Black widows are not aggressive. Just don't catch them between your hand and the item you are picking up, or stick your foot in a boot where one is hiding.
I preheat all my ingots to just before slush in a small pot on the hotplate.
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Black widows are not aggressive. Just don't catch them between your hand and the item you are picking up, or stick your foot in a boot where one is hiding.
I preheat all my ingots to just before slush in a small pot on the hotplate.
I had a near mishap with a spider and web in a saeco mold.He had built a web/nest in the coner of the mold and when the hot lead hit hit the nest and spider it sprayed a little but none got on me.Now I preheat the molds to dry them out and kil any bugs in there hiding.
Are my kids/grandkids more important than "o"'s kids, to me they are,darn tooting they are!!! They deserve the same armed protection afforded "o"'s kids.
I have been hoodwinked but not by"o"
In God we trust,in "o" never trust
Support those that support the Constitution and the 2nd Amendant
Because of the warnings that have been posted on this site, I have always worn full clothing, full face shield, lead rated respirator, safety sun glasses ( molten lead is really shiny to me), and welding gloves. Bit much? Maybe, but I prefer safe to sorry and being uncomfortable for a bit.
And you will be able to withstand a DIRECT nuclear blast with all that stuff on!Originally Posted by MrWolf
I wear safety glasses. Long or short sleeves depending on the outside weather. Leather gloves ONLY when picking up hot stuff. A leather apron when it is 100F+ in the summer and I have shorts on.
And I always have at least 5 layers of good old common sense on, too!
bangerjim
I as unaware that Phoenix AZ, with it's average yearly humidty of 6% is considered "High Humidity". I rather like the black widows that live around my house, which does not contain a pool or hottub in the backyard. When the blackwidows go missing, I break out the scorpion light and go hunting...
GRANDPARENTS AGAINST RETINOBLASTOMA, BECAUSE NO CHILD SHOULD HAVE CANCER
At one time I collected black widows by the dozens to trade for exotic animals from other parts of the world. Where I live we have pump houses that are usually partially below ground to prevent wintertime freezing. They are always dark and moist, and usually a few to a dozen or more black widows can be found in each. Needless to say, I like them too. However, I also respect them, as a bite will lead to days of misery. It is not an experience I wish to endure.
I expect that when you find black widow spiders they are close to the ground and underneath some object. In that microcosm the humidity can be quite high, despite the overall low humidity of the surrounding environment. Overall my shop is very dry too, but the humidity in the stack of ingots next to the concrete floor is high. A few inches away it is not.
I find widows in my wood piles, under the car when it does not move for a few days, in corners of the shops, just about everywhere! All are VERY dry here is the desert.
Keep in mind there are THREE different kinds of widows in NA. Do a search and you will see where the different types are found. Search engines are your"leeeeeeetle friend!".
You're right, common names are terribly imprecise (with the exception of birds). Latrodectus mactans is the animal with which I am familiar.
A woodpile that is dry in the interior astonishes me. Here in the east firewood rots, and generates its own humid environment.
You have never experienced "dry" until you live in the desert SW! I can leave bright shiny unoiled steel out for months at a time and it will not rust at all. I have no rust on any of my tons of tools. Only if something is left out in the VERY rare rain will it rust.
Our dew points can get into the negative numbers a lot of the year. That is why we call it a desert! And widows abound here!!!!!! Between the widows and scorpions, I keep busy in the evening going around spraying them with wasp killer.
banger
I grew up in the high humidity of the Texas Gulf Coast and never saw a Black Widow. In both Bakersfield, CA and SE New Mexico, virtually identical climates, I've seen plenty. I've seen them in the open air exposed to direct sunlight with their webs made on a black steel fence gate during a year long drought.
They're just fine in extremely dry areas.
David
Sometimes life taps you on the shoulder and reminds you it's a one way street. Jim Morris
Black Widows invaded my shop once. They were everywhere. Spiders and snakes don't scare me unless one catches me by surprise, like a Black Widow in one of my casting gloves or stepping withing striking distance of a rattle snake, copper head or cotton mouth.
I started flopping my casting gloves on something hard just in case a spider had made a home in one of the fingers. The snakes, I just have to pay more attention to where I step.
