Todays entry was named by my wife.  This process did not make her happy.  Long story but here it goes...

A while back I purchased an adjustable kettlebell from www.usgsf.com  This is a regulation size bell and arrives at a weight of 16 kg.  The inside is hollow so you can fill it and make it heavier.  Theoretically it can be adjusted up to 48kg.  Once the bell arrived I bought some #9 lead shot and filled the bell completely with the tiny lead pellets.  It only got to about 32kg.  By the way, lead shot is very expensive these days.  (About $1 per lb)  So I knew I needed to melt the lead to make it more dense.  At this point in time it is Feb.  and cold in Western PA.  I spent a few hours melting lead on my grill and I got the bell up to about 36kg before I called it quits.  I was trying to make it 48 kg. 

As it turns out 36 kg is a great weight as kettlebell sport competitions use a 32kg bell in my division.  Practicing with a slightly heavier bell is useful in my opinion.  I decided last month that I needed a pair so I ordered one more.  I learned a few lessons from my prior experience.  First lead shot was out.  Too expensive and my wife was pissed because I had it all over the place.  Also melting lead on her nice grill was out.  I had to find another plan.

First I got the lead for free.  I walked into a tire store and asked if they had any old tire weights.  It turned out they had a  lot and they were more than happy for me to take about 100 lbs off their hands.  Now I needed a device to melt the lead.  I think I have to say  a few words about melting lead.  First of all lead is very bad for you if ingested.  Also when you melt it the vapors are harmful if inhaled.  Do it outside and be like Clinton, don't inhale.  Also when you melt the lead it has to be completely dry.  Lead melts at around 700 deg F and water boils at a much lower temp (212 F, as I recall).  Obviously the water will boil first and explosively possibly sending molten lead flying up in your face.  To melt the lead I used a commercially available device called a hot pot.  This will melt about 4 lbs at a time so this project took a while.
http://www.jannsnetcraft.com/lead-melters-tools/010774018064.aspx

I put the bell upside down in a big bucket of cat litter to keep the bell in position so I could CAREFULLY pour the hot stuff in the bottom of the bell with the bell itself staying level without spilling.  I had the whole apparatus on a bathroom scale so I could be exact in matching my other bell.  I used sand to fill out the rest of the bell and melted the whole thing shut so it can no longer be adjusted at all.  I had to do this as when the bell arrived, the screw in plug was stuck so I just pounded it through into the hollow chamber of the bell.  This would have been an issue had I wanted to keep this adjustable.  The whole process took about 3 hours and the next day I painted the bell orange to match my other one and now I have 2 regulation size 36 kg bells.  Now all my problems are gone and I am happy all the time.  My toxicologist says the lead will be out of my system in another 6 months.  I still have a lot of lead if you need some.

Till next time, train smart