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A couple of buddies brought me some lead one of them had about 40# of Pig lead and the other about 10# of fishing sinkers. I fired up the turkey fryer and put my smelting pot on to clean and re-cast this into usable ingots. Well I know the dqngers of water around molten lead and am very careful to keep all water well away from the lead pot. Did you know a cold metal object will cause the same violent reaction?
I use an old slotted spoon for skimming off the dross after fluxing the pot. I picked it up and went to stir and POW hot lead all over the place. Most hit the floor but enough hit bare skin to make me sit up and take notice. I am sure glad I only need my glasses when I want to see I had a couple of drops hit my lenses. Other than a couple of red marks no harm done. Make a note to warm any metal object before putting it into molten lead it may save you from some serious injuries. Also long sleeves, long pants, closed shoes and gloves are important safety equipment. I'm going to get a face shield before I do any more large volume smelting.

Thanks for the warning MoJo! Beware folks, this is serious business.

Chas.

And take off your watch and any other jewelry. My friend had an explosion in his lead pot and was fine except for one drop that got behind his watchband.

And best to wear a long sleeved cotton shirt. Cotton will not melt like synthetics, and if it does catch on fire it is easy to put out. Leather work gloves and goggles are a must.

AndyC wrote:

MoJo wrote:Did you know a cold metal object will cause the same violent reaction?

Yikes! Glad you're ok!

No, I didn't know that - I'm wondering if the spoon wasn't somehow wet?

Well it was really foggy this morning but, everything was out in the shop (uncontrolled atmosphere) the fog had burned off hours before I'm thinking somehow the cold metal was holding some moisture. I'll preheat from now on. Can't be too safe.

No, I didn't know that - I'm wondering if the spoon wasn't somehow wet?

that's what I'm thinking.
I'm just starting out in this area, but I've used unheated stainless steel spoons in the
melting pot with no issues.

btw, I cast wearing long sleeves, googles and long leather arc-welding gloves :-)

Those of us who cast can probably all relate to this. I did the same thing a couple of years ago. I now wear my leather welding sleeves and welding gloves and a quick flip face shield.
If you need a long handled spoon for skimming and a ladle for dipping, try the local restaurant supply stores like ACEMART. I got a spoon in there with a 30" handle. I love it!
Casting has many benefits and gives you a great sense of self satisfaction, so don't let this scare anyone off from getting into casting. It's a lot of fun and helps save a ton of green.
Don't forget the fishing sinkers either, there are a lot of molds available for casting everything from split shot to trot line anchors.

Y'all have been talking about the necessity of protecting hands, arms and eyes but let me tell you, you haven't lived until you've gotten a blob of hot lead run through the porous tongue of your tennis shoe. Never thought it could happen as I just assumed that in passing through the several layers of fabric the lead would be cooled and not pose a problem. Not so!! Luckily I only got a big blister to show for it instead of a deep scar as could have happened.

Now I use "metatarsals" which are shields that look like old fashoned Spats that cover the top of the shoe and up the front of the leg. You can get professionally made-for-the-purpose items at industral safety shops but they tend to be expensive.

Snake guards work quite well but so does a rounded square of most any non-porus material including cardboard in a pinch. Just cut a square of material of a size that with one corner covering your toes the diagonally opposite corner is above your ankle on the front. Fold the other two corners around your foot and secure with something. Packaging tape works well with cardboard. If you fancy a little sheet metal work get you some galvanized flashing and tin snips at the hardware store and make something that will last many melting sessions.

Just some food for thought.

Gerry

MoJo wrote: I use an old slotted spoon for skimming off the dross after fluxing the pot. I picked it up and went to stir and POW hot lead all over the place. Most hit the floor but enough hit bare skin to make me sit up and take notice. I am sure glad I only need my glasses when I want to see I had a couple of drops hit my lenses. Other than a couple of red marks no harm done. Make a note to warm any metal object before putting it into molten lead it may save you from some serious injuries. Also long sleeves, long pants, closed shoes and gloves are important safety equipment. I'm going to get a face shield before I do any more large volume smelting.

I ran into a similar situation a few years ago. I discovered that the residue left on the skimmer by some fluxing agents is very hygroscopic. The residue from the flux I was using would absorb enough moisture from the atmosphere to cause a violent explosion if quickly dipped into the melt without preheating. Not sure but I do believe I was using Marvelux at the time. I tried a plumbers flux from the local building materials supply and it was worse. Beeswax smokes quite a bit however, the fumes are much less toxic than the petroleum base fluxes and eliminates the lead explosions.

SeaHawk wrote:Not sure but I do believe I was using Marvelux at the time. I tried a plumbers flux from the local building materials supply and it was worse. Beeswax smokes quite a bit however, the fumes are much less toxic than the petroleum base fluxes and eliminates the lead explosions.

I have a pretty good size bag of sawdust I keep for flux. It serves two purposes. First, mixing it with the lead adds enough carbon back into the mix to enable the reduce the oxides in the melt. Second, it forms a layer on top of the melt to keep it from oxidizing further.