I'm heading into rattle snake country in a couple weeks on a deer hunt. My hunting buddy asked about my snake boots. I told him that I've never owned a pair and would be wearing tennis shoes or a pair of regular hunting boots.
I'll get flamed over that last sentence.
I've been hunting in snake country long before I ever heard the notion of snake boots.
If ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin.
Samuel Adams
Sam
They say outside of Antarctica you are never more than 6 ft. from a spider. Inside your house or outside. Spiders are very adaptive and tough critters.
Protective gear I go with face shield and no exposed skin or synthetic fibers. Lead spatter on blue jeans sticks but doesn't burn, on polyester it would melt right to the skin. Leather welding gloves that reach the elbow allow wearing short sleeve shirt. I wear work boots most of the time anyway but not going to wear open shoes or tennis shoes without socks. I know which way lead heads when it falls. Once had some splash onto a hose from a shop vac, fused right to it. Hose on the same floor my feet use.
The one thing I have to remind myself of often is to flip the shield down. Only thing stupider than getting hurt with protective gear sitting on the shelf is to have it right on your head. I also wear a welders cap, both to keep my hair back and to prevent splatter burns. You know even absent the fairy one can drop an ingot or other item into a pot of molten lead and have it splash. Or drop a ladle or.... The tinsel fairy is dramatic but the small accidents you don't watch for are the ones that always seem to get me.
Scrap.... because all the really pithy and emphatic four letter words were taken and we had to describe this source of casting material somehow so we added an "S" to what non casters and wives call what we collect.
Kind of hard to claim to love America while one is hating half the Americans that disagree with you. One nation indivisible requires work.
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My encounter with lead happened when I was stupid and bumped the full pot enough to really rock it around.. I had just taken off the welding glove on my right hand to do something and that is exactly where the lead hit when it came sloshing out of the pot. The scars will be there forever but hell, Im 50 so its not like it will be that long...
Wow, scary stuff. I've never had that particular problem, but I always wear the right PPE anyway. Long pants, long sleeves, work boots, a baseball cap, welder's gloves, and protective glasses used to do it for me. Recently I added a full face shield (similar to a welder's shield but clear instead of smoked).
One reason for quick unreasonable comments is because too many casters or would be casters read and believe some plain old baloney on many forums. Most of the posters here are correct but if you read long enough, you'll spot some "chicken little" wive's tale responses.
I've been melting lead and making stuff like bullets and sinkers since I was 15 working on Ma's stove. For me, and I can only speak for me, there has never been a "boiling" (or is it aerating?) from cold, but dry lead being added to the pot. The only eruption I've had/seen is if water on some lead being added to a pot, is forced under the surface of the lead...
My Anchor is holding fast!
The T. faerey???????????
The thermal differential "difference" does not happen all the time. I have even seen it when stuffing wire solder in the pot..........just a little boiling/rolling action. Much more so with SOME VERY DRY and COLD ingots. You may have not observed it...............bit I sure have.......and it was NOT from entrained moisture either. And was not caused by "chicken little" droppings in there either!
No, it does not happen all the time (thank God), but one should be aware and ALWAYS be at the ready when adding feed ingots to a pot of 750F+ lead! It is nice to read some of the experiences others have had to help you avoid similar situations.
banger
I used to make my living in an iron foundry.
Once while working in the melting area the forktruck driver drove by me with a pig mould,* that gave off a lot of cold. He seated it under a M.I.P. (mechanical iron pourer) to receive overflow iron. The iron pourer dumped several hundred pound of molten iron in the ice cold mould that just came in from the winter cold, and it exploded like 3-4lb of c4, the pig mould came off the floor about foot. Before the operator could stop the flow of iron the exact same thing happened 5or6 times in the time frame of less than 10 seconds. It shot molten iron in every direction except down for a good 80 feet.
* Pig moulds we used were made of iron coated with a material called burlite to keep the molten iron from sticking the approximate weight empty was 2500 lbs. That would hold about 2000 lbs of iron.
Political correctness is a national suicide pact.
I am a sovereign individual, accountable
only to God and my own conscience.
I put my ingots in my convection oven on 450 when I'm casting. This seems to work pretty well.
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