what to do about unknown lead??

[sisiphunter]

Hello all. I got alot of lead from an old buddy of mine. It is all cast into various small ingots and he doesnt remember whst it is made of but definitly no zinc. I have my lee tester and tested a binch 20 or so ingots and got a range of 8 to 27 bhn. Mynormal use alloy is 50/50 ww/range scrap from which i get pretty consistant weights. What is my best.option here??? I was thinking smwlt it all down together and see what it comes out as and add range scrap to get a similar alloy as my 50/50. I really dont want to test each one. There are a couple hundred easily. i also tried the drop and listen for the sound test and they ting differently with the hardness. I also dont want to miss any pure if possible as i cast that for my muzzleloader.

Any advice would be greatly appriciated. Thanks, Matt

[runfiverun]

separate by sound into two different piles.
plus a third tud sounding pile.
melt the two piles down separately, then test each one for a final hardness.
that will make it easier to adjust the final hardness.
and give you something consistent to work with.

[captaint]

What r5r said. I wouldn't melt it all together now. Separate it and see what's there. You can always blend it later. That's what I'd do , anyway....enjoy Mike

[GLL]

I agree ! Drop them on smooth concrete and separate into "thudies", "clinkies", and "ringies". Remelt into new ingots of the three compositions and retest hardness.

Jerry

[sisiphunter]

Very good. Thanks alot fellas. What you all suggested sounds like a good plan.

[Dan Cash]

what to do about unknown lead??


Introduce yourself, melt and shoot it.

[-06]

Must be nice to have friends with Pb. A bud did give me some sheet that came out of an X-ray lab. Have not smelted it yet till I get my hands on something to mix with it.