The dangers of lead melting (A tale of horror)

<p dir="ltr">Although thrifty and very financially responsible pouring lead to make an angler’s own sinkers pose many dangers to soft organs including but not limited to the eyes, skin, ears, nose, throat and the soft skin around the eyes which I suppose could be included in the skin category.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p dir="ltr">One should always wear protective gear when melting and ladle-ing lead into molds and so forth. Protective gear includes:</p> <p dir="ltr">-Eye protection such as clear glasses or a nice medieval style full face shield</p> <p dir="ltr">-Long style pants to shield the soft and hairy skin on angler’s legs</p> <p dir="ltr">-closed toe shoes not Sandals or those cool but funky toe shoes where each toe is nestled in it’s own toe cocoon or chrysalis if your into butteryflies.</p> <p dir="ltr">-heat proof gloves such as thick leather, suede or that sweet sweet velour. So soft. &nbsp;</p> <p dir="ltr">-long style sleeved shirts not festive summer themed cut offs.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p dir="ltr">Anywho, tonight we had a smelting accident. Those who know my style know I like to pour lead into spent shell casings for sinkers mostly old pistol rounds and a few rifle rounds when I can get um. These ‘bullet weights’ are a great conversation piece and make really good sinkers too. Typically these are all spent cartridges that have no live powders or primers left in them. Well a friend of mine who goes by the name “Korn” supplied me with some empty cases he couldn’t use in his reloading press for various reasons. Unbeknownst to myself and my compatriot lead smelter Billy we had one rogue .357 shell in the bunch that had a live primer still in it. (Typically I check for these before the lead pouring begins) well I ladled up a nice scoop of molten lead in my cast iron dipper and began to pour into some cartridges we had lined&nbsp;up on my&nbsp;melting table (a chunk of old laminated table top with a gorgeous fake veneer finish) I made it halfway down the line of empty shells when I poured into this aforementioned rogue .357 shell. Well when hot molten lead around 700 degrees makes physical contact with a live pistol primer the results are disastrous. The primer exploded with all the fury of the 7 horsemen of the apocalypse. Hot molten lead and flecks of burning powder and red hot brass were thrown up at our faces. I flinched and was only mildly impacted with shrapnel. It was then I saw Billy drop to the ground holding his face. Hot lead was thrust into his eyes from this primer explosion. He was in trouble, in a big way. He needed a hose and fast. The bottle of water we had nearby wasn’t cut out for emergency purposes. Luckily in my backyard I have a 50 foot garden hose with a hell of a good water pressure. We stuffed the hose into bill’s face and I was praying to the fish gods his eyes were not permanently damaged or his face grotesquely disfigured Phantom of the Opera style. After many minutes and what must have seemed like a lifetime to poor Billy we got most of the lead out of his eyes and he was not blinded. There was visible burns to his eyes but thankfully no ER trips had to be made.</p> <p dir="ltr">He soldiered thru this moment of hysterical eyeball pain and afterwards we finished making our sinkers. Thanks to the high heavens for Bill not loosing his eyesight or worse. Bill is forever the recipient of the bad ass smelter award for taking a hot load to the face and still finishing the job. My mom even made a surprise stop by with fresh baked cookies to hopefully make the pain to Bill’s eyes less intense.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p dir="ltr">Let this be a lesson to all of you would be lead smelters and sinker fabricators. WEAR EYE PROTECTION!!! For the love of God please always wear eye protection. And always be kind to your mother she might just stop by with fresh baked cookies.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>