First Attempt to melt lead

[Wandering Man]

Using directions from Lyman's & Lee's reloading manuals, and from Hunter's post (http://ezine.m1911.org/casting_frame.htm) I made my first attempt at melting lead.

I'm still deciding if I want to make boolits, so one small step at a time.

I thought I'd be smart and make my own ingot molds using some old flashing I had.

Well, I guess I was 1/2 smart, as that is about all I could pry out of the flashing.

I must say it was plenty exhilarating to watch the wheel weights melt, the wax flash, and the shiny lead being poured.

I've put everything up now, waiting "proper" ingot molds.

I am having fun.

WM

[Buckshot]

..............Congratulations on the start. A big step is overcome :kidding: An old muffin pan (steel or cast iron) works well. Just wait until you're poured your first boolits :-) . The best is last, and that's actually SHOOTING them!

...............Buckshot

[Wandering Man]

Thanks.

I got one piece of a bar to come loose. Nice and shiny.

I'm still trying to figure out why the flashing wouldn't let go of the lead.

Do you think there was tin in the flashing?

Even pulling the flashing out flat, the lead wouldn't let go. I thought I had aluminum, but it looks like something else must have been alloyed in there.

WM

[leftiye]

Welcome aboard Wandering man!
Flashing with Zinc plating? That might be the reason. Read up here on zinc. BAD! Might alloy with the lead too. Nevertheless, a good start. Mistooks happen, the trick is to survive them.

[Wandering Man]

Welcome aboard Wandering man!
Flashing with Zinc plating? That might be the reason. Read up here on zinc. BAD! Might alloy with the lead too. Nevertheless, a good start. Mistooks happen, the trick is to survive them.

Survive them? :groner:

I didn't know I had to SURVIVE my mistakes!

I guess I better be a bit careful, then.

To that end, I now own some welder's glove, and an apron. I probably ought to get a face shield, too.

As I read more and more, I begin to lose confidence that I'll manage all that needs managing in this fine art.

Procedures that concern me:

Slugging the barrel

Ensuring I have "crisp" bullets

Ensuring I have selected the proper "sizing" for my bullets

Even finding the proper lube (After reading ABC's of Handloading) is beginning to feel a bit more troublesome than I anticipated.

Does this stuff ever begin to feel comfortable?

Thanks,

WM

[scrapcan]

Don't get discouraged or become a victim of information overload. Many here will help you get the basics down. Y ou have learned a valuable lesson in just the pouring of ingots, learing is good. Hang around and you will be an old hand in no time.

[Wandering Man]

Don't get discouraged or become a victim of information overload. Many here will help you get the basics down. Y ou have learned a valuable lesson in just the pouring of ingots, learing is good. Hang around and you will be an old hand in no time.

Thanks.

Encouragement and guidance are welcome.

(one step at a time ... one step at a time)

WM

[steif]

First time I was casting round boolits I had no idea how to do it... used a old propane melter that sits ON TOP of a 20# propane tank, still have it and it works real good... used a open dipper with a old scissors rb mould it was about a 40 cal and my rifle was a 45... but that's what I had. I cast plenty before I found out what the proper way was to do it... :holysheep and still to this day, I cast a few that are not exactly filled out or wrinnkly... I just use em anyway, I use em in a 45 acp and 44/40 to punch tin cans, paper, or dirt clods and they work plenty well enuff for me. now If I was shooting a rifle on paper, I would be more careful to use consistent boolits, but it works for me.. like the others say, one step at a time and you'll get it..

[scrapcan]

Wandering Man,

Can you weld or have a friend that does? you can make quick ingot molds using angle iron or channel iron. Or as others have said go find an old muffin pan or corn bread pan.

Do you have a mould yet? What are you wanting to cast for? There might be a few here that would have something to pass along to help get someone else started. Or you can buy a lee mould and some liquid alox and shoot some as cast to get a feel.

