UPDATE:
Well, I made my first smelt since the accident yesterday.
300# of soft lead.
I had run out of ingots and had two orders to fill. Yesterday was the first day post-kaboom that I've had off that it was not raining.
I'll be honest- I knew I needed more ingots. I had checks on the shelf. But when I get home and it's raining, it's "Whew, I don't have to smelt, it's raining."
Yesterday I loaded her up and lit the fire. Wen it came time to work the pot it was like I was handling a hornet's nest. Face shield, gauntlets, denim, and sweat. I was fogging my glasses up.
This time I took a plumber's propane torch and flamed all the mold cavities until they smoked then leaned the molds against the furnace. I made sure I flamed all of my utensils. I made sure all my lead was preheated.
And nothing went wrong. I took my time, worked responsibly, and 2 hours later I had 300# of nice ingots stacked up.
It really let me regain my confidence. I had been taking smelting for granted. Look what happened to Sigfried & Roy- they had worked those tigers for decades...one careless moment and BOOM.
Feels good to be back.