In article ,
pyotr filipivich wrote:

I missed the staff meeting but the minutes show "Colin Jacobs"
wrote back on Sat, 26 Mar 2005 16:52:46 GMT in
rec.crafts.metalworking :
A bit OT but as you are all engineers What is the melting point of lead?

Around six hundred degrees Fahrenheit.

621 degrees to melt, to be precise. Advice I've heard from all
directions over the years agrees that even if it's melted at 621, it's
stupid to even attempt to pour lead at under 700 unless you're working
with super-small, ultra-simple molds.

Taken from a beginner-level "hint booklet" packed with a sinker mold, in
a section discussing "How do I know it's hot enough?":

"Using a long-handled pair of pliers or similar tool, poke the stick end
of a regular wooden kitchen match into your melting pot and start
counting "one thousand one, one thousand two", and so on. If the
matchstick isn't on fire by the time you hit "one thousand seven", your
metal isn't hot enough. When you pour, it is likely that the lead will
"freeze" before completely filling the mold cavity. Should this happen,
simply put the malformed piece back into the pot for remelting and try
again with a somewhat higher temperature."

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