Insane experiment

Frank Fusco

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I don't really believe anyone here is brain dead (enough ;) ) to really try this. But, it is still a good warning. I was shocked. Shocked I tell you, really shocked. :eek:

Last night I caught a part of the Mythbusters TV show. These guys are always doing things out of the ordinary. But, last night they did something that was so dangerous, I believe it should not have been televised. The stupid/impressionable will always try to emulate.
Enneyhow....the myth was that a person could put their fingers into molten lead...yes, you heard that right. The theory was that moisture on the skin would form a protective insulating vapor barrier from the heat. Maybe similar to fire walking. Well, they did it. First experimenting with raw sasauges dipped in water. They dipped their fingers in water then into molten lead. I'll grant, it worked. But, still, IMHO, no less insane and dangerous. I had always believed water put into molten lead would vaporize so quickly as to be an explosive reaction. That didn't happen. Still, I'm not going to try water, or fingers, in molten lead. And, I beg y'all to not try this.
 
I'd imagine that the water boiled off very quickly, since molten lead would be in excess of 621F degrees... but not quickly enough to do so explosively. I can see it being JUST enough time to get the fingers back out again (they'd pop out on their own, since lead's so heavy & meat's so light).

It ain't a very bright thing to do - not much brighter than launching a bottle rocket out of one's butt - but I can see how somebody could get away with it at least some of the time.

Bottle rockets out of...??? Yep. Lots of it on YouTube. :D :D :D
 
have poured tons of lead and brass and iron, and have got the marks to prove it. lead doesnt do much more than burp or splatter wit water or snow balls.. but brass is a little differnt story and iron is the worst.!!!!!! and we never stuck our fingers in it.. it always found its way there on it own.
 
have poured tons of lead and brass and iron, and have got the marks to prove it. lead doesnt do much more than burp or splatter wit water or snow balls.. but brass is a little differnt story and iron is the worst.!!!!!! and we never stuck our fingers in it.. it always found its way there on it own.

Interesting. As far as I know, the mantra for those of us who pour bullets or lead round balls is that a drop of water in molten lead will react explosively. No doubt you are right. But, I'm going to pretend I didn't see your post and still keep water away from my pot when I am casting.
 
That reminds me that when I was 15 or 16 I made a plaster mold to make small lead lingots ( about 1" long) and paint them in gold. It was an easy out shape and very small nothing happened (the mold was pretty dry as well).

However, spured by the success I made a mold of a mauser bullet with its shell, being it conical up to the back end groove should not pose a problem to release it.

In my eagerness to make replicas I didn't wait a couple of weeks for the plaster to dry out and poured molten lead in about three hours from setting.

The moisture contained in the mold vaporised and expelled the molten lead as a shot so strong that the lead stuck in the ceiling in a splatter. Luckily I poured it with my arm fully stretched and nothing happened but I was scared to death.
I understood inmediately what could have happened if I had looking down on the mold while pouring. Needless to say that my foundry experiments ceased instantly that day.:eek:
 
I don't really believe anyone here is brain dead (enough ;) ) to really try this. But, it is still a good warning. I was shocked. Shocked I tell you, really shocked. :eek:

Last night I caught a part of the Mythbusters TV show. These guys are always doing things out of the ordinary. But, last night they did something that was so dangerous, I believe it should not have been televised. The stupid/impressionable will always try to emulate.
Enneyhow....the myth was that a person could put their fingers into molten lead...yes, you heard that right. The theory was that moisture on the skin would form a protective insulating vapor barrier from the heat. Maybe similar to fire walking. Well, they did it. First experimenting with raw sasauges dipped in water. They dipped their fingers in water then into molten lead. I'll grant, it worked. But, still, IMHO, no less insane and dangerous. I had always believed water put into molten lead would vaporize so quickly as to be an explosive reaction. That didn't happen. Still, I'm not going to try water, or fingers, in molten lead. And, I beg y'all to not try this.

Which one said "Here hold my beer and watch this?" :rofl::rofl:
 
It could just be time to take the warning lables off the toasters and let nature take its course. Being a welder by trade and having my hands near 1,000 plus degree heat, I can't begin to imagine what would possess a sane person to willingly stick any appendage in molten metal.
 
in toni's case he was trapping the water which is another story, its more prone to splatter alot in that situation but if water goes on top it vaporizes more than goes poof.. i had a apprentice redo the cupola which melted iron, on a afternoon shift and he didnt torch off the spicket hole. just plugged it.. well when i opened it up i lost all my whiskers any hair that was exposed from under the hard hat and the face shelid melted in goo and the safty glasses cracked all i got was some small burns on my face ,hands and arms.. but that stuff was coming out at around 33oo degrees and it didnt like a wet refractory hole to come threw... the apprentice had a nice long caht with me after he showed back up that afternnon..
 
in toni's case he was trapping the water which is another story, its more prone to splatter alot in that situation but if water goes on top it vaporizes more than goes poof.. i had a apprentice redo the cupola which melted iron, on a afternoon shift and he didnt torch off the spicket hole. just plugged it.. well when i opened it up i lost all my whiskers any hair that was exposed from under the hard hat and the face shelid melted in goo and the safty glasses cracked all i got was some small burns on my face ,hands and arms.. but that stuff was coming out at around 33oo degrees and it didnt like a wet refractory hole to come threw... the apprentice had a nice long caht with me after he showed back up that afternnon..

Good thing he was a chatting with you Larry. If'n hed been a chatting with me after that itd been a short chat andve ended in me catching a ride in one of those purty cars with the nice boys in blue.:thumb: Providen course they out run me.:thumb:
 
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Saw that on TV Last night too. I don't care how much 'science' they had to back it up (wasn't much), theres no way I'd get close to doing that.

I did notice something different about last nights show. Usually they open it with saying "Don't try this at home, We're what you call 'experts'". But last night they didn't claim to 'be' experts, rather they claimed to 'consult with experts'.....

Just waiting for the lawsuits to come in from some of the brain dead types out their to try and replicate that 'speriment'...
 
Back in my aluminum days, I watched the old timers do this. Cold water on the hand and dunk it into 1250 degree aluminum. Nothing ever happened. Still amazes me. Even if we could have drank on the job, I never could get that drunk.
 
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