Victor, I still have scars on my ankles and lower legs from where I was melting lead (in the kitchen) for making diving weights. A 3 pound capacity mold came open and all that HOT lead splattered onto the floor and everything around, including me. (of COURSE I was wearing SHORTS) There were short bursts of flames when the linoleum ignited. Of course I was "home alone" and unsupervised. After doing the Indian Fire Dance and applied first aid to myself, I tried to remove hardened lead from all parts of the kitchen. Thusly, and well timed, the wife comes home and . . .. well... it is still mentioned to this very day!! Now, putting metals in a household microwave oven has me very intrigued, to say the least!!! Of course I won't try it here at home...... I will read up on the research, safety data, and make a well informed and educated decision before I go off half cocked and hurt myself (again). Hummmmmmm.... I think I do have some scrap silver around here somewhere !!!!
Thanks for the post !!!
Posted by VICTORGEORGIOU (Member # 474) on :
That's quite a story, John. Thanks for telling us about it. Vic G
Posted by Arvil Shep' Shepherd (Member # 2030) on :
Sounds and looks interesting.....but my luck runs like John's....... "If it can happen".it will..and more than likely it will be with me.....he he he he...
I would like to see photos of some of the castings.if anyone dares to try this method. Shep'
Posted by Steve Barba (Member # 431) on :
I'll Dare!
Very Interesting. I build model cars in the winter and graduated to fabricating metal parts about 5 years ago. Casting is something I haven't seriously tried though,(until now, muhahaha)
Couple of years ago my kid was in a pinewood derby race. The car we made had about a 1" cross section. We finished the car,(including paint), before we weighted it. We melted some lead,(fishing sinkers), in a blacksmiths ladle over the stove, and poured it into the bottom of the car, (the whole bottom of the car was chiseled out to distribute the weight evenly), (I'm such a scientist), and the paint IMMEDIATLY caught fire.
I ran it under the sink and put the fire out, and had to paint a green stripe over the burnt part of the body.
[ November 16, 2002, 10:03 AM: Message edited by: Steve Barba ]
Posted by Mike Languein (Member # 319) on :
Does Frank Maesen know about this?
My first job was as a typesetter's devil - one of my chores was casting lead ingots for the Linotype machines, using a ladle with about 20 lbs. of molten lead. I wore loafers one day to work and had to go do this job and I overfilled one of the ingot molds - the lead spilled out and splattered onto my ankles - imagine - if you panic and drop the ladle it gets 1,000 times worse - you have to stand still and take it - sort of like when David Carradine carried the hot pot with his wrists. You only spill once - and you never wear loafers to work, ever again! Those dragon scars on both ankles are not the mark of a tough guy - they are the mark of an idiot.
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