Let's see where you do your casting ? ?
- Thread starter Ben
- Start date
When I was a TEENAGER, and just starting to cast*, my father's admonition was "Son, you haven't lived until you spill hot lead down your boot." End of safety lecture. I started in a room in the basement with no artificial ventilation. In cold months, you could tell how many times I fluxed the 10-lb SAECO pot by the layers of smoke hanging in the room. This all changed with time.
Looking at my hands, I can tell stories of casting by the splatter scars before I started wearing gloves. I think Dad got me a pair when I started using his plumber's furnace to cast ingots with the two-pound ladle, and then work with the H&G pot-belly six cavity #50 wadcutter mold. Given the time and effort involved to herd those beasts for a casting session, adding boots and denim coveralls with gloves and a face shield wasn't that much of a chore. I still have that mold, but it needs a little professional polish to the underside of the sprue plate and tops of the blocks. Next project...
*General disclaimer
Looking at my hands, I can tell stories of casting by the splatter scars before I started wearing gloves. I think Dad got me a pair when I started using his plumber's furnace to cast ingots with the two-pound ladle, and then work with the H&G pot-belly six cavity #50 wadcutter mold. Given the time and effort involved to herd those beasts for a casting session, adding boots and denim coveralls with gloves and a face shield wasn't that much of a chore. I still have that mold, but it needs a little professional polish to the underside of the sprue plate and tops of the blocks. Next project...
*General disclaimer
Mike W1
Active Member
For casting I've come to prefer some farmer chore gloves that are insulated. (S)melting down lead I use some leather gloves with gauntlets. Photos are side side of my old 12x14 shed. Insulated walls so it heats up pretty fast with the wood stove in the winter time. That furnace also was made with a top we used to heat our tents up with so with the top on I can get a 0° shop up to a decent temperature while the wood fire is getting started. There's a 30" exhaust fan towards the peak of the building so I could actually (S)melt ingot inside if I wanted to. Usually I just roll the table outside though. The entry door is divided so I can shoot in cold weather with berms at 25, 100 & 200 yards. The actual casting area is about 4-5' of a 8' bench. Plenty of separate outlets for the pots, hotplate, and exhaust fan. Nothing fancy (or pretty) but everything has it's place. I like the puck lights to illuminate the mould tops and there''s also another in the exhaust hood along with a regular old light bulb. Hot plate and both pots are PID controlled so when I cast (mostly in cold weather) it's preheat the shop with the LP burner, flip a few switches, and build a wood fire. About 20 minutes from a cold start I'm ready to add a little bees wax to the pot and start casting. It has evolved over several years time with lots of stolen ideas from other casters online.
RicinYakima
High Steppes of Eastern Washington
A very nice set up!
CWLONGSHOT
Well-Known Member
Mike W1
Active Member
PID controllers on both pots and also the hotplate
Plywood thing is for the cooling fan
Last edited:
S Mac
Sept. 10, 2021 Steve left us. You are missed.
Hey @Spindrift, the bullets come out of the pot, not go into the pot. 
Spindrift
Well-Known Member
That's a river. If I look the other way, I can see the fjord the river empties into. I haven't done much fishing the last years. Fished a lot when I grew up, both fresh- and salt water. Thought I'd catch up with some fishing this summer.
Got to cast some bullets this evening. I could actually feel the heat from the sun.... So nice, when spring finally arrives
Got to cast some bullets this evening. I could actually feel the heat from the sun.... So nice, when spring finally arrives
Matt
Active Member
I always figured if it was neater than Dean Grinnell’s work area I was ahead of the game.........I sweep about once a week and sort out sprues, bullets, and gas checks. The bits of splash and drips get picked up as I cast. I cast in boots and jeans after a session in Crocks and shorts led to burns on my foot (lead dropped through a vent hole) and one on my knee from the stream of lead that fountained from the sprue plate onto me.
Joshua
Taco Aficionado/Salish Sea Pirate/Part-Time Dragon
Hello All,
This is my first post here at the Artfulbullet. I've been lurking for quite some time. Thanks to everyone who posts here, I have learned quite a bit from you all.
My casting area is under my deck and adjacent to my basement reloading area. My family and I live here in the "wet" northwest. I have a tarp slung under the deck, it is rigged up to two long pieces of bamboo, and keeps the area dry. Spring has sprung, and we have had some nice sunny days here recently.
My wife is disabled, and in poor health, so we are taking the stay-at-home order pretty seriously. I don't normally have this much free time. Because of my wife's health problems my work has sent me home on admin leave. I have been pretty busy the last few days casting. I have cast up lots and lots of different bullets. Here's a list of the molds I cast with this last week. I think that I have cast about 3000.
Pictured are the:
Lyman 311284
Lyman 308241
Lee 311-100-2R
Lyman 323470
Lee 401-175-TC
Lyman 358477
Not pictured:
Lee TL-452-230-2R
Lyman 452630
Lee TL 358-148-DEWC
This is my first post here at the Artfulbullet. I've been lurking for quite some time. Thanks to everyone who posts here, I have learned quite a bit from you all.
My casting area is under my deck and adjacent to my basement reloading area. My family and I live here in the "wet" northwest. I have a tarp slung under the deck, it is rigged up to two long pieces of bamboo, and keeps the area dry. Spring has sprung, and we have had some nice sunny days here recently.
My wife is disabled, and in poor health, so we are taking the stay-at-home order pretty seriously. I don't normally have this much free time. Because of my wife's health problems my work has sent me home on admin leave. I have been pretty busy the last few days casting. I have cast up lots and lots of different bullets. Here's a list of the molds I cast with this last week. I think that I have cast about 3000.
Pictured are the:
Lyman 311284
Lyman 308241
Lee 311-100-2R
Lyman 323470
Lee 401-175-TC
Lyman 358477
Not pictured:
Lee TL-452-230-2R
Lyman 452630
Lee TL 358-148-DEWC