A friend and I started casting in High school when we found a box of stuff in his dad's shop. We asked what it was and he said it was for casting bullets and reloading. We asked if he would show us. He was to busy but did give us a relaoding manual and permission to becareful, follow the manual, and have fun. All of htose things happened in short order, even though the cast bullets may not have meet the standards of others. We had a great time learning and chasing cans at the local dump and others places we deemed as safe to shoot.

Be attentive, stay with the manual to start, and ask questions. This board is only as far a way as you make it, and there are a lot of nice folks here.

[Wandering Man]

Wandering Man,

Can you weld or have a friend that does? you can make quick ingot molds using angle iron or channel iron. Or as others have said go find an old muffin pan or corn bread pan.

Do you have a mould yet?

No welding freinds, but I can find a muffin pan. I've ordered an ingot mould, and plan to wait for that.


What are you wanting to cast for? There might be a few here that would have something to pass along to help get someone else started. Or you can buy a lee mould and some liquid alox and shoot some as cast to get a feel.

Wife and I recently discovered the joys of Cowboy Action Shooting. I thought this might be good way to get cheap ammo.

I've got a freind who guided me to your site. Unfortunately, he lives about 1200 to 1300 miles away.



A friend and I started casting in High school when we found a box of stuff in his dad's shop. We asked what it was and he said it was for casting bullets and reloading. We asked if he would show us. He was to busy but did give us a relaoding manual and permission to becareful, follow the manual, and have fun. All of htose things happened in short order, even though the cast bullets may not have meet the standards of others. We had a great time learning and chasing cans at the local dump and others places we deemed as safe to shoot.

Be attentive, stay with the manual to start, and ask questions. This board is only as far a way as you make it, and there are a lot of nice folks here.


I'm willing to make mistakes, and to learn from them. From what I see there can be a lot of satisfaction in making bullets.




Wife asked me this morning if I was going to go out and shoot each one as I made it, then down range, find the bullit, and ask it how it was, what was it like going through the paper or wood, did it expand enough, etc. :bigsmyl2:

I had to laugh, and confess I really would want to find the bullets I shot and look them over.

WM

[leftiye]

Wanderer, I kinda wondered If I should write that. The lead smelting and casting do require some caution and common sense, but aren't really tricky, nor complex. And as was said, we'll help you! Ask, and we'll help.

[Southron Sanders]

I have been casting bullets for 40 plus years. Here is what I would recommend:

1. Get a Lyman Manual or another manual that gives complete instructions on how to cast lead bullets-READ IT OVER SEVERAL TIMES AND FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS. You will save yourself a LOT OF HASSLES if you do this.

2. Get the proper equipment/ You can't go wrong with a good electric lead pot. I like the 25 pound capacity Lyman or RCBS lead pots. They are BIG enough where you don't have to chop lead down to small bits to get it to fit into smaller pots. I have used both "Bottom Pour" pots and pots from which you dip the lead with a Lead Dipper. I can cast quicker using a dipper.

3. Always cast in a well venelated room. Never eat, drink or smoke while casting. ONE DROP OF WATER IN A POT OF MOLTEN LEAD WILL CAUSE IT TO EXPLODE-so keep water AWAY from molten lead.

4. All ways wash your hand after handling lead or casting lead. This gets rid of the micorscopic lead dust that gets on your hands from handling and being around lead.

5. Pure lead melts at approximatley 625 Degrees Farenheit-which is about the temperature some foods are cooked at. While I always use eye protection when I am casting-I don't bother with gloves or aporns or any such stuff. I occasionally get "splattered" by a tiny drop of lead and it burns for just a second. I generally keep a cup of ice water across the room-so IF I do get purned, I simply walk over and put a little ice on the burn spot for a moment or two.

While I cast bullets without an aporn or gloves-I DON'T RECOMMEND YOU DO THE SAME BECAUSE I HAVE A LOT OF EXPERIENCE CASTING LEAD. Years ago, I had a 25 pound pot of MOLTEN LEAD BLOW UP ON ME. Yep, I got burned-but not enough to even to go the doctor. Lead was splattered on my shirt, pants, shoes and eye protection. Some lead was even found sticking to the ceiling above the pot.

