Video of Haven 12 1/2 lead keel pour

[TomHaven12]

Pouring a lead keel is extremely dangerous to both people and the environment. This project should not be undertaken by anyone who is not properly prepared to deal with the many hazards inherent in the process. Nearly 600 pounds of lead must be heated to a molten state and the liquid lead safely conveyed to a properly constructed mold. Dangers include, but are not limited to: inhalation of noxious fumes, explosion caused by moisture coming in contact with heated lead, molten lead spilling or leaking from crucible or containers or mold, accidental burns and/or fire from heat source, etc.

This project is best left to professionals!!!

Nevertheless, here's how one HavenBuilder did it:

http://www.testrong.com/havenbuilder...o/KeelPour.wmv

[Tom Mac]

Tom, This is a very neat pour, I like the 55 gal drum setup. I use the bathtub for 3 keels. they came out good, but your setup is better and neater. Thanks for sharing Tom Mac

[Bob Cleek]

"Pouring a lead keel is extremely dangerous to both people and the environment. This project should not be undertaken by anyone who is not properly prepared to deal with the many hazards inherent in the process. Nearly 600 pounds of lead must be heated to a molten state and the liquid lead safely conveyed to a properly constructed mold. Dangers include, but are not limited to: inhalation of noxious fumes, explosion caused by moisture coming in contact with heated lead, molten lead spilling or leaking from crucible or containers or mold, accidental burns and/or fire from heat source, etc.

This project is best left to professionals!!! "

No pain, no gain, guy! Hate to differ, but pouring a 600# lead keel is a piece of cake... IF you have an average amount of common sense and take the time to exercise it. Your concerns would just as easily apply to crossing a busy street. Frankly, NOBODY should pick up a tool or attempt any construction project without having the knowledge and experience necessary to do the job safely and correctly. That's where forums like this are helpful. No need to scare people off. Just remind them to be careful.

[StevenBauer]

I enjoyed the video. I was surprised at all the bubbling after the pour. I guess that was outgassing from the wood form, no?
I have 500 pounds of lead in the garage I was planning on casting for the Eun Mara keel. The 1600 pounds in Talisman's keel make that unnecessary now though.


Steven

[Brent Cummings]

I did my lead keel in the same manner except I used wood as the heat source. Took a lttle over an hour and a half to melt 650 lbs. Mine bubbled for a long time after and left the exposed surface quite rough, which was quite a chore to smooth. Any ideas on how you could reduce or eliminate the bubbling?

[Alex Low]

That is a NIOSH respirator right?
Oh man.
At least lead only makes you CrAzy!

[S B]

Brent ,you might have poured a little too hot. after melting the lead let it drop a few degrees, might not get the violent reaction to the mold.

[JGPierce]

Tom,

Nice pour! I didn't want to risk the lead exposure so bought my keel from Eric Dow. At least the wind was blowing your lead fumes away from you

I'd love to see some pix of the finished product as it comes out of the mold.


John

[Sailman58]

I was surprised by the minimal amount of protective equipment. The dust mask has already been mentioned, but what about the lack of eye protection? I would expect to see side shielded safety glasses, long sleeve shirt (non synthetic fabric), leather boots, hopefully with spats or metatarsal protectors, maybe even a face shield.

I might have thought it was just my 20 years of steel mill experience causing me to expect the precautions listed, but we were required to use much of the same gear for a bronze casting class.

Ron

[Phil Dory]

This video convinces me that lead casting should not be undertaken by the home or small builder. There is so much potential for short term and long term health damage to lead exposure that you should not even think about it.

Lead is deadly, one of the most dangerous substances that we encounter on a daily basis. Read up on it if you not aware of this fact; the documentation of lead's hazard to human health is beyond dispute.

I urge designers to come up with alternatives to lead ballast in order to remove the temptation of pouring lead outside a professional foundry. Don't do it; it's never worth the risk.

[Bob Cleek]

Expended uranium is a great alternative to lead if you don't mind your keel glowing in the dark. It's also a lot harder to melt, but you don't have to worry about the "horrendous health risks"... or do you?

Come on, now. Lead isn't a snake that's going to bite you. There are three different types of injuries you can suffer pouring a keel and each is easily prevented.

1. You can hurt yourself handling heavy stuff. Muscle strains and such from lifting heavy ignots are common. More frequent, even, are mashed fingers when stacking heavy lead blocks and mashed toes when dropping them. Commonsense care and correct lifting practices will prevent this danger.

2. Getting molten lead on you. It burns. This can be the result of a splash (some idiot dropping a big block of lead into the pot), or a splatter (adding wet lead to the pot or pouring into a damp mold, or watch out for this one, submerging a sealed lead pipe or a block of lead with an air void in it into the molten pot, causing the rapidly expanding air in the molten lead to "pop.") or, finally, a mold failure that causes molten lead to run out all over. Again, commonsense precautions with protective gear and the maintenance of a "get away zone" if a mold bursts will prevent getting any molten lead on you. (Think welding gear.)

