Water and lead

[nueces5]

I learned the hard way
.

it seems that it is the kind of learning that is not forgotten ...

[Crowkiller]

I was smelting recently and pouring into a muffin tins ingot pan. Third batch, so it was already hot. Something must have dropped into the muffin tins because I got a pop and tinsel. It reminded me why I wear the protective gear!

[gwpercle]

Had a visit from the Tinsel Fairy did we ? Your first ?
It's amazing what one drop of water will do to a pot of molten lead ... watch the sweat off your brow also, one drop in the pot and Tinsel Time .
Keeping water out is one thing that it's OK to be as anal and ocd about as you want .
I still melt scrap but I make darn sure everything going in the pot is DRY ! DRY ! DRY !
Don't like the Tinsel Fairy visits ,
Gary

[gwpercle]

I was smelting recently and pouring into a muffin tins ingot pan. Third batch, so it was already hot. Something must have dropped into the muffin tins because I got a pop and tinsel. It reminded me why I wear the protective gear!

SWEAT ...falls right off the brow and into places you don't want it to be .

[john.k]

There is the tinsel fairy,and there is the tinsel B52.....tinsel fairy is a wet bullet dumped in the pot ,the B52 is when a piece of 1" gas pipe erupts the whole 20 lb .....I think the blast was so violent,all the lead was "tinselized",and I hardly got a burn that blistered.Did get a shiny metal ceiling out of it,and yes ,lead does stick to window glass.....My overalls were stiff with lead,but I quickly got rid of them before 'er indoors found the evidence.Fortunately it was a cold wet day,and I had plenty of thick clothing .In the summer heat ,I would be melting outdoors in my jocks and safety thongs.Anyway,if you've ever hobby cast bronze or iron,then you know what heat is.I had a tiny blob of iron burn through leather spats,cloth ,heavy boot,and wool sock.....to barbecue my instep down the the tendon......And it does smell just like a barbecue.

[kevin c]

I've read and seen videos of folks who feel safe melting lead in the rain, based on the fact that raindrops on top of the melt just steams off. My thought has always been that I'm melting that lead to put into something else that isn't at seven hundred degrees. Maybe a heated mold with its tiny sprue plate holes isn't much of a a risk, but I won't pour ingots in the rain, because the pour is into a bread pan mold made of thin sheet steel that doesn't retain enough heat to evaporate raindrops.

[john.k]

water takes away so much heat,I doubt you could melt in even light rain without a covered area.......a scotch mist maybe,thats all.