Some help please

B

BArmstro10

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New to casting and a few questions.

Rendering an old 10 lb fishing weight down so I can create some lead bars to then use in my pot.
The first weight melted fine and then the second one exploded on me.
Sounded exactly like a 9mm going off beside my head.
Had googles and mask on but no ear defenders - who knew you needed them?
My assumption is a void in the weight? Super heated steam?

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My second question is on these two 1lb bars.
One is a dullish colour the other very shiny.
The contrast is much more apparent than the photo indicates, with the shiny one being very silvery in colour.
My assumption is they were poured at two different temperature?
Which is the correct one?

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Your input is appreciated.
 
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Hard to tell exactly regarding the explosion, but it's usually water trapped inside somehow. Good for you regarding goggles and such, can't be too careful with the tinsel fairy.
I've cast many of those lead bars, many shades of grey depending usually on purity of what you are melting. I haven't found different temps to hurt the final result. I usually play around with different hardness levels in my casting, throwing in some hardball or Lyman#2, lead hardness calculating spreadsheets are very helpful.
 
The easiest option is to scratch the ingots and see if one marks easier than the other. Screwdriver tip works fine.

Or you can go to the art supply store and get the pencil package of different hardness of leads and try that trick.

Or, you can just go ahead and cast up a bunch and see what happens. Hopefully you don't have too much lead contamination with mystery lead. (easily checked with muriatic acid if you access to that stuff)
 
My experience is that pure lead is much shinier than mixed alloys. Clip on wheel weights are harder and dull, while more pure(er) stick on weights are soft and much brighter.

As far as the popping goes, thanks for posting. I'm fairly new and all has gone well for me in the last couple of years, but reports like this keep us from getting complacent. An incident like yours could cost someone an eye in a fraction of a second.
 
Just a thought for you water changing to steam instantly. Steam is 1100 times the volume of water. Picture a pea, now picture 1100
trying to occupy the same space. Not good.
I had an explosion w-w where found 10ft away. I peeled a piece of lead off the side of my nose across the bottom and some went
inside. Half hour later I was still saying $&&& that hurt. What did I learn. KEEP LEAD OUT OF YOUR NOSE. Face shield a must.
Different coloration of your lead is due to heat.
 
Another booby trap is from range scrap. If you are putting in plated bullets make sure that there is a break in the plating, otherwise a lead geyser is a possibility.

Auggie D.
 
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