The word "smelting"

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alexl650

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Maybe I'm a nitpicky jerk but I have to say this. People on here use the word smelting frequently and incorrectly. Smelting means to extract a metal from ore. Melting means to heat up something until it liquefies. What people do when they make bullets is melt, not smelt. If anyone thinks I'm directing this to them personally I'm really not, I've seen this on here so many times that it's no one person. I just had to say this. I will accept any flames for being particular but I had to say it.
 
Yes, it is a little nit picky but I hear you. You are a detail person and the devil is in the detail, fair enough, point taken.
I don't really have a horse in this race as I don't smelt lead.............sorry!.......I mean melt lead !!!!!!!!!!
 
Generally speaking..... He who Smelt it.....dealt it.
:)

So does smelting wheel weights count as you are separating all sorts of metals and contamination..... ?

I guess not as wheel weights are not naturally occurring.
 
Someone on here used the term schmeltzing before. That works. Or "rendering". No one is going to nit pick those.
 
I appreciate not getting too hard of a time. I know I hate being wrong and actually like being corrected in a tactful manner.
 
I confess that I too may have misused the word as well. I thought that heating the metal to separate the waste/crap was a smelting process. Okey melting it is.....for me anyway! No offence taken, the end product is what counts...:cool:
 
Here's how I use it:

Smelting is melting scraps like wheel weight into ingots.
Casting is melting ingots into bullets.
 
burnaby said:
Here's how I use it:

Smelting is melting scraps like wheel weight into ingots.
Casting is melting ingots into bullets.
Click to expand...

Language changes along with the meaning of some words in some contexts. "Smelting" has entered the vernacular of bullet casting to mean "reducing lead alloys to liquid, removing waste and casting into ingots" - it's a lot more than just "melting". Go ahead and use the long phrase, but it's best to get over it and accept its use by others. I don't care for the word "boolit" but I know what it means and just choose to use "cast bullet".
 
Smelting...mmmmm

201202Smelt1.jpg
 
Aluminum vs aluminium. Mold vs mould. Some terms are distorted but we all know when we read them what the poster means. I honestly don't care if is lubrisizer or lubesizer.
 
This is likely the twentieth or so time I've read people making this complaint. I guess nobody really worries about it too much.

Call it whatever you like. In a world where it's ok for boys to pee in the girl's bathroom if they decide they want to call themselves a girl, is it really wrong to call "melting", "smelting" ?
 
The use of the word "smelting" in this context is hardly unique to this website or this group of people. It is widespread among casters. I dislike it, and choose not to use it, but any attempt I have seen by pedants to try to discourage its use has been met with derision or indifference. I have gotten over any annoyance at how others use it.
 
Words that sound similar, words that sound the same but have different meanings and spelling. Slang terms. English is not easy to learn, especially if not your first language. Computer spell checkers sometimes insert the wrong word. Maybe people are typing quickly and may have not noticed the error. Maybe they didn't bother to proof read before hitting the "Post Quick Reply" button. Words are important but a few people get really annoyed about spelling and punctuation on a thread. Then they make a post about the error which is just another way of hijacking a thread.

On a thread I was reading some time ago, the OP typed "waterfoul" when he meant "waterfowl". The language police jumped all over that. Yes, it was a spelling mistake. Does it really matter here as long as the reader understands what the author is trying to say? Maybe try a PM rather than a posting in the thread.

Pet peeve. Long posts without paragraphs makes for difficult reading.
 
This was not directed at any person specifically nor did I think I would all of a sudden shine the light on the truth and be hailed as a saviour. Actually it was to appease myself (which I guess is somewhat selfish). I've said something and can leave it alone now. Or I could search the word "smelting" and pm every person who ever used it, but that seems like taking ####### a couple steps further than I usually do.
 
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