Needless to say, I had to throw away the clothes and shoes I was wearing because the molten lead had penetrated into the fabric before freezeing.

My point is: BE SAFE

You will find casting bullets to be a relaxing and rewarding hobby. Just get the right information and then follow it,

GOOD LUCKV !!!

[HORNET]

Welcome and congratulations on your start. If you look near the top of the home page, there's a section full of Stickies and Classics that has a lot of info for the beginning caster. I think there's even a link to goatlips casting video. Read some of it and ask lots of questions. This doesn't have to be real complex unless you want it to be, and then there's some heavy technical threads as well. Lots of people start out at just the basics. It kind of grows on you, that's why it's called molding....LOL

[Wandering Man]

Leftiye, I thought it a good comment.

Thanks for the encouragement, guys.

WM

[454PB]

5. Pure lead melts at approximatley 625 Degrees Farenheit-which is about the temperature some foods are cooked at

See, I've been telling my wife that for years. She always complains when I "overcook" things:!:

[Bret4207]

Don't worry about all the "fine art" stuff for now. Just get a mould and start casting. Yes, your first 150-200 boolits may look like wrinkled apples, but thats okay! Once they start filling out and looking like real boolits you'll be getting hang of it. Read the stickies, get your mould scrupulously clean and flux your alloy good. Frosty boolits are fine too. Practice makes perfect.

BTW- I cast bare handed, but plain old cotton masons gloves work fine and you can feel what you're doing. If you get your hands covered in so much lead it burns through the masons gloves, you have really big problem!

[TexasJeff]

To that end, I now own some welder's glove, and an apron. I probably ought to get a face shield, too.

As I read more and more, I begin to lose confidence that I'll manage all that needs managing in this fine art.

Procedures that concern me:

Slugging the barrel

Ensuring I have "crisp" bullets

Ensuring I have selected the proper "sizing" for my bullets

Even finding the proper lube (After reading ABC's of Handloading) is beginning to feel a bit more troublesome than I anticipated.

Does this stuff ever begin to feel comfortable?

Thanks,

WM

Hey fellow Texan,

I know the feeling.

Been reloading for many years, but decided last year to start casting my own boolits. My first thought was, "Hell, it can't be that hard--find some lead, melt it, pour it in a mold and go shoot the thing."

Kinda like most people's thoughts about reloading--"Stick a new primer in, pour a little powder and top it off with a new shiny bullet and then go shoot the thing."

While that will work, it doesn't give you best results.

I've found that the smelting operation is the cheapest of all. I spent eleven bucks at Academy sports on a dutch oven, another six bucks on two long-handled steel spoons (one slotted, one not--also use it as a ladle to pour ingots), and about six more bucks at the dollar store getting cheap cookie sheets and bread pans to keep stuff on that gets hot. I use old candles for fluxing the smelt, stir with a wooden stick (which also fluxes).

I bought my ingot molds from Cabelas--the Lyman molds. They were the most expensive part of the whole smelting process at twenty bucks. But as others have said, find you some old steel or iron muffin pans.

My first foray into casting boolits cost me less than a hundred dollars--one Lee Pro IV-20 furnace, a Lee mold and a Lee push through sizer which includes the lube.

That was all that was needed at the time. I added a thermometer, but just about everything else I use I had laying around the shop.

It looks and feels daunting at first. Take it one step at a time. Because when you cast your first boolit, and then load it, and then shoot it. . . .

And there simply is no better bunch of gun folks and reloaders and casters than the group right here. The general consensus they told me when I first started inquiring was, "We all have been in your shoes and had to start somewhere."

Jeff

[Wandering Man]

Lyman's Moulds came in today, and I had time to fire up the cooker.

