Bad source for lead?

[DeanoBeanCounter]

I know it's got to be a no no. But has old car battery's every been considered for use for boolits? And can somebody tell me just why? layman's terms please. I know there's lead in battery's. :confused:

[RayinNH]

Deano, there's also acid in those batteries. Serious acid. It certainly wouldn't be worth the risk to reclaim the little bit of lead you would get. I'd pay for the most expensive jacketed bullets before I'd entertain the thought of getting involved with batteries...Ray

[NVcurmudgeon]

Beside the risk of handling acid, modern batteries have plates containing cadmium, a deadly poison, and precious little lead.

[wiljen]

The main problems are:

1.) cracking the battery open to remove the lead plates without getting acid all over yourself in the process.

2.) Cleaning the acid off the plates. This requires multiple washes and the waste is toxic/caustic.

3.) Removal of all liquid from the plates before melting to avoid an explosion as steam forms in the lead.

4.) Acid/Cadmium vapors are Caustic/toxic respectively and will burn the lungs or poison you if inhaled during smelting.


All in all, as Ray suggested, not worth it.

[sundog]

http://www.vestilmfg.com/download/MSDS/Lead%20Acid%20Battery%20-%20Superior%20MSDS.pdf

Down at the bottom, it also says something about being illegal....

[Pepe Ray]

It usta be OK, but stupid.
B.C.--Before Cadmium and low/no maintenance batteries, some of us who were desprate would break down old car or truck batteries for the lead. Yes, there is lead in the plates, but it's a H*** of a lot of work to retrieve it. After a couple I decided to be satisfied w/the posts only, then that got tiresom and I looked for other sources.
NOW it is completely out of the question, for all of the afforementioned reasons.
Roll with the punches. Pepe Ray

[trooperdan]

As several have already said, there are other metals in batteries that spoil it for making boolits. The newer, no-maintenance batteries have calcium and cadmium added, the calcium is bad for boolits and the cadmium is VERY bad for humans beans!

[44man]

Using lead from batteries is like drinking anti freeze for cheap booze.

[truckjohn]

As for the Cadmium -- our compay doesn't use it either in the paste or in the lead. Major carcinogen..... They do have plenty of Calcium lead.

There is plenty of Calcium in them, though -- which doesn't play nice with our As/Sb alloys -- as in produces toxic gasses when melted together and slushes your pot into a big mess.

Another reason why not -- the process of making a lead plate into a battery turns the lead into a spongy matrix of oxide and lead..... so you get tons of dross and only a little lead from the plates....

Then the acid fumes will cause some fine looking corrosion in your pot too.

Stick to wheel weights or scrap yard lead.

Best regards

John

[DeanoBeanCounter]

That was quick. Thanks! I knew it was bad. Somebody on these pages puts on a quote that says something like "Knowledge without understanding is dangerous". I now understand a little bit more. I guess that's why it is said "there's no such thing as a stupid question. Again, thank you.
Deano :-D

[schutzen]

Another side note, older batteries (yea like me), are not contaminated with cadmium. However, lead sulfate is the white-gray powder like substance on the plates. It is a mess to deal with. I loaned my plumbers pot to a "neighbor" to reduce some scrap lead to ingots. He failed to mention part of it was scrap battery plates. I had to sand blast the pot to get the sulphur out. Batteries are just not worth the effort.

[bishopgrandpa]

When I first started some 40 years ago an oldtimer told me never to touch battery lead because of arsenic fumes. Don't know if he was right but I never tried it .

[Buckshot]

.................Since we apparently have some wet cell battery makers here maybe they can correct me about what I saw, but when I was a kid my dad had a friend who was a foreman or manager for Norton Battery here in So. Cal. I went with him once to have a battery fixed or rebuilt. There was a guy there who was using what looked like hoof nippers and cutting off battery posts and cell connectors or bus bars.

At the time lots of batteries were rebuildable, and they'd cut or somehow remove the top from the case and could put in new plates. I remember them sealing the tops with hot tar. I don't know if my dad's battery was rebuilt or he just got a new one as he and his friend eventually went into the office, and a bit later a guy came in with dad's battery.

I also remember there was a large poster calender in the office with a Vargas girl on it. My dad had a calonder like that in his shop only it was from Raytheon and the gal was wearing an electric blue one piece swim suit. I always wondered what my mom thought of that :-)

................Buckshot

[Firebird]

I remember my great-uncle Joe rebuilding a battery. But that was back when they were made with a hard rubber case, and the top was sealed on with tar. You could heat the tar to get it soft, then use a wire to cut the top of the battery off and get inside. Remove all the plates etc, clean out the gunk in the bottonm of the cells and put in new plates and posts. Then put some more hot tar on the top and drop it back onto the case and wait for it to cool, re-fill with acid and you had a rebuilt battery. A little messier with the tar, but easier to do than rewinding starters, something else that he could, and often did, do when rebuilding old cars. Actually, I don't think there wasn't anything that he couldn't rebuild or somehow fix in a car made before the 60's. That's when the car makers started using injected nylon to form seals and electronics that couldn't be repaired.