Intresting smelt !

[Harter66]

Today I did a smelt to clean up some 300# of this and that accumulation. 40# of 1-20,150# of j-words,100# of new WW and WW rejects , the balance being MLballs and buck,and the complete unknown somebody elses cast. 5 batches

So while I was putting that away I pencil tested the WW I'd done just about Christmas . 50# were all 18+bhn. Now I know the pencil test is lacking in precision but that seemed hard for ACWW, the ingots seem abstactly/subjectively hard compared to other WW ingots present. I wonder could it be the result of" speed air cooling"on that 20* breezy day?

[selmerfan]

I doubt it, even sub-zero temps can't have that effect because air doesn't transfer heat all that well compared to water.

[Charlie Two Tracks]

I had a similar thing happen to my lead. It was in the single digits when I melted and I had the muffin pans in a snow drift. It increased the BHN when I tested them but ........ it really don't matter. When you melt them down to pour boolits, you are starting all over again. Any hardness created by the cold will be eliminated when the lead melts.

[Harter66]

Well sure I know that when I pour , it will "reset". It just seemed to be much harder than the "typical" ACWW or the last batch ,done last summer. I haven't seen any references to this sort of behavior.

[runfiverun]

it's called waterdropping normally.
but the cooling process is the same whether air or water.