questionable lead. Turn the pot off til it hardens then put the lead on top. hat way if it is damp it should dry first, also you can be far away from it while it melts.

[Slow Elk 45/70]

It can be scary to find out how much moisture can collect in ingots , and I've had it happen with WW that I had dried for smelting. You can not be to careful , I always ware Long sleeves and use welding gloves and safety glasses, I should use the safety shield also.

I have had one event that I would call serious, dumped into the smelting pot some WW that weren't completely dry, that will get you attention in big hurry.
Be safe not sorry.

[303Guy]

I used to work in an aluminium remelting plant and am quite aware of this sort of thing and yet I had forgotten all about it! Thanks for the wake-up call!

[jonk]

I've never had lead be 'damp' unless out in the rain or something. I mean an ingot from my basement slides in, no splutters or issues. On the other hand my casting ladle needs to be warmed- if I just shove it under things get interesting fast. Somethign to do with the way the metal holds moisture I think.

[docone31]

Well, I kinda posted this as a refresher for myself, and possibly others.
I routinely put fresh ingots on top of my Kitty Litter slush. They preheat and melt in that way. This one was different. I had put a screw into the ingot and had actually lowered it by the screw on top of the Litter. It popped loose right at that point and went directly into the melt.
Definately sloppy on my part. That is for sure. Once something is comitted like that, fate takes over.
It is my last one like that. I had several that had holes in the center, and I could just screw into them and lower them untill they boiled off the residual water. The screw I could recover later on top of the melt.
My latter ingots are from an ingot mold that makes them 4" long, 1/2" wide, and 3/8" deep. Simple to use. Just set into the pot, and they melt in . As they melt, they slide down into the melt.
It is amazing to watch the moisture on them. Even though they are solid, as soon as they hit the melt, the part out of the pot beads up. Sometimes, they have beads of water as they go under the surface.
That is my last junk yard ingot. The rest are the ones I made.

[StarMetal]

When I was single digit age I was helping my Dad make fishing sinkers. We had an old gas stove in the basement and he used a big heavy cast iron skillet to melt the lead. The skillet had a pour spout notch on the lip and he would just pour straight from it into the sinker mould. When he was ready to take the skillet off the stove he would warn me to get far away incase it was spilled somehow telling me how molten lead will jump when it hits cold concrete. One day just that happened. I was about five feet away and the whole skillet of lead ended up on the concrete. I'll explain how. The skillet had a wood handle. The type where the skillet has a shaft intregral with the main body and the handle was round with a hole throught it. You all know what happen, the wood got charred inside and when he slid the skillet off the burner it just turned inside the handle. The lead did jump or bounce and a couple pounds of it went down inside my high top shoes (remember those in the old days???). It took my Dad five minutes to catch me as I was screaming my head off running all over the basement like a chicken with it's head cut off. The lead burned to the bone right below my ankle bone on the outside side of my foot and some down on the sole right underneath that. I was out of school quite some time because of that. My Dad was so upset that I was hurt he was crying. Still have the scars to this day, it didn't stop me from making sinkers with him and I still cast. I just learned forever how dangerous molten lead can be. Dad got a good chewing out by Mom too.

Joe

[Gunslinger]

Hey Doc

You pulled a lucky one there, no doubt about it. Looks like your idea worked better in theory... although a good idea.

I first started casting 6 months ago, and have already had small lead splashes occur because of - apparently - moist ingots. This forum has taught me to place the ingots on top of the pot before putting them in... it works. When I sometimes forget, I stand up dump in the ingot and take 2 FAST steps back. I seems that a little moist can hide under the first layer of lead... it sounds silly I know... it just sometimes seem that's what happening.

What I fear most is having lead splash in my face... especially my eyes. And wouldn't want scars from lead burns in my face for the rest of my life. Can you imagine little Miss D-cup popping chewing gum playing with her hair: "Hey handsome, where'd ya get that nasty scar"! "Well sugar, some years back I was a big nerd and cast my own bullets, I got careless and had 600 degree lead splash all over my face"!!...... Nope... not exactly a babe-magnet!!

[ghh3rd]

Lowering lead slowly into the melt with a ladle works well for me in avoiding splashes. In fact, I can aim the ladle so the lead is facing away from me as I dunk it, so it might deflect any tinsel if if the worse happened.

