On Thu, 31 Mar 2005 16:44:34 GMT, pyotr filipivich
wrote:

I missed the staff meeting but the minutes show Don Bruder
wrote back on Wed, 30 Mar 2005 18:28:05 GMT in
rec.crafts.metalworking :
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."

Good advice. Just like water and ice. You can get liquid water at 32
degrees, but when it stops moving, it solidifies.

Yup. You can get liquid water below 32 degrees, depends on th' saline
content. Think brine tanks or th' Bering Sea. Worked in a cannery
where finished product (King Crab) was run submersed through about an
80' long brine tank. When it came out (100 lb boxes) it was frozen
solid. There was a pretty substantial recirculating pump in that
system.

Snarl