Equipment advice

[max it]

Hanging in my garage, adjacent to my casting cart, is a pair of plastic eyewear with a bb-sized melt spot in the dead center of the right lens! Had I not been wearing these, then, the odds are quite high my vision out of this eye would be impaired -- or gone, now! It was during a casting session, and God only knows where (my guess?) that teeny-weenie spot of moisture came from which caused that spec of melt to be shot out of melt pot? (Another guess: as added ingot)
Anyhoos, I agree with pretty much all posts sent your way thus far -- adding -- PLEASE do yourself a favor and both get a good pair of safety glasses to be worn while melting lead/casting -- and do not forget to have and keep them on!!!
geo

This is as good a spot to stop reading all these wise posts and say something Mr.Clark. All are great, second especially on all things Lee, and the Safety Glasses!
Good luck and Stay safe!

[sureYnot]

This is as good a spot to stop reading all these wise posts and say something Mr.Clark. All are great, second especially on all things Lee, and the Safety Glasses!
Good luck and Stay safe!

One more thing...
I like a cap with a bill to prevent anything coming over the top of the safety glasses. If hot brass can do it (it can), a drop of lead can.
I don't mind getting burnt a little. I don't use welding gloves, apron, or any of that. I almost always have a few drops of lead on my clothes and a couple of small burns after a session. I'm too old to care about my face. And the inconvenience of additional safety equipment outweighs the inconvenience of a little pain. (In my weird mind.) But I intend to keep all two remaining eyes.
Disclaimer: I do not recommend my "safety" policies to anyone other than the cap and glasses.

[RickinTN]

I will add something very important that most folks seem to miss. Study the difference between fluxing and reducing. You will need to know. Fluxing removes the unwanted matter in your melt. Reducing returns the wanted material into you melt that have cooked out. You don't want to lose tin or antimony in the name of fluxing. Maybe a little hard to grasp but reducing is a chemical process, not a physical one.
Good Luck to you,
Rick

[rbuck351]

I don't beat on my molds with a stick or anything else especially aluminum molds. I use leather gloves when casting and just open the sprue cutter by hand. For me, it's faster as I don't have to mess with a stick and there is no chance of damaging a mold. If you get the Lee 6 cav molds, they have an opening lever built into the mold and beating one of those with anything will certainly damage it.

A thermometer isn't necessary, but does make casting easier when you are a beginner.

[LenH]

Welcome aboard from another .45 Colt nut. I have a Ruger RH in .45 Colt.

I started casting and reloading just to be able to shoot more. I started out with a Lee 4# pot a Ladle and a 2 cavity Lyman 454-424 255 GR mold.
It was slow going but when you are young and wanting to shoot you might put up with a slow process. I still have that pot and molds.

Fast forward 40+ years and I found an original Pro Melt and several 4 cavity or more molds. Suffice to say you don't have to spend a lot to start casting.
But to each his own.

There is a stickey some where on this site that shows how to make a lead hammer out of a copper tee split n half. I use a piece of all thread
as a handle wrapped with tape. I have a couple of 8 cavity 8 cavity molds to tap the sprue plate open. When it gets too beat up which don't take long I just cast another
hammer.

[cpclark]

For those that asked. I’m in southern Michigan. Great advice from everyone! Appreciate it!

[farmbif]

I didn't read all suggestions but you might get a cast iron pot and some saw dust and slotted and regular old spoons to get the dross and crud out when cleaning your lead alloy and any sturdy stove or propane heater will work to melt your alloys and make ingots. then only put the clean ingots into your pro melt 2. if not mentioned earlier to go along with the eye or face protection some leather gloves..
and I hope you understand your on your way into a new and exciting adventure that can become addictive and you might find yourself in the church basement for those 12 step meetings if it all gets out of control

[35 Rem]

When you get bullets that don't drop immediately upon opening the handles NEVER hit the mold cavities directly. Instead tap lightly on the hinge bolt. Hitting the cavities directly will soon cause damage and misalignment.

Also, for safety I prefer a full-face shield over safety glasses. The glasses tend to fog up for me where the shield allows air to flow and since it covers your entire face should be even safer. I'm talking about the flip up style shields sold at all Home Depot or Lowes type stores.

[GONRA]

GONRA did same same thing as Sasquatch-1 for decades.
Wear one out? Just find another! !!!
Have Phun! !!

[Winger Ed.]

For mold mallet I just use an old piece of 2x2 made of pine. Wares out, get a new piece.

Anything will work.
I use a big screw driver with a plastic handle.
It doubles as a pot stirring stick too. Going back & forth with it,,,, you'll only forget to wear gloves once.

[oldhenry]

This may have been mentioned and I missed it: anyway if it has ,it bears repeating.

A single drop of water into your pot of melted alloy will cause an eruption (that you will think is an explosion) and melted lead will fly in all directions & you or your loved ones may be in one of those directions.

I learned the hard way back in 1960 when I got into this madness. I washed some accumulated grunge from some COWW before putting them in the pot. Now everyone in my family knows about the danger of a single drop of water into your melted alloy (some of which was splattered onto the ceiling).

Be safe & take all of the safety equipment comments seriously.

Welcome to the forum.

Henry

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A real sport involves either gasoline or gun powder: all others are just games.