Ahh, astragals. You learn something new every day!
Well I dug out the foundry furnace today, and am thinking about pouring aluminum tomorrow even though there's snow on the ground, and ice under that. I conditioned my greensand today, and I'm set to go..
I have a long leather apron, face shield, welding gloves, and I don't think it's going to be a problem for me anyway. I watched ironman's video with him pouring a ladle full of molten iron into a bucket of water, and I think this is considerably lower on the scale in opposition to conventional wisdom. I've dropped globs of molten steel into snow while cutting with a torch, and basically just made a hole with a short sizzle. I'm not going to intentionally pour aluminum anywhere but down the sprue, but if there's a spill, there's nothing flammable nearby, just more snow and I'll be covered.
Nevertheless, don't anyone else imitate anything I do unless you're as dumb as I am, and are willing to take responsibility for the consequences of your own actions, as I also am.
But I am sick of sitting around waiting weeks to cast a new engine head and get my steam project moving again.
