Don't Touch The Pretty Boolits.....

[Doc_Stihl]

I just started casting last year. I've probably cast in the neighborhood of 6k so far and I'm finally learning the idiosyncracies of each mold and my pot, and alloys.

But what I don't seem to be able to master is controlling my "oooo pretty" reaction. I swear, I still touch atleast one hot boolit a session when the first real pretty one drops. I've atleast got to the point where I don't grab ahold.

Anyone else still get excited like it was yer first good boolit?

[44man]

No, it is like peeing on an electric fence, you never do it twice! [smilie=1:

[ddeaton]

I have thought about it more than once and like 44man said, done it once. What I end up doing is this, trying to decide which ones are cool enough on the pile to pick up so as to measure and weigh. The problem is, the bigger the pile gets, the more heat stays with the pile. I aint smart enough yet to drop a couple off to the side to cool just for this reason. Once I get in the groove and lookin good, I cant stop till the pot runneth dry. I never peed on a electric fence, but sure grabbed enough of them over the years. Invisible dog fence collars work good too.[smilie=1:

[docone31]

You are not alone.
I am a jeweler, I cannot tell you how many times I have touched my flame! I mean it. Every now and again, I just stare at the flame and once in a while I touch it. It is amazing, the colour, the shape. I forget the last time I did it and do it again! Every now and again, when I am soldering, I am watching the pinhead of gold run just slightly in the other direction. I will catch myself reaching out to slide it back with my finger!
I normally use a solder pick to move the melt, but sometimes I get so into makeing the gold move I get overly excited.
I do not know about anyone else, but I find molten metal absolutely fascinating! The way it moves, the shine, how it changes through heat.
If I could have worked in a foundry back when, I would have jumped at the chance.
When I find out someone is a jeweler, I always look at their hands!

[Doc_Stihl]

I constantly roll hot boolits when I'm casting my single cavity HP 457. When I drop it, I gotta see if the nose filled out and I spin it. Quick touch and I don't feel it, but every now and then I touch just a little too long.

[Springfield]

I pickup hot ones all the time, but then I cast wearing Ove Gloves, they're heat-proof.

[fishhawk]

kind of funny in a strange way how we find it almost hypnotic working with really basic materials and creating a thing of beauty in our eyes. just plain old lump of lead into a boolit as we call it or in my case a old cedar log into a wood stave bucket. so many of the old skills are being lost to the tecnology of today that i actualy feel sad for the future generations that may have to learn how to do this all over again...forge iron into tools cast boolits either RB or elongated even how to make buckets or barrels for storage how to even grow there own food or hunt, tan hides or weave cloth much less be able to write anything down.....steve k

[lurch]

I pickup hot ones all the time, but then I cast wearing Ove Gloves, they're heat-proof.

Exactly...

[Calamity Jake]

:brokenima
I swear, I still touch atleast one hot boolit a session when the first real pretty one drops. I've atleast got to the point where I don't grab ahold.

Anyone else still get excited like it was yer first good boolit?

Thats what large medical tweezers are for.

I always have at least one boolit hit the floor!! It is always the BEST ONE of the bunch!!!

[Dale53]

I have noticed this phenomenon since I have been a child. It also applies to spinning saw blades and grind stones (so far, I have been able to avoid touching those:mrgreen:).

At any rate, I have been casting bullets for nearly sixty years, and I STILL derive JOY from beautiful new bullets. May the JOY last forever!!

When you couple these beautiful bullets with performance like I experienced yesterday, it is truly a "Joy Forever!":

http://i269.photobucket.com/albums/jj80/Dale53/img047.jpg

10 shots standing at 25 yards. This is the MeHec #68 H&G .452" bullet ahead of 4.5 grs of 5066 in my S&W 625-6 (5" barrel with a Simmons Red Dot Sight).

Dale53

[Dale53]

I would like to add one more thing. Since I have added a manicure fan to my casting bench (to maintain a constant mould block temperature - cool the sprue in two seconds increasing my production) I have noticed that the bullets are also cooled (it is installed right over where I dump my bullets) quite quickly. The constant flow of room temperature air really is a nice "side effect" of the primary use of the small fan (5"-6" in diameter - about $7.00-$8.00 at Walmarts and Target in the fan department).

I keep harping about this small fan because it is a REAL useful (not to mention inexpensive) addition to your casting bench.

Dale53

[jhrosier]

What is interesting is that you can roll a new boolit around with your finger until you figure that it is cool enough to pick up, then you find out how much more sensistive to heat the nerves in your palm are compared to your finger tips.

It works this way every time....

Jack

[montana_charlie]

I saw Cally Duquesne working in the CSI lab to produce some buckshot pellets using the suspect's own tools and materials.
She poured the lead very slowly into the mould, having to refill the dipper once to get the cavity full...but left almost no sprue to be cut off.
She used a very generously sized mallet to tap-tap-tap the sprue plate over, then picked the ball from the mould and headed to the microscope to examine 'toolmarks'...carrying the priceless pellet in her pretty little pinkies.

Those CSI-grade latex gloves must be highly effective insulators.

CM

[Blammer]

water drop one or two, then you can play with them right away!

[Doc_Stihl]

At any rate, I have been casting bullets for nearly sixty years, and I STILL derive JOY from beautiful new bullets. May the JOY last forever!!

That's what I was HOPING to hear!!!

Find the joy in something simple.

[southpaw]

Not so much of a problem for me with boolits since I too wear gloves but back in high school I took lots of welding classes. I never could seem to remember which ones were hot and which one were cool. my fingers got pretty callused. Sometimes I would even grab piece that were brought over to me by someone wearing gloves or holding it with tongs.

