How cold can it be when you cast?

pokute

Active Member
When it gets much below 60 I quit casting and go inside and watch TV or read a book. Don't want to get frostbite or nuthin. Above 105 the sweat gets into my eyes and blinds me, and the pot starts rumbling in a funny way. So when it gets above 105 I go inside and watch TV or read a book.
 
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Full.lead.taco

Active Member
I cast year round no matter the temp (outdoors or in the garage with the garage door open) as long as it isn't windy. Wind seems to really bugger up things when casting--especially with cold wind.
 

Roger Allen

Active Member
I wish I was brave enough to do that to my house. Might do it to my building so I’m wind resistant. I find the wind to be a enemy than the actual temp....kind of like forced cooling
 

Intheshop

Banned
.Round duct fans,either 6 or 8".They are a coupling sleeve design.So where ever you have a joint....these install at that point.110 supplied with a plug.Build a plenum,transition to round,install fan.Bonus points;ductseal the joints.Provide quality hangars.Dedicated exhaust hoody.....................Squirrel cages;now you get to really move air.Find HVAC contractor,they will give you leftover duct for the hauling from commercial jobs.I've thrown enough away to make a 200+yd shooting tunnel.So snagging enough for inside handgun range is rather childlike?..................Many more ways to pretty much build anything you want,basically for free.Folks tend to have their butts glued to the couch?
 

Eutectic

Active Member
1981 to 1985 I cast in my basement with forced ventilation to the outside. Winter was pretty cool temp wise in that room doing it at maybe 40° inside. I still would get headaches at times...... my body's dynamics talking to me.... So give me outside with unlimited purge! I will use a fan even below zero if it is dead calm. A little discomfort trumps lead vapors in the pulmonary anytime!

We are warm blooded mammals built for the COLD. Mother nature may not have given us a covering like a Wyoming Buffalo but we got a brain at the very top of the mammal chain. We can take it! We didn't get a lead vapor purging system when we were made.

One of the things I hated most about the Texas gulf coast was bugs and reptiles ALL YEAR LONG! Here we get at least six months where they are long gone and tucked in deep! Good break from flys landing on you, wasps bugging you, or rattlesnakes where your body parts may be going.:eek: Oh........ I didn't mention sweat dripping into the molten lead pot down there!

Pete
 

Dale53

Active Member
For years, I cast in my Florida room with added ventilation. I had an electric heater for those colder days. In REALLY cold weatther, I just didn't cast.

Then, I had a contractor friend build me a utility barn (12x20 feet with an "attic"). I ran 220 to the barn, installed a window air conditioner for the summer and a in wall electric heater for the winter. I had the barn insulated. It is comfortable, winter or summer. I wish I had done it many years before. However, I have enjoyed a goodly number of years with the barn and can recommend it without reservation.

FWIW
Dale53
 

Walks

Well-Known Member
I cast today. It was 65degrees. During the day it rarely gets below 50degrees here in the "winter" months. I cast outside on a covered patio. Even when I lived at the beach years ago the cold winter breeze never really affected my casting out on my little "patio". But then in those days I cast very fast from 2 cavity molds. My problem was casting slow enough to avoid frosted bullets.
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
I've cast in an unheated room, even my garage at times, at well below zero. What can I say? I needed bullets! It wasn't fun, but it wasn't terrible either as long as I had Mickey Mouse boots and good wool socks on. I haven't cast inside the house in about 35 years now.
 

USSR

Finger Lakes Region of NY
While I do all my casting in my unheated basement, West New York (I have decided I will create a new state, at least in my own mind, to show my disgust for that large urban center and their politics) received a reprieve last weekend from the recent string of cold weather, so I did some smelting on the porch. Temps were in the high 40's, it was a little breezy on Saturday, but Sunday was real nice. I had a bunch of lead pipe and sheathing I had bought at my local scrap yard over the past few weeks, so I fired up the fish fryer and rendered them into ingots. Ended up with 90# to add to the pure stash. Since I cast exclusively for handguns and am a firm believer of relatively low BHN bullets, I go thru a lot of pure.

Don
 

Bret4207

At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Western NY, Northern NY, Central NY...funny how we all try to differentiate from Sodom on the Hudson. Saying more would swing into politics.
 

Walter Laich

New Member
to me casting is part of an enjoyable hobby and as such if I uncomfortable then the fun is gone

I have found my range of acceptable temps have narrowed as I have gotten older

glad there are plenty among you that still can handle it when the weather doesn't cooperate
 

Wiresguy

Active Member
Like Walter, my tolerance for extreme weather has changed as I have gotten older.

But, yesterday here in central MN was at 29 degrees and sunny, and I had a new Accurate 43-240H that was crying to be broken in.

My casting area is in the unheated shed with the garage door open and I was on the shady side, so it did get a little cool. I use a thick rubber mat on the concrete floor and dress warmly, so it wasn’t too bad.

I prefer temps in the 40’s to 50’s for comfortable casting.

When I was starting out in 1970 in south Texas, I partnered up with a neighbor and we did our casting in his double garage with doors open and an occasional slight breeze to cool us off. We both were novice casters and I remember leaning over the pot, ladle in hand, with sweat dripping off my nose. Neither of us had ever heard of the Tinsel Fairy, and only the benevolence of a Kind Providence protected us from meeting her.
 

mold maker

New Member
For me, going outside for an arm full of wood is the only thing that would get me outside in the temps you report. I was young once and thought of it as play, to frolic in the snow with wet gloves and socks. Now at 13 years past retirement, I find no joy in pain.
My carport roof is insulated so that only extreme heat is uncomfortable. It provides me with an year round environment , comfortable for smelting and casting. If weather conditions aren't favorable, there's always tomorrow.
Hearing of the conditions you fellows have to endure, sure makes me appreciate how well I have it.
mm