Linotype ww tin and others

[44deerslayer]

My dad died at Christmas and I've been going though all his lead trying too figure out what it is .it's all in ingot form I have a box of gold looking half ingots .jars of print letters , 5gal bucket of Lino and ww ingots any way too tell the Lino from the ww thanks all

[southpaw]

Sorry to hear about your Dads passing.

Try scratching them with your finger nail. The ww you will be able to make a scratch in and the lino you won't. Also, the lino will be shinier.

Jerry Jr.

[44deerslayer]

Thanks for that I tried scratching them with my fingers but they don't scratch and they are all powdery

[Molly]

My dad died at Christmas and I've been going though all his lead trying too figure out what it is .it's all in ingot form I have a box of gold looking half ingots .jars of print letters , 5gal bucket of Lino and ww ingots any way too tell the Lino from the ww thanks all

One way is to check hardness. There's a thread here about how to check hardness with art supply pencils. Generally speaking, Linotype can often be identified by its shinyness and hardness. It will probably be the hardest of the alloys you list, except possibly for the tin.

By the same token, the WW will be considerably softer than the Linotype. One crude but pretty reliable way of separating the two is to simply bang an ingot of each together with your hands. If one of them has a lot bigger dent than the other, that means it's softer than the other.

The gold looking ingots are likely lead: That is one of the colors that hot lead can oxidize to. If it IS lead, you will be able to dig your fingernail into it fairly easily.

If you need results that you can describe as in a sales add, spend $10 at wall mart and get a set of pencils. You won't need anything softer than 6B, nor anything harder than H. You can read all about it on the thread, which also has a rough chart and very simple directions on how to do the test.

HTH

[bumpo628]

Try dropping the WW and lino ingots on the concrete. You should be able to tell the difference by the sound. Pure lead will make a dead thud. The higher the alloy content, the higher the 'ring'.

The gold colored ingots could be tin, btw.

[runfiverun]

they could easily be part tin or all tin.
my ww ingots are much shinier than my pigs of line are.
but the ingots i made from them recently are shinier.

the best way to tell is by hardness,and weight would tell you also.
if you have something the same size made from both.

[Pepe Ray]

In post #3 you state that "they are powdery".

This powder is normal for lead that has been exposed in storage for a while.
It is "lead Oxide" and is the cause of all the concern to the alarmists.
If handled roughly to the degree that it "dust flies", wear a mask or use ventilation.
And always wash your hand after handling. Do not smoke or eat while handling.

IOW use common hygiene practices and all will be well.
Pepe Ray

[captaint]

I'm with Bumpo and r5r here - I have some pewter ingots and some high tin ingots. They both have that "goldy" look to them. The high tin stuff I got in like, soupcan ingots somebody gave me. I had a buddy take them to the scrapyard and got them anylized. 30 some percent tin. The guy at the scrapyard says "tell your friend I'll buy all of this he has". Yeah, I guess so. enjoy Mike

[44deerslayer]

What do I use it me and dad never got that farwith casting . same for a lot of guns . Like which mold to get .working up a load . never got to far with auto rifles .we been casting and reloading since I was 8 years old but we only shot pistols and our deer rifles so we only casted ww he said we will get to that and never did have about 300 lbs of ? Lead he alway said it was Lino tin ww and atimonty.

[454PB]

Linotype will break like ceramic when struck with a hammer.