[frnkeore]

Yes, but, not that bad. I worked with hot tanks, when I was a mechanic and that's why I warned about eye and skin protection, though I didn't use them.

If you ever worked with it, you would know that it's pretty tame. The worst I ever got was burned, not from the lye but, the temp of the parts coming out of the hot tank solution.

I worked with hot tanks when I was 18 - 26 ('62 to '70) and used no eye protection and wasn't told to use it, no rubber apron or gloves, just leather gloves. I was careful because it was hot, not because it could harm me. I steam cleaned the parts after that and had stuff blown back on me, in that process. It's just the way it was done, in those days. Do what you feel is safe.

Lye has gone up in price, quite a bit. The cheapest I can fine it, is $5 lb, still not to bad for 15 gal. I don't know why it's gone up so much but, if I an find it at $3 or less, I will build a hot tank, from a 55 gal drum with 30 gal of solution, to do heads and blocks.