I melted my remaining wheel weights, and then decided to salvage some of the lead stuck to the flashing.

Mistake?

I'm not sure:

As the lead melted, it developed a gold skin, which later turned copper, and finally blue.

The lead underneath seemed fine, but every time I skimmed the skin off, new skin would form. The skin seemed to kinda chunk up when I skimmed it off.

I fluxed three or four times.

The result is a dull bar with bubbles, rather than shiney and smooth, like the last time.

So, did I contaminate my lead?

Did I get the lead too hot?

Did I need to keep fluxing?

Some combination of the the three?

Or something else? :confused:

Do you think I'd have any problems trying to turn this stuff into boolits?

Thanks,

WM

[454PB]

Those color changes match what happens with pure lead. Try some virgin WW alloy and see what happens. I'd set the other ingots aside for a while until you get a better feel for what you're doing.

[runfiverun]

that blue is usually called purple and is a good indication of pure lead
if that is all you can find use a 20/1 mixture 20 parts lead to 1 part tin
elmer keith used 16/1 and he did okay.
so if you got 15 lbs lead put 1 lg tin in and youll be good.
or if you can get some ww's wheel weights melt them down throw in 1% tin and
cast away, clean your mold then clean it again before you start,
get your mold warmed up and start pouring your first few will look bad but keep going.

[Wandering Man]

Great!

:drinks:

Thanks.

WM

[Wandering Man]

Now that I have melted wheel weights for the second time, I can see a difference between my first ingots and my second ones.

The first ingots are mostly frosted, and some have dark patches on them. There is also an occassional bluish/purple spot on them.

The second batch is shiney all over.

Did I get the first batch too hot? I slowed my cooker down a bit for the second batch.

Is there possible contmination? Or not enough fluxing?

I'm pretty sure it wasn't zinc in my original homemade ingot moulds (the ones my lead stuck too). There was no "oatmeal" sensation in the lead, and even though I dipped the moulds back into the lead (trying to re-melt the lead stuck), it could not have released more than 2% of whatever it is made of into the mixture, it didn't melt.

The biggest question, should I trust this lead to my bullet making pot?

Thanks,

WM

[454PB]

If I were you, I'd experiment with the lead you're worried about. Melt down a few pounds and cast some boolits, then compare them for weight, diameter, hardness, and appearance with the second batch.

[pjh421]

WM,

This can be a very enjoyable and rewarding hobby. When you get some boolits cast from your new moulds, don't shoot them without lubricating them somehow. I imagine you don't have a lubrisizer yet but there are a few other ways to accomplish this which you can find by searching this site.

Be patient and if you have a question, this is THE place to get an answer, or 50.

Paul

[exile]

I have not cast any bullets yet, have been staring at a five gallon bucket 3/4 full of wheel weights for years, so I know nothing. It seems like many people talk about smelting in a different pot than what they use for casting. I was thinking of getting a Lee 4lb. pot so I could move it in and out of my garage easily. Is there anything wrong with using that pot for smelting? Exile

[shotman]

no but you cant get many ww in it shotman

[wiljen]

If you have an old coleman stove, find a yardsale cast iron dutch oven and it makes a good cheap smelting setup. Much faster than a 4 lbs pot.

[Wandering Man]

If I were you, I'd experiment with the lead you're worried about. Melt down a few pounds and cast some boolits, then compare them for weight, diameter, hardness, and appearance with the second batch.

Will do! I've made my first batch. A few wrinkles and a lot of re-melts, but overall, I'm pleased. I added a bit of tin solder, and that seemed to help smooth out the wrinkles. Also, I think I needed to wait on the lead a bit longer before pouring into my molds.

:castmine:

I have the Lyman kit with the 10# pot.

Which raises another question ... do you ever get the lead out of the bottom of the pot? Or does it just sit there until the next batch of lead?

That was my concern about trying the funny looking stuff. I don't want to permanently contaminate my lead.


