shoe sprue

[leadeye]

You never think it will happen until it does. Casting off the tailgate of my truck and a sprue takes just the right bounce to find a small gap between my pants leg and shoe. Lucky for me I wear thick socks while casting but it got hot enough in a hurry to get me dancing. Wife thought it was hysterical after she found out I was not burned. Probably looked that way to anybody watching.

[OldBob]

Did that little dance years ago with a nice hot welding rod stub.......... amazing how fast you can lie on your back and unlace boots with a little encouragement.............

[docone31]

I usually cast in my casting room. I cast the noble metals there. I was making several hundred castings for my .303, and not being the heat of the noble metals, I sometimes get lax.
Well,
I went out to cast, I had heated the pot, got some coffee, sat down while it was getting liquid, proceeded to cast. I had set up the water pot to catch my castings.
I was without shoes that day, it was only lead, or rather wheel weight with some tin, and I was getting my mold up to casting temp. The first few, as usual, were rejects.
I got them out of the pot and put them aside. I let them dry before dropping them into the pot.
Guess what. I did not wait long enough.
I had tossed a damp casting into the pot. I cannot describe the sound, but the steam from the reject casting, made a little "pop".
Today, I wear shoes.
I did not get badly burned, but it was inconvient. Swelling, blisters, not to mention silver streaks here and there.
When I cast the noble metals, the flask is 1000*, the melt is about 1600*. Very little chance for a steam pocket. There is also something about glowing red crucibles, the smell of that heat. It gets your attention.
I just figuired it was lead, so it was easy to control.
I remember, as an infant, my folks took movies of me. One was me mashing my head into a steam radiator.
On top of feeling some discomfort, I felt absolutely stupid. Kinda like that kid mashing his head into the radiator.
Sometimes, small things can do big things.
Glad you did not get burned.
Foot burns are hard to describe. Makes shoe wearing uncomfortable for a while. Of course, if I had been wearing shoes to begin with.......
Did I learn anything?
Don't get used to things so they are taken for granted.