evan price;
It can be dangerous adding WW's to molten metal. The steel clips can hide all kinds of moisture (even ice in the winter). When you drop water into molten metal you can get COVERED with molten lead. Bad JOO-JOO!!
Many years ago, I had a steam explosion in a small cast iron lead pot while casting and it filled my eyes with molten lead droplets. I had to peel the solidified droplets off the inside of my eyelids (just visualize someone pulling your lower eye lid open and dumping a teaspoon of sand in there. Now, visualize the sand to be 650 degrees!! Not fun. The good news is that I fully recovered. Keep in mind that I had glasses on (they helped, a LOT, but did not completely stop the molten lead).
I do NOT dump WW's into a pot of melted metal. I completely empty the pot and then start over. That way, any moisture is gradually driven off as the WW's heat and there will be NO problem. It's not worth it to save a little time. You were lucky! Consider it a warning!
Stay SAFE!!
Dale53