WM,

This can be a very enjoyable and rewarding hobby. When you get some boolits cast from your new moulds, don't shoot them without lubricating them somehow. I imagine you don't have a lubrisizer yet but there are a few other ways to accomplish this which you can find by searching this site.

Be patient and if you have a question, this is THE place to get an answer, or 50.

Paul

Lubrisizer & MolyLube came with the kit.

That was a big learning curve! First I put the boolits in upside down (which worked quite well ... I'm casting .358 LRNF in a Lymon 4 - holer).

Then I turned the boolits right-side up. But the mess on the boolits was awful.

After lubing 80 or so (out of 100), I figured out that I could adjust the length of the little bar at the bottom so the boolit would get covered with less lube.

My poor Dillon XL650 will never be the same. Did you know that the seating die lets the excess lube snake out the top when there is too much lube?

Now, I've learned that with my settings for Cowboy Action rounds, I only need to lube the bottom groove. :Fire:

Can't wait to do my next batch.





I have not cast any bullets yet, have been staring at a five gallon bucket 3/4 full of wheel weights for years, so I know nothing. It seems like many people talk about smelting in a different pot than what they use for casting. I was thinking of getting a Lee 4lb. pot so I could move it in and out of my garage easily. Is there anything wrong with using that pot for smelting? Exile

Go for the dutch oven. The 10# pot that comes with Lyman's kit is small. And really, I can't imagine getting more than a couple of wheel weights in it at any one time. A 4# pot must be really itty bitty.

You'll be glad for the larger pot when its time to stir the flux and skim the dross. I bought a burner for turkey frying/cajon gumbo cooking. It works well for turning ww into ingots.

WM

[jerrold]

IMHO
Unless you are going to shoot a real anteque or whatever, put sluging the barell on the bottom of the list. I have been casting for a 45 cal. for about three years and haven't sluged the barell yet.

[Wandering Man]

I just poured my second batch of boolits, using some of the funnly looking ingots.

And what I discovered was ...


It was full of crud. I hadn't done enough fluxing in the smelting stage. As soon as they started melting, there was crud on top.

I skimmed it off, and made beautiful .358 boolits. :drinks:

I'll re-smelt the rest of the funny looking stuff.

thanks,

WM

:castmine:

[Wandering Man]

:Fire: :Fire: :Fire:

Shot my first cast boolits this afternoon.

Everything worked.

These were the ones with excess lube on them, so there is a lot of soot on my cases, but I got good groups, and no hiccups out of my lever rifles.

With set up costs, etc. these boolits cost me .53 each (I've made 735, so far).

I figure another 3500, and my boolits will beat the price I've been paying online. The costs go down dramatically, as long as I can get free wheel weights.

My youngest son (age 27) was in town to visit for father's day. I let him try his hand at boolit casting, and he really got a rhythm going.

WM

[Cherokee]

Great for you. Actually putting downrange bullets that you made yourself is an accomplishment. Cost will drop to almost nothing the more you cast.

[Wayne Smith]

Only been casting for a couple of weeks and already made a convert. Way to go! Looks like you are well up on the learning curve. It does tend to level out a little until you get asking about lubes and rifle boolit casting and high velocity and RPM and stuff. Then watch out!

[pjh421]

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, once you get the lubrisizer under control to where it isn't wasting lube and making a huge mess...

Clean up your loaded ammo by dampening an old towel with lacquer thinner. Lay it out flat & pour on just a little thinner. Then dump a hundred or so rounds on it and fold into thirds lengthwise. Shake the rounds back and forth inside this "tube" by grasping it at both ends. Your ammo will come out squeaky clean and won't attract grit that will find its way into your guns.

Paul

[Wandering Man]

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, once you get the lubrisizer under control to where it isn't wasting lube and making a huge mess...

Clean up your loaded ammo by dampening an old towel with lacquer thinner. Lay it out flat & pour on just a little thinner. Then dump a hundred or so rounds on it and fold into thirds lengthwise. Shake the rounds back and forth inside this "tube" by grasping it at both ends. Your ammo will come out squeaky clean and won't attract grit that will find its way into your guns.

