January thaws and tinsel fairy

Worth pointing out that when a bunch of snow melts from a warm up the humidity climbs. One has to be super vigilant to avoid the tinsel fairy. Ladles, skimmers, strainers for WW clips, spoons, molds and any lead ingot or scrap lead stored outside will condense moisture at the drop of a hat. May look dry but there will be moisture present and as it approaches hot lead it can condense. You can see an ingot that looks totally dry, yet turn it over and find it covered with beads of water.

Everything gets pre-warmed before use with lead, melting scrap or alloys for ingots the pot gets filled and anything added will have to be added as the bottom melts but before the top turns liquid so I can set it on top to pre-heat and not have it go under the molten lead.

My slotted spoon "rumbled" a bit despite having a few seconds with the tip in molten lead to warm. Just so much moisture in the air or on surfaces that I have to insert it slowly after a longer period of pre-heating.

Nice being able to go out in the garage and open the door while doing some ingot making, not nice if the molten lead blasts all over. Don't know about you but if my ladle goes "whoomp" and recoils in my hand I'm pretty close to needing to change some clothing. Stay safe.

A great reminder for all of us

Yesterday, the humidity around here was so high, that a metal wall locker I have in the garage was sweating. You could see the water on it. Outside temp was around 54 deg. It's 15 deg today, at the airport about 5-6 miles from me.

Rogerdat, thanks for the reminder. I was doing a little casting/ the other night and put an ingot in the pot and saw some very slight bubbling. I hadn't thought about the temp swings. It didn't do anything but the slight bubbling but I got a little concerned and stepped back just in case. I'll be more careful in the future. Thanks again.

I got flash rust on all my machines I need to address today. I did enjoy the little break in the weather.

Yeah, Thanks for the reminder. I melted a pile of solder the other day. Everything, ladle, skimmer and molds got to spend some time basking in the flame.

I have about 1000 pounds of roofing boots to make into ingots. not really looking forward to that job. it has rained 3 times in the last week so I know it is wet spots in that pile of lead. guess it time to get the weed burner out and hit each one with it. oh what fun we have he he he D Crockett

I've melted wet lead before with no problem. I loaded the pot before starting the fire. The water evaporated or cooked off before the lead melted. The only wet stuff that has ever bothered me was jacketed bullets. I try to use a covered pot for range scrap.

Only had that rumble once when I dripped sweat on my ladle and didn't see it... only had an ounce into it when it flashed to steam... I got lucky!