on the lead is no problem,in the lead is very exciting.
I left my Lee Production IV pot outside one extremely dewy night this summer. The lead had cooled and shrunk a bit as it tends to do, leaving a small gap around the edge of the lead to pot margin. Did I mention humid along with dewy yet?
Well, I get up the next morning, plug in the pot, set the thermostat, grab my molds, coffee cans, coffee, the dog's cigs (yeah, mine smokes too), etc. and set about getting ready to cast beau coupe lead balls. About 15 minutes later, I notice a rapidly expanding bulge in the middle of the half molten lead, and for some odd reason I think "Wow, that looks like Mount Saint Helens!" I was fascinated, then I realized exactly what was about to happen. I scrambled away, practically falling out of the chair, and had not been away for more than a second or two, when the middle of the lead erupted into a beautiful silvery fountain over almost two feet high! A good quarter of the pot spewed all over the table, and splattered droplets several feet away, and would have seriously burned me had I not moved. The gravity of what had almost occurred didn't really sink in until I was through scraping lead from the concrete patio. I was very nearly sick to my stomach with the thought.
Exciting? Yes. Stupid of me? Very. Did I learn anything? Oh yeah. Keep your powder dry, and your lead even drier.