Paul

You don't sound like a broken record to me. I've not heard of this before.

This eliminates the excess and hardens the lube?

Lacquer thinner - same as Mineral spirits?


WM

[trickg]

Hey guys - I'm brand new here and this is my first post. I'm here because I'll likely start casting at some point in the not too distant future, but I have an incomplete knowledge of what to do - my Dad was an avid shooter and reloader, and cast and shot thousands upon thousands of bullets and I can describe what he would do for casting.

By the way, is it ok to say "bullets" rather than "boolits"?

Dad, like so many others cast using WW, but he'd try different things from time to time. He had some old pieces of linotype that he would add for hardness, but I think that for the most part, he mainly used WW. I've read somewhere that you can use 95/5 solder as a means to better alloy your wheel weights - it's like 95% tin and 5% antimony or something like that.

Dad cast over an open propane stove and his operation started in his big cauldron where he would melt down the WW and make Lyman ingots - an interesting tidbit here, his Lyman ingot molds had a backwards "L" on them. Once they were cool, he'd mark them with a black magic marker for what they were - usually a simple "WW". He fluxed with candle wax and as the wax was burning, he'd stir the pot to get it to swirl and the dirt and junk would collect right in the middle - he'd skim that off with his Lyman ladle and knock the contents out into a tin can he had setting off to the side.

Nearly all of his molds were Lyman molds, many of them the same mold models that Elmer Keith used or designed. Some of you have mentioned getting wrinkly bullets. I seem to recall Dad telling me that the reason that happened was that the mold was still too cold and the lead would set up a little too quickly. His solution? He'd cast several molds and drop them right back into the pot - he could tell by watching how quickly the lead set up on top of the plate if they were going to wrinkle or not. Once the mold was hot enough, he'd proceed to cast until the mold got too hot, and then he'd plunge the mold into another can of water he had off to the side. Apparently having water anywhere near your molten lead is a no-no, but I don't recall Dad ever having had an accident and he cast bullets for over 40 years - maybe he just got lucky. Anyway, once the mold was cool, he'd start over.

I'm not sure what everyone else does, but Dad always cast while wearing a pair of cotton work gloves, and his method for extracting the bullets from the mold was pretty simple too - he had a little hammer with nylon ends and he'd position the open mold over a shop rag lined cigar box and whack the knob on the hing of the mold - they'd drop right out into the box.

So, that's what I seem to remember about casting - I did a bit of it myself, but it was always under Dad's supervision. Unfortunately all of his stuff got sold off at a sale back in February, so I don't have any of it and I'm going to have to start from scratch.

This place looks like a great place to get some information on the subject, and I received a very warm welcome in the chat room last night, so thanks for that! I'm looking forward to learning more.

[Tom Herman]

Hi Wandering man,

I'm glad that you haven't given up on casting. Yes, there is a LOT of stuff to take into consideration, and it may seem like a steep learning curve, but nothing is as rewarding as loading and shooting that first batch of boolits!
Just like you, I had to go through the process of melting lead, fluxing it, making alloys, getting the temperature and 'hang' of things just right...
The .45 LC SWC's went very well: I was casting good boolits in no time.
The .455 Webleys were a bit more difficult, actually a royal pain until I learned the trick for them (hot mould, hot alloy).
There is nothing like making custom bullets that retail for 60 cents apiece for less than 5 cents!
I use fairly soft alloys, and have no leading in the .455 Webleys and minor leading in the .45 LC's.
My favorite alloy is 10 pounds scrap lead, ten pounds of wheel weight material, and 6.4 ounces Tin (.4 pounds) for good flow and fill out.
As far as lube goes, I use SPG. It's messy, but cleans up in a snap!
I've got the RCBS Lubricizer II. I resize the boolit, then twist the handle to lube it, and twist it back again.
Yep, it's a pain in the toosh and time consuming, but it works well! No excess lube everywhere.
BTW: I use leather gloves when I cast, and let the boolits drop into a 5 gallon bucket half filled with water (metal collander in the bottom to catch the bullets).
I hope you enjoy your casting adventures as much as I am!

