A visit from the Tinsel Fairy

[LeadThrower]

Seasoned casters probably know about this, but a quick search on the forums didn't turn up an immediate hit, so here's my warning for other newbies out there:

Don't drop frosted ingots into your pot when the weather's cold!

We hit about 50 degrees earlier this week and I figured I'd take advantage of it. I tossed the extension cord out the garage window, plugged in and set the pot to heat up while I gathered my gear, snagged a few ingots from the garage to keep the lead level constant, went in for a bit of coffee. Casting went well. When the level dropped, I dropped in a 1# ingot. A very brief moment of muffled girgling was followed by a small eruption in the pot which tossed molten lead into the air. Most of it went straight up and straight down, but a bit left the pot -- thankfully none on me.

Intrigued, I grabbed another with pliers and lowered it very slowly into the melt. It burbled at the surface of the melt. It was a frosty ingot. I grabbed a shiny ingot and it behaved with all grace and refinement. I dropped in another shiny: no problem. I dropped in another frosted and jumped back: another eruption.

These frosted ingots felt dry to the touch and were sitting in the (winter) sun for 30 min before going into the pot. Be careful! The solution was to place the frosty ingots on the edge of the pot to heat and thoroughly dry. My pot is a Lee 4-20 bottom pour.

[randyrat]

I smelt in the winter time, way too busy in the spring and summer (work/shootin time) so i slowly put them in and be ready for the tinsle qween/fairy to visit. I give it up if it gets below zero. Fast warm front will leave your smelting lead with frost/moistureor frozen condensation on them- caution time. BTW the first day of winter is the 22 Dec then the days get longer. I'm already sick of winter by the 22 of Dec.

[waksupi]

Good advise, Leadthrower. Some of us let things slip our minds at times, and this is definitely one to watch out for.

[armoredman]

"Frost", is that related to that "snow" stuff you guys talk about?

[Slowpoke]

Old law for me is if it's metal and isn't to hot to hold it don't go in the pot of melted alloy, the last visit from the fairy for me was a long long time ago.

safe casting

[EDK]

The tinsel fairy never sleeps and he'll nail you in a heart beat! Those little specs of lead sure show up on black denims.

Welders in the power plants use a protective cloth to catch sparks, molten metal, etc. Don't know the proper name; the old stuff was called "gold cloth" from the color and the new stuff is bright orange. A single or double layer works real good to protect a wooden deck or porch floor from small spills from a bottom pour pot, ingots, etc. Two folds--4 thicknesses--over the top of your melting pot and the mould setting on it speeds up the process.

I'm getting old and cranky and don't have an inside place to cast, so it's got to be close to lighting as well as an outlet. I have to be desperate for boolits/or have a new mould to do any casting under 30 degrees or over 80. The tinsel fairy don't like sweat any more than he likes frost!

[Blackhawk Convertable]

I just started casting and already I know the value of a hot plate.

[STP]

At least you did not get an errant live primer in the pot. A similar result...but typically a bit more "coverage". It`s happened to others.

Glad you weren`t injured.

[Winger Ed.]

Welders in the power plants use a protective cloth to catch sparks, molten metal, etc. Don't know the proper name;

I use it all the time at work.
Any welding supply place will have it.
We call it heat shield, or welding blanket;
but basically its just heavy fiberglass cloth that's coated with a paint/coating sort of something.
It comes in different sizes, and reminds ya of a real thick tarp.

.

[Rottweiler]

Sil-temp is the name of the cloth we use. It's a sorta tan-gray color

There are probably a dozen other trade names it is sold under too

[AlaskaMike]

The one I use is a little different, it's not a cloth. It's rigid and kind of greyish and dirty looking. I think it's called "beat-up old 4x8 sheet of plywood".

Mike

[fallout4x4]

I got visited by the tinsel fairy yesterday. It was a first for me. I found a piece of the WW with a hollow in it laying on the ground too, must have been an air pocket in it.

[Morgan Astorbilt]

You've also got to be careful of your ingot molds. All mine are cast iron, and most have a light coating of rust. I keep them in the basement, and do my smelting outdoors. I've made it a habit, to lay them across the plumbers furnace as the lead's melting to warm them up(dry them out), otherwise, I was sure to be visited by the Tinsel Fairies, which gleefully jumped out of the first two or three cavities. These are 2lb. and 2-1/2lb ingot molds, and a Fairy Attack, can be very exciting!

I used to think this was caused by surface moisture on the mold, due perhaps, to the basement being a bit damp. Experience has shown, that it usually happens in warm weather, even under dry conditions, and is caused by the basement being cooler than the outside air, which condenses on the cool metal when they're brought out.
Morgan

[mroliver77]

My initiation was on the kitchen stove. I dropped a cold boolit into the molten pot and KERBLAMMY!!! lead went all ver the kitchen, all over me and all over Mammas wallpaper. Staem explosions are very violent! I have a 2 burner propane stove beside my electric bottom pour for preheating alloy and warming ingots. Some times I ladle cast from the gas fired pot. I have a pile of range scrap from an indoor range with a water trap. The scrap never dries so I use a cut off refridgerent can heated by a burner from an scrap water heater. When there is sufficient trash floating on top I can add some fresh scrap and it will stay on top o warm and dry before mixing it in.

[dubber123]

Years ago when I first got intertested in casting, I was smelting WW's and pouring them into 6" diameter X 1-1/2" thick disks for storage. I hadn't made any for a while, so I fired up the Coleman, and was melting the weights. As I did, I kept looking at the pot sitting on the floor, and thinking I was forgetting something. I finally dismissed the thought, and poured a good 10 pounds of molten WW's into a COLD pot. (The pre-heating the pot thing was what I forgot). Anyways, 10 pounds went in, and 10 pounds came right back out, FAST. I jumped back, and it all missed me but one drop right on my top lip. That smarted a bit. I remember to heat everything well now.