3. Ingestion of lead oxide or fumes. Lead itself is harmless unless it is ingested. You don't eat it and you won't get sick. Pretty basic and simple. Lead oxide is on the outside of lead, though often nearly invisible. Wash your hands before eating after handling lead and don't suck your thumb (or smoke) while you're handling it and you won't transfer any lead oxide into your body through your mouth. Other orifices are similarly protected... figure those out yourself. Don't eat leaded paint chips or paint your kid's teething ring with lead paint and you've got nothing to worry about. Don't sand lead or lead based paint without wearing a decent dust barrier mask. As for fumes, you are going to have to heat lead way hotter than it will ever take to melt before you have lead fumes to contend with. The same goes for breathing lead fumes as does for eating it. The fumes so many mention are usually from other impurities in the lead. When melting old lead keels or lead batteries for recycling, the fumes are more from the burning old bottom paint or chemical crap in the batteries and so on. Melt lead outside and stay downwind of the smoke, or use a big fan to blow the fumes away and you won't have a problem with what you breathe. If it smells nasty, it's probably bad for you. If it smells nasty, don't breathe it. Simple as that.

Yes, lead does settle in the body tissues and doesn't ever go away. The good news is that its cumulative negative effects are relative to the amount of lead and the size of the body. It takes a lot more than pouring the rare lead keel to overexpose a grown man who does it sensibly.

Our world is full of many, many, common household chemicals and cleaners that are many, many times more toxic than lead. We've learned to live sensibly with these, and so should we also with lead. No, it's certainly not harmless, but we can ensure that it remains relatively so. Your wife learned not to drink amonia, so I figure you can learn not to eat lead.

[Phil Dory]

At the risk of being rude, I think that's irresponsible advice.

[Alexander2]

When I hear arguments about the danger of doing things like this I wonder what the cry would be if someone just suddenly yesterday invented the modern automobile.

Can you imagine the naysayers?

WHAT? you plan to fuel that thing with an explosive liquid fuel that anyone can buy without a license and handle with no training?

You plan to let people drive these 3000 pound chunks of metal at 65 miles an hour on 24' wide pathways, going in opposite directions with only a painted line to separate them?



A disaster in the making, we must ban them!
--------------

If I were casting that keel I surely would wear common safety equipment and be careful but I would not worry too much as I did it.
Safer than drunken driving. Something thats much more commonly done.

[Phil Dory]

That's an argument? Obviously this is going outside the realm of reason. Count me out.

[Alexander2]

That's an argument? Obviously this is going outside the realm of reason. Count me out.

Its bringing the argument to the absurd to make the point.

Gun enthusiasts [ far more of them than keel casters, FAR more] have been casting lead bullets for more than 200 years, generally indoors with less ventilation, and although I'm sure there have been some accidents I've yet to hear of one.

And now...... I'm going to go for a walk without a helmet.
Pray that I may return alive.

[SamSam]

Melt lead outside and stay downwind of the smoke, ..... and you won't have a problem with what you breathe.

Au contraire!
Sometimes even when standing directly upwind from smokey doings or fumous miasmas, it seems that suctional turbulence exposes a person. What works best is to stand upwind and a little to the side.

[S B]

Question. What is nore dangerous having your family watch you pour the lead keel, or loading them into the boat that you've just built and taking them out to sea.

[P.L.Lenihan]

Bob Cleek,while skirting around the details of the known dangers to humans from lead, is right on. It does not take great thinking ,all that much energy or cost a fortune to work safe with lead. If you: cannot wear cloves or other protective clothing, do not understand clearly what "upwind" means, think that a quarter inch plywood mold is plenty strong, have no means of telling the difference between wet and dry or suffer from ADD, then absolutely please get someone else to pour your lead keel for you. Mind you, if just the thought of pouring lead paralyzes you with fear also please refrain from pouring lead.

Otherwise pouring a once in a lifetime several hundred pound keel is really no big deal. Hundreds of amateurs have poured lead keels,from wee lead shoes of around 100 pounds to big boys in the 7 to 8 ton range.

When it is your first time doing a pour, it is perfectly alright to have little, evil, fearful, thoughts flying around the parimeter of your consciousness.Let's face it, molten metal and fire can be pretty exciting things in and of themselves. The trick is to not get so excited you become giddy or lose your focus. The actual pour is going to happen very quickly and all will be over before you know it so slow down and pay attention during the whole process.

Here is a link to my little lead pouring experience. I've assisted on a few other keels slighty bigger than this one with similar success.


http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/00/...icro/index.htm


Peter, who has wondered about the tens of thousands of sport fishermen,kids and adults alike, who routinely, if not daily, play and fumble with their little lead fishing weights without wearing gloves...........

[Saltiguy]

Are you old enough to remember?

Toothpaste tubes made of lead. We started every day squeezing our toothpaste from the dreaded lead tubes.

Toy soldiers? When I was young, every young boy had a mini-cauldron to melt lead. We poured it into molds and made toy soldiers. It was great fun and we didn't die.

[TomHaven12]

Wow! What a response! Just so you know, I poured the lead 2 years ago and have had my blood tested for lead since, no sign of it - and I can still do the NY Times crossword puzzle!

Tom

[George Roberts]

"Everything is fun and games until someone loses an eye."

So a guy pours a keel a bit hot. The fumes descend into a house a mile away. A newborn gets a good dose of lead.