First date with the Tinsel Fairy!

[GARCIA]

Had my very first date with the Tinsel Fairy today and hopefully I will never see her again!!!!!

Was casting using my LYMAN 358429 and dropping the boolits into a five gallon bucket of water. Well apparently I missed the small droplet of water that came back out of the bucket and landed on the inside of the mold. Part way through the next pour she got me good!!! Looked like a small volcano erupting out of the sprue plate!!! Got pretty shook and quit for the day.

Here is a couple of pictures of the boolit.

Tom

[btroj]

Luckily I can usually hear the sizzle of the water drop in a cavity. It does make castling a bit more exciting!
Glad to hear You are OK.

[RKJ]

I've tried it a couple of times but I'm always afraid that same thing would occur so I stop after just a couple of boolits. Glad you weren't hurt, I'd imagine it did shake you up.

[Charlie Two Tracks]

Hope you didn't get burned. Or did you? Dang but that lead is hot!

[hoosierlogger]

put a towel over the top of the bucket with a slit in the middle for the boolits to fall through. It greatly reduces the number of splashes that comes out of the bucket.

[BCall]

I use 2 towels. One angled down from one side of the bucket, the other covering a little over half of the bucket top. Drop on the angled towel and it rolls under the other one down to the water. No splashes out of the bucket anymore.

[GARCIA]

Took everyones advice and made a cover on the bucket to allow the boolits to drop through. Worked like a charm.

Sometimes you have to learn the hard way and it sucks!

Tom

[Dennis Eugene]

I just cover the water bucket with a couple inches of Styraphome peanuts stops all splashing and bullets drop right through them into the water. Dennis

[BackWoods Billy]

I use 2 towels. One angled down from one side of the bucket, the other covering a little over half of the bucket top. Drop on the angled towel and it rolls under the other one down to the water. No splashes out of the bucket anymore.
How do you angle the towel ? Tie the bottom to something?

[stubshaft]

I cut up sponge rubber into 1/2" squares and put them into the bucket. Very similar to the "peanuts" but alot easier to store (just squeeze them into a baggie).

[BCall]

How do you angle the towel ? Tie the bottom to something?

No, just let it hang in the bucket, bout a 1/2" above the water. Just draped over the top, then let the center of one side hang down in the bucket. Then tie to the top of the bucket.

[HardColt]

Hope you are OK wearing safety glasses,leather gloves and thick denim pants and shirt. Scarrrrrryyyy!!!!!

[Ilwil]

I had an epic visit from Tinkerbelle many years ago; I was in the habit of casting and reloading on the same garage work bench. I managed to get a primer into some lead sprues, and it cooked off in my Lee 10lb pot. I had glasses, hat, gloves and long sleeves, and they collectively saved me, all got flying lead, but I got nothing on my face. I had managed to creatively redecorate that entire end of the garage. I bet the present owner still puzzles over the thousands of little specks.
Needless to say, the lesson here was to widely separate casting and reloading sites.

[imashooter2]

Your mold has to be awful cold to have a drop of water still in it when you start the next pour...

[canyon-ghost]

Not necessarily, a drop of water can cling to the outside of the mold even when it is hot. Doesn't seem like it could but, it only has to cool a very small spot on the mold to hang on. I had it happen, silver in my hair, on my glasses, on my face (really minute burn) etc. I even had the bucket several feet from the pot and had to turn around to drop the bullets.
Wipe the bottom of the mold on the towel from now on.

Ron

[imashooter2]

I'll stand with my original statement. A drop of water easily sizzles off blocks at proper temperature in the time it takes to close them.

[crabo]

I had a great visit melting lead pipe. It goes off like a shotgun. I started putting the pipe in and aiming the pipe at the big city plastic trash can. Still it would make you jump when it would go off.