Lead pot accident

[rcmodel]

Member Bull Nutria in Houma LA sent me these photos this morning.
A friend of his was smelting lead on a propane burner to make duck decoy anchors.

The burner gave way and dumped the molten lead on his leg and foot!!








Lessons to be learned here?
Wear heavy Work boots, heavy jeans, gloves, safety glasses.
And keep a close eye on your burner & pot at all times.

I had a near miss several years ago while smelting scrap lead on a turkey cooker burner.
The sucker got red hot and started sagging under the weight.

I was lucky enough to get the pot off of it before it gave up and spilled.

rc

 

[X-Rap]

I'd also recommend melting smaller quantities, it takes longer but unless you've got a well built, purpose made set up, molten metal is nothing to mess with.
Compound the injury to yourself and others with the potential of fire from the spill contacting wood and the propane fuel source.
You suffering sever burns makes for a poor fireman.

 

[horsemen61]

My thoughts exactly x rap way to much lead, way to heavy good lord how much was he smelting at once

 

[JimKirk]

That is some bad stuff when it is hot and liquid !!

I am really surprised that the foot does not look worse than it did ...

Don't weld in tennis shoes either or wear frazzled bottom jeans ... ask me how I know!

 

[Schwing]

Threads like this are why I bought a dutch oven to melt mine in. Reading Johnny Tremain added to my caution

Another issue that I have heard but not seen personally is using a 4 legged turkey roaster without securing the legs. Over time, one of them can give out and then you have a roaster with lead tipping over. Simply bolting the legs to a piece of wood (most have bolting holes on the legs) prevents this.

 

[rcmodel]

Looks like that's what happened here.

In my case, the top grate on the burner got red hot and started to give way.

rc

 

[jmorris]

Lessons to be learned here?
Wear heavy Work boots, heavy jeans, gloves, safety glasses.

I only do small quantities as well now 50lbs or so at a time. It's electric and thermostat controlled so I just leave it out back when smelting ingots, these days. One time I had ink from lynotype boil over a batch once, went 19 ft in the air before hitting the roof of the building. Lead on hat, glasses, welding jacket and boots, a little bit ran down the jacket under one of my gloves and onto my wrist, leaving a pretty nasty burn.

So, now I add it at first and not once it is melted and wear even more protective gear than that. I bet the poor fellow wearing sandals will be changing his methods as well.

 

[GBExpat]

... I am really surprised that the foot does not look worse than it did ...

Yes, but look at the way the molten lead bent that poor man's toes! Oh, the humanity!

 

[snuffy]

Here's my propane turkey burner when I first stated using it.



It made me plenty nervous with this much lead in it;



I cackle-ated that was about 75 pounds, was all I cared to load in it. Later on I added 3 more legs,(3/8" cold rolled steel), cut, fit and welded to the bottom and top to MORE than double it's load capacity. THEN I could load it to-the-top.

From the above pic, I would say that pot could hold 200# of lead. I would not even consider that much in my reinforced burner.

 

[Rule3]

Gads that is horrible. Serious burns scare the hell out of me.

I have a cousin that was a roofer and got covered with hot tar over 60% of his body, The torture he had to go through , I would have died.

The Man should be thankful it was not worse than it appears to be. Still bad though!

 

[45_auto]

That foot looks like it hurt!

I replaced the legs on my cooker with 5/16 plates. Does a cubic foot (700 pounds) of lead at a time.

 

[Bush Pilot]

There is something to be said for buying cast bullets.

 

[Walkalong]

Over built is a good thing with lead smelters/pots. And of course protective wear. Molten lead is nothing to be careless with. It's kind of like steam, it will hurt you, and potentially badly, before you can react. Once you feel it, it's too late.

 

[joem1945]

I have 2 small electric lead pots with bottom pour. Still very careful.

 

[bluetopper]

Cast bullets are cheap and come straight to your door.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

There is something to be said for buying cast bullets.

Nah. That's crazy talk.
Take a chance. It'll stop hurting eventually.

Seriously I can't imagine the pain that guy is in. I haven't came close to anything like that. I did once pour an entire ladle full on my thumb. I've got the scar to show for that one. That poor guy has it much worse.

Cast bullets are cheap and come straight to your door.

Not cheap enough.
I can have 1,000 loaded .45 Colt rounds for less money than you can just buy the bullets for.

Casting is no more dangerous than anything else if you take the proper precautions. Thanks to my (very minor) accident with my thumb, I now wear thick leather gloves to protect my hands. I'm sure Bull Nutria will not just stop casting because he had an accident. He'll be more careful though I'm sure, as we live and learn.

Accidents can happen no matter what you are doing. I'm not swearing off casting because there is risk involved. I may as well just never shoot guns anymore because one may kaboom on me one day.

 

[Reeferman]

Why would anyone in their right mind be wearing those and not boots when melting lead?
Hope he is ok but man what was he thinking?

 

[dragon813gt]

Why would anyone in their right mind be wearing those and not boots when melting lead?

Hope he is ok but man what was he thinking?

He wasn't thinking. Not wearing proper PPE is just stupid. Should have leather, not synthetic, boots on and long pants. No synthetics period. Had a piece of braze burn through a pair of hiking boots, w/ synthetic panels, at work. Luckily the wool socks stopped it. But it was the last time I didn't wear full leather boots. All my clothes are now FR due to some plant regulations regarding working w/ electricity. I will say it again. Not wearing proper PPE is stupid

 

[The Red Hot Rider]

Are four legged turkeys harder to roast? I bet they're harder to catch for sure! Sorry...couldn't help myself. Back to regularly scheduled programming...

 

[Arkansas Paul]

Yeah, I've not always been extremely strict about PPE while casting, but long pants and close toed shoes are a must. I bet he doesn't make that mistake again. Nothing like pain to be a good teacher. We all do it to some extent though.

 

[eldon519]

Things like this are also why you don't tuck your jeans into your boots. I worked with a bunch of guys that were seemingly insistent that the tucked-jean-look was all the rage that summer. Doesn't take a very big piece of slag to change your mind.

 

[Sport45]

Why would anyone in their right mind be wearing those and not boots when melting lead?

Can you imagine the lead burning through a synthetic pants leg and filling a boot? Ouch!

 

[bluetopper]

Don't forget your hard hat and orange safety vest next time.

 

[mac_hunter870]

Why not a Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA) also, like firemen wear, to avoid breathing the toxic lead fumes

 

[MEHavey]

Lucky, lucky, lucky man....
(and there but for the grace of God go many of us)

That said, I always use a Coleman Camp Stove (fully-supported/-
very broad grill/3" from the ground) for smelting batches, and only
in a 3-qt saucepan filled ½-⅔rds (40-50lbs), gripped w/ two heavy
ViseGrips for pouring.

It takes 20 minutes each batch and I have to repeat more often as
I run through the lead casting, but I've a lot more peace of mind.