Gents!
I have read that it is a good idea to have some protection while casting, gloves, glasses as well as a half mask were the standard recomendation.
The masks I have found so far does not state if they can filter the stuff from the pot or not.
What kind of filter (standard, ISO class or??) is needed?
I plan on beeing outdoors on a dry but windy day, but would still want to use a mask since it is a lot of paint, rubber adhesives & so on in the pot.

Sincerely
Daniel

To address your query obliquely, I achieve the result you want with a small but powerful (USD 14.00) portable fan. I cast on my back porch. Set on HIGH and positioned properly, any lead fumes from the pot are forced to what becomes downwind of me. To delete the fan in favor of wearing a mask-filter would appear to be a lateral move at best.

Hope this helps.

Daniel, aside from the question of filter mask, I noticed your comment about rubber, paint & other debris in the melt. Is this your bullet casting pot that you are talking about or are you melting scrap into ingots? I think that those should be two separate operations in different pots. Otherwise you'll end up with a mess in your casting pot or furnace.

The "mess" in a pot is easily dealt with.

presuming a cast iron pot you can clean smelting "schmutz" out of it by filling the pot with Muriatic acid and leatting it sit until it stops foaming.

at this point dump it and rinse in cold water.

Muriatic (hydrochloric) acid takes everything off down to bare metal in 4-5minutes.

BTW, do this outside.

AD

Gents!
Thanks for replies!
I intend to melt the WW and cast into ingots, then at a later stage melt the ingots in a electric melter & cast the bullets.
This first step is just to get rid of the crap & make it into decent sizes for future casting. There will be different pots for first melting & bullet cast melting.

I have found a new cast iron casserole of the right size to a good price.
But the casserole & the lid is coated with enamel. Will this affect the melting? If so, how to remove Enamel cheap & efficiently?
Its like a dutch oven coated in enamel but without the loop to hang it over fire.

Naphtali, the Fan is a good idea & I will be using that, most likely in a combination with a face mask as well. The one does not prohibit the other. To avoid exposure to lead fumes I am willing to wear both a belt & suspenders, so to say....

Solid lead is another thing than aerosols.

Sincerely
Daniel

I cast in a small workshop attached to my garage. I have a fan drawing air across the pot and out of the shop. I work at a shipyard that monitors my blood lead level. In April it went from 7 ppb to 15 ppb. The shipyard said it has a limit of 20 ppb and that the OSHA limit is 30 ppb. The elevated lead level could also be from emptying my brass tumbler in the garage without ventilation.

I asked the industrial hygienist if a half face respirator with metal vapor cartridges would help and he said that the best thing to do is use the lead pot and empty the tumbler outdoors. I will be doing a detailed cleanup in the garage and workshop then moving these activities outdoors.

If you want to get a mask, then it needs to be a half face of full face respirator with the proper filter cartridge. Take a look at the MSA website for the right protection. There are other companies out there too. The paper or cloth filter masks will not work unless you are only trying to block dust.

Ranb