What not to do.

[Charlie Two Tracks]

After reading another post about an accident, I thought this might be a good time to post about what little I have learned..... What not to do.

I tried to pick up a full cast iron pot of melted lead by the handle. It really started to tip. If I would have picked it up quickly, the whole thing would have spilled. I never even thought of that happening. Close call.[smilie=b:
Does anyone else had a tip on what not to do.

[KYCaster]

Don't listen to old guys. [smilie=1:

Jerry (Old guy who still has hair)

[44man]

I had a huge ingot to melt so I stood it up in the pot in the driveway. Of course it tipped when it started to melt and spilled the lead on the asphalt. Melted in real nice and I had a heck of a time peeling it off. :bigsmyl2:

[buck1]

dont try to pour ingots by tipping the pot.

[Tom W.]

Don't use ceramic floor tiles to cool your ingots on.:groner:
Get a piece of thin firebrick like that used to line fireplaces....:castmine:

[Mk42gunner]

Don't leave your ingots in the gravel driveway til it snows. I had to follow the path I took with the tractor to find all of them; (once the snow melted).


Robert

[462]

There's the scar from the only time I didn't wear gloves while casting. Then there was that just dropped boolit that I picked up, thinking it was a cooled one. I'd taken the glove off to make it easier to pick up the boolit. And the finger that the 4500's ram fell on. There are probably others that I can't recall, right now.

[Wayne Smith]

There are probably others that I can't recall, right now.

Ya mean like the red spot on top of my foot from casting barefoot??

[ricksplace]

I cast in my garage with the door open. My dog came into the garage and brushed the electrical cord to my melting pot with his tail. Almost spilled a 10lb lee pot. Dog stays in the house now when I cast.

[winelover]

I cast in my garage with the door open. My dog came into the garage and brushed the electrical cord to my melting pot with his tail. Almost spilled a 10lb lee pot. Dog stays in the house now when I cast.

To avoid tipping a Lee pot over, I use a small C-clamp to affix the base to the bench top.

Winelover:coffee:

[bigboredad]

if you think its hot it probably is I have many scars to prove this point[smilie=s:

[ghh3rd]

Don't grab just any old stick to stir the pot with.... did that once, and it felt like the stick was possesed -- rumbling and shaking. Good thing that there wasn't more moisture in that stick ir I may have had a visit from the tinsel fairy.

Dry, everything needs to be dry...

[Hardcast416taylor]

Don`t think you are so strong that a 3/4 full 5 gal. pail of junk wheel weights is light enough to snatch up single handed and put up in a pick-up bed. Took me 3 sessions with a chiropractor to finally get my vertabre all back in allignment.Robert

[No_1]

1) Don't walk away (out of sight) from your pot while the lead is warming.
2) Don't put your bottle of Bullplate down unless the lid is on (and tight).
3) Don't loan out your moulds to someone who wants to try casting to see if he likes it.
4) Don't Don't loan out anything that you can't do without if it does not come back.
5) Don't load out anything unless you write down what it is and who has it.
6) Don't brag about your stuff at the range unless you want it to become someone elses stuff.
7) Don't put wet cases in your tumbler.
8) Don't stack your ingots anywhere near the foot path / trail in your shop because they will fall over on your feet when you walk by.
9) Don't leave your powder in your dispenser overnight.
10) Don't never, ever, forever give your wife the combination to your safe.....

[Edubya]

Oh, that reminds me... those 5 gal pails , wire bails will break! If you're real lucky you won't crush bones in the foot that was underneath supporting all of that weight.

EW

[Down South]

10) Don't never, ever, forever give your wife the combination to your safe.....
LOL, I just did that the other day "In case something happens to me". What she doesn't know is it almost takes a safe cracker to get into even if you know the combination. It takes me at least two tries every time I have to get into it. With adult liquid refreshments, I may have to wait till the next day. That is one finicky combination lock.

Oh, another don’t, but it doesn't have anything to do with smelting or casting. Don’t loan your good chainsaw to anybody no matter how bad they need to borrow it. Go do the cutting for em. You will be better off.

[Crash_Corrigan]

When I lend dies or molds to my friends I print up a receipt on my computer. It states what is being lent and to whom. Then we both sign it and date it and each of us gets a copy.

It is just good sense. My mind is going as when I put something down I immediately forget it and it is gone until I stumble over it again.

I had a need for a small base x die in -06 for my Garand. I did not remember if I had one. In either case i could not find it. I went onto the Midway website and signed in and checked my previous orders. Sure, I had bought one two years ago and it had to be in my possession but I still could not find it. I had to buy another and of course a week later i found the the original. So I sent it back to Midway for a refund as it had not been used at all.

Same story with a set of .44 dies. I used to load for a .44 Mag and I had not done so for the last 5 years. Now I had a spanking new (to me) .44 CA Bulldog Pug revolter to load for and I could not find my dies. I had to borrow a set. I used them and of course I cannot find them now. What else is new.

Getting old is not for wimps. It sucks big time and the worst part is that I have to live with lists. My short term memory is miserable and faulty.

I blew up a EAA Witness Match Elite pistola because I became distracted and loaded a squib load. My wife fired it and because the empty ejected OK she then fired a full load after that. It blew up the barrel and it cost me $203.51 to have it replaced and fitted by the EAA people in Florida. Expensive lesson.

Now I have one of those LED flashlights mounted into my Dillon press to light up my rounds during assembly. An empty or overfull case is really easy to see now.

[Charlie Two Tracks]

Write down what you loaded that ammo with. I thought for sure that I'd remember those 50 rounds. A few days later when I got back to the basement, someone had stole my memory.

[DIRT Farmer]

Adult beverages in the fridge in the house, powder only in the fridge in the shop. It helps with age related memory loss. ( over 21 induced )

[XWrench3]

if you use l.l.a. lube, don't leave your boolits dry anywhere kids may even pass by. they WILL spill them!
when you get a new mold, never make more than a few rounds of ammo until you have checked and made sure they will chamber.
if you cast outside in the winter (cold climates) , snowmobile suits will MELT when hot lead hits it.

[nicholst55]

1. Never loan out anything that you wouldn't willingly throw in the trash.
2. Never leave your thumb (or any other part of your anatomy) in the way when you're trying to decap brass.
3. Never leave your fingers behind your target while stapling it to the backer.
4. Sweep your shop floor after you drop primers, or else you WILL find one whenever you drop/knock over a heavy object. They scare the h**l out of you, too!

[qajaq59]

My 20# pot is bolted to a large steel pizza pan. There is no way it is ever going to tip over. But I can still slide it to the end of the bench when it is cooled down and I am done casting. Plus the pan gives me a spot to put down hot molds or whatever without scarring the bench.