Happy Shootin'! -Tom


:Fire: :Fire: :Fire:

Shot my first cast boolits this afternoon.

Everything worked.

These were the ones with excess lube on them, so there is a lot of soot on my cases, but I got good groups, and no hiccups out of my lever rifles.

With set up costs, etc. these boolits cost me .53 each (I've made 735, so far).

I figure another 3500, and my boolits will beat the price I've been paying online. The costs go down dramatically, as long as I can get free wheel weights.

My youngest son (age 27) was in town to visit for father's day. I let him try his hand at boolit casting, and he really got a rhythm going.

WM

[leftiye]

Trickg, Bullet is a four letter word. (So I can't count) LOL

[briarthorn]

I'm with Sanders there be extra careful that others don't stand around drinking anything near the pot, a slight spill will clear the pot all over you or any bystanders, I make it a rule not to pour with others around standing too near the pot. Oh and by all means if your doing the pouring on a rear porch never walk away from it a child might happen by which could turn into a disaster if things go wrong, other then that enjoy the craft and by all means scrub those hands to be sure all lead contaminates are off other wise its possible to track it back into the house to refrig door etc., I use a bar of soap in the basement and stow it away in the reloaders bench keeping the family safe. Good luck my friend :coffee:

[waksupi]

Briarthorn, not quite true. As long as you don't get moisture beneath the surface of the lead, it isn't going to cause any problems.

Welcome aboard!

[Wandering Man]

Hi Wandering man,

As far as lube goes, I use SPG. It's messy, but cleans up in a snap!
...

BTW: I use leather gloves when I cast, and let the boolits drop into a 5 gallon bucket half filled with water (metal collander in the bottom to catch the bullets).
I hope you enjoy your casting adventures as much as I am!

Happy Shootin'! -Tom

Thanks, Tom. I'd read about dropping them in water. That's supposed to harden them, right? For now, I'm dropping them onto a couple of rags on top of a cookie sheet. The right half of the sheet collects the sprue, and the left half collects the boolits. After I get a nice layer of boolits, I add a another rag as a cusion.


I'm with Sanders there be extra careful that others don't stand around drinking anything near the pot, a slight spill will clear the pot all over you or any bystanders, I make it a rule not to pour with others around standing too near the pot. Oh and by all means if your doing the pouring on a rear porch never walk away from it a child might happen by which could turn into a disaster if things go wrong, other then that enjoy the craft and by all means scrub those hands to be sure all lead contaminates are off other wise its possible to track it back into the house to refrig door etc., I use a bar of soap in the basement and stow it away in the reloaders bench keeping the family safe. Good luck my friend :coffee:

Thanks for the advice and tips.

The house we live in has a small hot tub house (built in the 80's) in the back yard. The walls are screens with diagonal cedar boards, spaced apart. This allows for for privacy and a nice breeze. The hot tub did not work when we moved in, so I floored over it, and today, the house serves as our little hobby shack, with three benches.

One for my wife's potting work, one for my wife's shot-shell reloader, and one for my boolit casting. Its a bit small for parties, so I'm not worried about drinking adults. And I can close it off for when the granddaughter visits.

I generally focus 100% of my attention on spoiling her when she's here, anyway.

My project this weekend will be to get some adequate lighting over each of the benches.

WM

[docone31]

I had water quenched a couple of bullets during a casting session. I had let them sit for about an hour on a towel to dry. I put them on the edge of the pot to heat them up, then tossed them in.
BAM!
Shower of lead!
Any water on top of the lead steams away quickly, it is when it gets into the lead, and not very much, LEADWORKS.
It is how we learn.