I think (hope) that I have gotten a little smarter since HS. Atleast I wear gloves now. Didnt have much use for them back then.

Jerry Jr.

Ps I have most of the feeling back in my finger tips now.:wink:

[sundog]

CM, it was a "Hollywood" mould.

[Bret4207]

I saw Cally Duquesne working in the CSI lab to produce some buckshot pellets using the suspect's own tools and materials.
She poured the lead very slowly into the mould, having to refill the dipper once to get the cavity full...but left almost no sprue to be cut off.
She used a very generously sized mallet to tap-tap-tap the sprue plate over, then picked the ball from the mould and headed to the microscope to examine 'toolmarks'...carrying the priceless pellet in her pretty little pinkies.

Those CSI-grade latex gloves must be highly effective insulators.

CM

You'll also note they conduct autopsies in a dark room, all drive Hummers and that little red headed troll....David something, Horatio on the show, would have his head handed to him the first time he opened his cocky little mouth. That's TV though, all the cops work one case at a time till it's solved. Yeah, that's real.:roll:

[ghh3rd]

kind of funny in a strange way how we find it almost hypnotic working with really basic materials and creating a thing of beauty in our eyes.

It's them lead (and gold) fumes what makes us us touch fire and molten metal, I tell ya... its them dang fumes!!!

(also makes us talk funny)



:-) just kiddin

[chevyiron420]

i cast some lino 44 boolits yesterday and i didnt touch, but i had to use my mallet to roll and look each one over. look like chrome!

[DLCTEX]

When I was about 13 I was cutting some metal with a torch in our shop and got to thinking (I know, dangerous at that age) about making glass. I went outside and found a sandy dirt clod, laid it in the welding table and heated it for several minutes to see if it would make glass. While waiting for it to cool I went back to cutting scrap. My next younger brother came in and picked up the clod. As they say, didn't take him long to look at it. He still says I set him up on purpose.

[waksupi]

When I was about 13 I was cutting some metal with a torch in our shop and got to thinking (I know, dangerous at that age) about making glass. I went outside and found a sandy dirt clod, laid it in the welding table and heated it for several minutes to see if it would make glass. While waiting for it to cool I went back to cutting scrap. My next younger brother came in and picked up the clod. As they say, didn't take him long to look at it. He still says I set him up on purpose.


Same rules apply to both a blacksmith forge, and boolit casting. If it ain't wet, it's hot!

[mroliver77]

I know exactly what you mean. I am still fascinated by new boolits. I cast some out of lino a while back and they were so perfect I had to keep playing with them.
You know, I dont feel quite so weird hanging around you all ;)
Jay

[robroy]

My mom's uncle Basil was a blacksmith. Aunt Polly would ask him to take the biscuts out of the oven and he'd reach in bare handed and pull out the pan and set the biscuts on a cooling rack while still holding the hot pan. Biscuts take a 450* to 475 * oven. Too bloomin' hot for my fingers. I don't touch just cast lead without gloves.

[truckmsl]

No, it is like peeing on an electric fence, you never do it twice! [smilie=1:

44man, I have actually done this and guarantee I would never, never, do it again!
truckmsl

[leadman]

Ya, my uncle ( who is only a couple years older than me) peed on an electric fence once while standing in the snow. He hasn't done it again.

When I was working a a haevy equipment mechanic my hands were so callused I would pick something hot and only realize it was hot when I smelled the smoke from my calluses burning.
Doc tried to put a cortezone injection in my palm once and tried 3 needles before I helped him push it thru. You could see a hole thru about 1/4" of calluse.

[HeavyMetal]

This gentleman is why I quench cast.

Any time I want to look at a boolit I can pull one out of the water and do what I need to do!

As for fill out? I usually pop open the mold and drop the bolits in my gloved hand for a quick inspection before they hit the water.

AS for those "detictives" on CSI? Bozo's couldn't catcha cold if it wasn't in the script!

[Idaho Sharpshooter]

I got started in Schuetzen with casting using two moulds. Pour one, set it down, and pour the second one. Cut the sprue and set it down in the boolit trays I made that hold 100 boolits in rows of five. While I am picking it up with tweezers I look it over to make sure it is good, then set it in its hole. I don't do high volume, but they all shoot sub-moa out to 200yds; and that includes the 535gr GC ones for my 505 Gibbs .

Rich

the word is tweezers man!!

[EMC45]

I have grabbed a hot one on occasion.

[moses]

I am a newbie in casting. I have cast four times now, I also have 4 burns.......... 5 if you count twice in one session. LOL

[NoZombies]

Old saying was "a blacksmith gets little burns every day, but only gets burned badly once, either at the beginning, or the end of his career"

[sniper]

Keep some of the shiny bright ones to admire and delight your friends with, and get rid of the others...one at a time, downrange!;-)
It works for me! 8-)


Quote:
Originally Posted by EMC45
I have grabbed a hot one on occasion.


Me, too, but she slapped my face!

[9.3X62AL]

You'll also note they conduct autopsies in a dark room, all drive Hummers and that little red headed troll....David something, Horatio on the show, would have his head handed to him the first time he opened his cocky little mouth. That's TV though, all the cops work one case at a time till it's solved. Yeah, that's real.:roll:

What? You NYSP folks gotta DIVIDE YOUR ATTENTION? How gauche.......CA cops can't have their ambiances jarred like that, nor can we have our latte breaks interrupted.

We drive hybrids, thank you very much! I mean, like, HELLO!