Slingshot ammo

[swright81076]

Today I had another tinkering session.

Today's subject was melting lead. I had previously bought a few kilos of lead from our local scrap metal merchant.
The first try was putting a few pieces in an empty bean tin, and apply heat from the top using a hot air gun. The lead melted very quickly, but when I began to pour the molten lead, it started to set as soon as it touched the mould.

Second attempt was in an old copper bottomed pan on my wood gas stove. The lead eventually melted, but as I stirred it, the pot stand collapsed throwing the hot liquid onto the patio. Luckily once set, it came up in a large flat solid mass.

Final attempt. Fire up the chiminea. Once I had a nice hot fire blazing, I put the pan inside the mouth of the chiminea straight onto the fire. Within minutes, I had a metallic soup.
I then heated the mould with the hot air gun, and poured the lead with a ladle.
The lead balls came out perfect every time, the waste melted down again in seconds. I made 80 balls today using a fraction of the lead I'd bought.

Once I'd finished, and the fire had gone down, on went some water in my German army mess tin for a lovely brew.

I reckon with a few modifications, the chiminea will come in useful for knife making, and general blacksmithing attempts.

sent from my Jelly Bean'd galaxy nexus.

 

[decorum]

Nicely done. I do like a play, especially when you work through the issues to a satisfactory end .



Ever tried Mint Imperials?

 

[swright81076]

Nicely done. I do like a play, especially when you work through the issues to a satisfactory end .



Ever tried Mint Imperials?

I used those as a kid when I'd ran out of marbles with a black widow.



sent from my Jelly Bean'd galaxy nexus.

 

[santaman2000]

Good job. A word of advise though. NEVER!!! NEVER!!! make a brew on the same fire as your melting pot. In fact the protocol for working with lead in ANY form is NO food or drink anywhere near the work area and when you do take a break, wash your hands thotoughly.

 

[Mesquite]

Good job. A word of advise though. NEVER!!! NEVER!!! make a brew on the same fire as your melting pot. In fact the protocol for working with lead in ANY form is NO food or drink anywhere near the work area and when you do take a break, wash your hands thotoughly.

You should also wash your hands in cold water before working with lead.

It causes the pores in your hands to constrict and makes it harder to absorb any lead into your body.

 

[swright81076]

Thanks for the advice mate. Didn't realise.
Next time, I'll be at it for longer, so will have to get swmbo to be on brew duty.



sent from my Jelly Bean'd galaxy nexus.

 

[norca]

hot lead n water can explode very nasty you cant get lead in ya system just buy touching it the danger comes when its molten
it helps if ya put some candle wax in and stir this gets the crap to the top and ya just skim off end up with nice clean lead
so thats 80 meals ha nice job

 

[santaman2000]

hot lead n water can explode very nasty you cant get lead in ya system just buy touching...

It rubs off onto your hands (or whatever it touches) and the onto any food (or cigarettes) you handle. Maybe a little, maybe a lot. Doesn't matter as it never leaves your body but accumulates until it reaches a toxic level. In its molten state the vapors can also be inhaled (as can the vapors when spray painting lead based paints)

 

[norca]

dust maybe ive been shooting all my life and touching lead inc pellets shot and home made shot for catapults
52 now not dead yet
yes the vapors from lead are bad so best not to do indoors some paniced about lead pipe and toxic levels in water but lead dont disolve in water or spit my farther was a plumber and handled lead more than most but hes dead now age has a way of creeping up on ya