Melting lead

[lugnut]

WARNING - BEFORE GOING ANY FURTHER, PART OF THIS POST IS ABOUT USING MOLTEN OR HOT METAL. IF YOU DO NOT KNOW ALL THE SAFETY PRECAUTIONS AND CORRECT PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT THAT THIS ENTAILS, AND YOU ARE NOT WILLING TO FOLLOW ALL THE CORRECT PROCEDURES WHEN HANDLING MOLTEN OR HOT METALS, DO NOT TRY ANY OF THE HOT METAL PROCEDURES MENTIONED IN THIS POST. THE SAFETY PRECAUTIONS IN THIS POST MIGHT NOT BE CORRECT, IT IS UP TO YOURSELF TO FAMILIARISE YOURSELF WITH THE CORRECT ONES
NO-ONE ON THIS SITE CAN BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY OF YOUR ACTIONS IF YOU HURT YOURSELF.

THIS WARNING WAS ADDED BY ADMINISTRATION OF THIS SITE.


After talking John into sharing his lead hammers with us I thought it only fitting to post some sites that show the Safe way to pour lead
Mel
http://www.hiltsmolds.com/MoldInstructions.htm

http://www.gov.mb.ca/labour/safety/pdf/leadwkwith.pdf

Please be safe

 

[lugnut]

Years ago a friendof mine, that after watching his older brothers and dad melting and pouring lead to make fishing sinkers, decided to do some on his own. Not knowing the safety precautions, Keith melted the lead and then tried to pout some into a old beer can. Well, there was some beer or other moisture in the can and when the molten lead hit it, it exploded and some molten lead went into Keith’s mouth and nearly burned his tongue off. Not a fun thing to have happen to you. This story has stopped me from melting lead more than once.
It can be done but do it right!
Mel

 

[Bogstandard]

Hi Mel,
The reason I didn't put any more detail in my post was to make people look up how to melt and process lead correctly if they want to do any casting.
The pitfalls are many, but common sense is the best safeguard, if you are not happy don't do it.

Be afraid, very afraid.

Yoda John

 

[Tin Falcon]

The thought of melting and pouring lead has never scared me . I do think I have a healthy respect for it. Growing up I remember helping my dad and brothers spend hours melting tens of pounds of lead in an Iron plumbers pot in a coal fired forge and making dozens of deep sea /bay fishing sinkers. Later in my teens I spent hours casting and sometimes recasting hundreds of muzzle loader/ black powder projectiles, then did my own reloading of cartridges and made my own bullets.
I always had plenty of ventilation wore gloves etc. Never had a mishap.
Tin