So having assembled your equipment - what next. Firstly
consider your safety, hot Lead is extremely painful and
lead fumes are as toxic as you can get. Before starting,
you must have adequate ventilation for your work area.
Personally speaking I cast outside if at all possible.
If you can't cast outside you'll need some way of
venting the fumes from the lead pot to the outside
world. A cooker hood is one solution, or open windows
and some carefully positioned fans another.
For clothing you need to wear something that will resist
lead if it splashes on you - and definitely some eye
protection. Goggles from the DIY shop are OK, but the
kind of mask that Welders wear is better.
Melting
Having established a work area, which will obviously be
free of pets and children, begin. Cut your lead into
smallish chunks, fill your furnace, turn it on and then
wait for things to happen. It's a good idea at this
point to place an ingot mold under the furnace as some
of them tend to drip from the spout. After about twenty
minutes the lead should be molten. If it doesn't seem to
be getting there, turn the heat up and wait a bit
longer. When your lead is molten and can be stirred with
an old metal spoon it's time to flux.