Randy

[Echo]

Gunslinger, just tell Little Miss D-Cup that it's a national security thing - can't talk about it until the year 2028. Then look away, in thought...

Should work...

[qajaq59]

What I fear most is having lead splash in my face... especially my eyes. You smart to be fearful. I got hit on the left side of my face and some went into my eye years ago when I had a squirt on a linotype machine. The doctors did ok with the eye, but you have no idea how badly that hurts until you do it. WEAR the darn safety glasses all the time until that pot is cold and solid. Period!!!!

[docone31]

I am not too worried about scarring on my face. That doesn't mean I am not prudent.
Back in the '80s, I worked for this guy. He had a tree service and was a true potato farmer!
He made a chipper that fit on the back of a tri-axle dump.
His engine always overheated badly. I was near the radiator and the top came right off! The precipitate hit my face. Years later, after healing, I got into another divorce and went into the bush in Alaska. My face froze so badly the bones in my right sinus cavity broke through the skin.
I wear thick prescription lenses as the freezing, took both eyes also.
I worry about damage to the equipment, house, fire is top on my list, and firstly, anyone or one of our cats near by.
I remember, with my third ex-wife to be, how I used to get up in the morning and my face would be stuck to the pillow. I would have to peel off the pillow case.
I can assure you, being burned is no picnic!
I got molten lead dribbled down my right arm in high school shop class. It burned right into my arm and stayed there for a while. It keeps on cooking untill you peel it off!
I have a distinct awareness of molten metal. When I first started casting silver and gold, the entire process kept my attention. Now we are talking about heat!
The point of what I wrote about was, with lead Things Can Happen!
With foreign ingots, meaning ones I did not make, I take care! That was the last one I had.
It is always the last one.

[Rodfac]

I've been casting off and on for right at 50 years and here's a few adventures...remember kids...we want NO ADVENTURES while casting, reloading, shooting...I could name a few more. None of the above should be construed as "Extereme Sports" to use a current air head phrase.

1. Sweat droplet into the 6# Lyman pot when reaching across to get another ingot.

2. Pipe sweat droplet from the cold water pipes in my basement ceiling in mid-summer's humidity.

3. A LIVE PRIMER! This one was spectacular... Apparently I'd dropped a live primer on the basement floor at one point or another over the years. At some point, I'd stacked ingots on top of said primer and it stuck to the soft lead. I added the ingot to the pot in my usual manner and voila...explosion. Lead all over the place...the pot's capacity reduced by 25%.

The good news on each of these events was this: I ALWAYS WEAR A COMPLETE FACE SHIELD WHEN CASTING...also when woodworking. I was a commercial pilot for over 40 years and considered the inconvenience of the shield a minor price to pay. There are NO one eyed airline pilots.

Regards...Rodfac...be safe, use your glasses and a face mask.

[Fatman]

Mine happened right after I was allowed to pour lead myself with no Uncle or Dad around. Back then I used an old L shaped piece of steel pipe on a steel holder my Uncle had built and I the lead melting and my little brother walked by me with a glass of water and I didn't see him spill some!!!!!!!!

found out seconds later it had gone into the mold as I poured the hot lead in it splattered right back out into my face, caught some under the chin and on my cheek and one splatter right in my left eye. This was 1976. No scars on the face luckily but no hair grows there either.

The eye isn't too bad to this day but every time I get the little blue light glucoma test I always get the you know you have an old burn mark on your eye!!!

Any lead I plan on pouring gets set on a wood bench and a hot air dryer over it both sides before it goes in and even then I have a metal cup that fits on top of the Lee Pot just in case.

Fatman

[Gerry N.]

My big fear is salvaged fishing weights. I get quite a lot of bottom fishing weights that have been used for halibut and rockfish at depths of several hundred feet. The pressure at those depths will force water down alongside the wire eyes that have been cast into the weight and no amount of sitting or heating with hair dryers will guarantee it's gone. I had one blow that had not seen water for fifteen years.

I melt all salvaged alloy outside with a purpose built plywood guard around the entire melting system. I do the same with wheelweights. I empty the crucible completely before beginning a second melt. Yes, I've had a few blow. Only one exploded, the others just vented steam before the sinker was deep enough into the melt to cause an explosion.

I never melt salvaged metal in my casting pot, not ever!

Safe and not sorry ol'

Gerry N.