Tinsel fairy

[dearslayer]

Well I've read about this topic and dreaded the day I would experience it given the very short time and limited experience I have. Anyway last night after the last day of the controlled shotgun deer hunt ( unsuccessful I might add) I decided I would finish the evening quietly in the garage trying my hand at casting a few 9mm. While I was waiting for the pot to heat up with a few ingots already in there I went to the basement quickly and retrieved about 6 to 8 more ingots that were given to me by a friend of mine. These originally belonged to his dad. When I got back out to the garage I proceeded to place these and ingots near the hot plate to keep them warm before adding to the pot. After the pot heated up and I started casting it was time to add a couple of more ingots to top up the pot. I took one ingot from near the hot plate and put it in no problem. The second one I put in I immediately noticed a small bit of bubbling and at that point I realized it was too late to take it back out. Next thing I know it bubbled like crazy and literally exploded hot lead all over the place. Luckily I always wear my safety glasses gloves and all other manner of attire to ensure I'm totally covered. Only thing that was really exposed was my beard and my face. Luckily neither were harmed. First thing I reach for was my beard to make sure it was all still there. I've been growing it for 3 years or better so it's a bit long.
So aside from the experience itself I'm curious to know why this happened. I did not introduce any water into the molten lead knowingly or otherwise as far as I know. The ingots that were retrieved from the basement were warm not damp and not at near any water. Is it possible the ingots formed some condensation in the cold garage perhaps while sitting near the hot plate and this is what caused the pot explosion?
It made quite a mess and launched up and under the range hood and everywhere else. Quite a bit stuck to the glove on my right hand. Had I not been wearing gloves I'm sure I would have suffered some pretty bad burns. I'm glad I had the cover on my Harley, and after cleaning up I was really apprehensive about adding any more ingots to the pot and when I did I had a piece of plywood in front of me in case there was a repeat incident. Hopefully I don't have to do that all the time going forward! Hope this might be a good reminder to someone else when casting to wear proper clothing and safety glasses etc.

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[nhyrum]

I get the ingots pretty hot before putting them in, because I had a similar incident. You want to get them hot enough to boil off any water. I also will put them on my spoon and I slowly lower them into the pot.

As for why? I think your guess is literally as good as mine. Depending on where you live, the air can be pretty humid

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[Winger Ed.]

I've had 'bubbles and pops' happen when adding Lead to a pot just from humidity in the air being on them.
I don't add to a pot any more unless the ingots are too hot to touch.

[tazman]

The fact that it bubbled for a bit before it blew suggests there was a small cavity or crack in the ingot that had some moisture in it. It doesn't take much of a cavity to hold enough moisture to do what you pictured.
I worked in a heat treat facility that used molten lead for a heat bath. During the forty odd years I worked there, we had this issue several times. Granted, the ingots we worked with were much larger(50-100 lbs) than the ones commonly used in casting pots but the principle was the same.
One man didn't pre-heat the ingot by setting it on the edge of the lead pot and suffered the effects of the ensuing explosion. The lead pots we used held roughly 1200lbs of lead. At full temperature, they were about 1500 degrees F. His explosion dumped a third of that lead out of the pot. He got hit with lead spray across his stomach and legs. Enough so that he had to go to the emergency room to deal with it. Took him a while to get the burns healed up.
That ingot had about a teaspoon of water in a cavity that wasn't readily visible. If he had pre-heated it, the explosion would not have happened.

Getting the ingots up to 300-400 degrees ensures there won't be any visits from the Tinsel Fairy and helps the lead pot recover heat quicker. You can put the ingots on your hot plate in a small metal pan if you are worried about them melting on it.

[lightman]

I am glad that you were not seriously injured. Thanks for posting this, as we all need to be reminded.

The fact that you had the Fairy visit means that moisture got under the surface of the molten lead. From someplace! Maybe condensation from a cold room into a warm room. Maybe from a bit of oxidation on the ingot? But it came from someplace!

The only visit that I have experienced was from using Marvelux as flux. The stuff that floats to the top will stick to your tools and absorb moisture after it hardens. In my case it was on a string spoon.

I don't use Marvelux anymore. But I do heat my molds on a hot plate and as soon as I start casting I load enough ingots on the vacant hot plate to refill the pot. I try to get them close to their melting temperature.

