oops haha

My grade 12 shop teacher in California walked us through everything on the first day of class. He had a mixed shop, for metal, wood, stained glass, whatever we wanted to work with really. When he got us all in a circle around the blast furnace, where some 'pot metal' was heating up for a pour, he smiled a broad smile then said "everyone look up." We did, and there on the ceiling acoustical tile, 20 or 25 feet up, was a large clear area in the shape of a head and shoulders... surrounded by shiny spots of metal. As we looked down again he had a serious expression and explained "the kid lost one eye, some sight in the other eye, his face didn't look great... anyone want to guess how this happened?" Nobody could guess, so Mr Malvestiti (I think that's how it was spelled) explained "He wondered what would happen if he spat into the molten metal. He found out." Basically a steam-powered cannon I guess. Must have been a lot of saliva. We all looked at that ceiling often. Hell of a lesson right there.
 
Just dropping a bit of moisture on top of lead doesn't usually result in anything more than it boiling off the surface as it isn't heavy enough to sink below surface level. It's when you drop a wet wheel weight in a full pot that things get exciting.

Auggie D.
 
Auggie Doggie said:
Just dropping a bit of moisture on top of lead doesn't usually result in anything more than it boiling off the surface as it isn't heavy enough to sink below surface level. It's when you drop a wet wheel weight in a full pot that things get exciting.

Auggie D.
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Or lead plumbing pipe that is folded over and still has some damp or wet matter inside.

Experienced "it" once and have a bit more respect now.
 
I have a hundred feet or so of lead pipe to smelt into nuggets in the spring and was thinking of how I was going to git er done without a tinsel incident, going to start with a cold pot with every batch. It bwas just pulled from the ground and folded into small lengths so will definitely have water trapped inside.

I have had one "tinsel incident" and dont want another. I escaped unharmed but sure had a $hitload of lead hanging from everything in the shop within 15 ft. I had dropped an ingot of lead in the snow about a week before and left it laying where the furnace heat should have dried it off but moisture must have been in a crack or two, when I dropped that ingot in the pot the eruption happened almost instantly.
 
Starting from a coldpot each batch is definitely sefer but I still wonder about any that might be trapped in a folded section. I'm pretty confident that the steam would find a way to escape before there's a problem but not 100%.

Making sure there's an opening in each section can't hurt.
 
vagrantviking said:
Starting from a coldpot each batch is definitely sefer but I still wonder about any that might be trapped in a folded section. I'm pretty confident that the steam would find a way to escape before there's a problem but not 100%.

Making sure there's an opening in each section can't hurt.
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ya, been thinking that also...gonna have a power drill with small bit on hand when doing that chore LOL
 
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