[imashooter2]

Ingots stored outside can get water in small air pockets and voids that may not evaporate even after many months of being indoors.

[Hodagtrapper]

Thanks for the heads up. Glad you had safety gear on as so many videos I watch on YouTube about lead casting make me cringe do to the lackluster protective clothing/eye protection/gloves!

Chris

[Petander]

It only takes a miniscule drop of H2O to explode vigorously in molten lead . Water expands like 1000 times or so when transformed to steam.

When that expanding happens submerged in molten 600°F lead...

Humidity changes are enough for condensation.

Dearslayer, Congrats for good luck, I have coated my garage roof as well.

[dearslayer]

Ingots stored outside can get water in small air pockets and voids that may not evaporate even after many months of being indoors.

Interesting because the 160 ingots that my friend gave to me belonged to his dad and they were stored on the ground of his Dad's back yard shed. Some of them do have what looks like oxidation on them. They have in on my workbench in the garage since mid summer and I recently took them to the basement so they wouldn't be cold. Maybe the one had moisture in it from being on the ground so long.

[358429]

I am glad you were not burned deerslayer.

[dearslayer]

I am glad you were not burned deerslayer.

Thanks. Me too.

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[dearslayer]

Just checking some of these ingots now because I'm very curious. I'm guessing these ones and probably a few other were the ones on the ground and the rest stacked on top. I'll have to go through them and check them all. Looks like some of them have cracks or fissures that could possibly have attracted moisture up into the body of the ingot but I'm definitely no expert in the matter.

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[imashooter2]

The way you describe the explosion also lends to water within the ingot… the ingot was dropped in and it wasn’t until it began to melt that the steam explosion happened. Moisture on the outside would have popped right away.

[dearslayer]

The way you describe the explosion also lends to water within the ingot… the ingot was dropped in and it wasn’t until it began to melt that the steam explosion happened. Moisture on the outside would have popped right away.

That's exactly it. It was in the pot for about 5-6 seconds before I actually noticed the bubbling and when it did start it REALLY bubbled quickly and then KaBOOM!

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[imashooter2]

More tuition in the college of life! I join the others in thanking God you weren’t seriously hurt.

[Dusty Bannister]

The red residue is most likely iron oxide. If this is soft lead then it is probably plumbing fixture lead that might not have been fluxed and cleaned sufficiently. I have this problem when I am in a hurry to get things melted and into storage. Most of my soft lead is in storage in a metal box outside so there is plenty of temperature and humidity changes to deal with. If the ingots were stacked on the cement floor, cement never actually dries out so that is a moisture source. Sounds like preheating your ingots will be a necessary step in your bullet casting routine. Glad you were "geared up".

[dearslayer]

The red residue is most likely iron oxide. If this is soft lead then it is probably plumbing fixture lead that might not have been fluxed and cleaned sufficiently. I have this problem when I am in a hurry to get things melted and into storage. Most of my soft lead is in storage in a metal box outside so there is plenty of temperature and humidity changes to deal with. If the ingots were stacked on the cement floor, cement never actually dries out so that is a moisture source. Sounds like preheating your ingots will be a necessary step in your bullet casting routine. Glad you were "geared up".

These ingots were actually on "bare dirt" in the back yard shed of my friends Dads place. Lord know how long they were stored there. Quite some time I believe according to his son. I'll be heating the next ones for sure before going in the pot. How long should they be heated up beforehand??

[muskeg13]

Another thing to be careful with is introducing a fluxing spoon or lead ladle to the pot without thoroughly brushing them off. I often hear them sizzling and popping even when clean and find it's best to lay both on the pot rim for a while to warm up before plunging them into the mix.

[imashooter2]

These ingots were actually on "bare dirt" in the back yard shed of my friends Dads place. Lord know how long they were stored there. Quite some time I believe according to his son. I'll be heating the next ones for sure before going in the pot. How long should they be heated up beforehand??

Im not one to tempt fate. I wouldn’t put another one of those into a hot pot. I’d use them to refill a cold pot or I’d melt them all and recast the ingots. You dodged a bullet once…

[dearslayer]

Im not one to tempt fate. I wouldn’t put another one of those into a hot pot. I’d use them to refill a cold pot or I’d melt them all and recast the ingots. You dodged a bullet once…

I was actually thinking that I may melt them all down at some point and recast. I have my own cast ingots I can use in the mean time.