PDA

View Full Version : color of lead



mike_kaleigh
09-22-2013, 07:03 PM
first off i am some what color blind so work with me. i have been casting for 3 years, mostly handgun and some 30 cal rifle and shotgun slugs. i have always use wheel weights, but i was lucky today and a relative had a free large lead block. it was 10in by 8in by 4in thick and weighed about 80 lbs. i have a cast iron pot and a weed torch to melt down scrap lead into muffins. i had to cut the block in half with a chainsaw to fit it in the pot. the block was probably 50 plus years old. so i am guessing it was for plumbing. but the weird thing was one side had a type of slag on it like cinders from coal that was 1/4in thick. also the lead was pretty close to pure lead. the odd thing is when i melted the lead down it had a lot of blue and bluish gray and some purple colors floating in it. i know i had a lot of the slag in it that i got out but never seen the colors in lead, but i use ww all the time. i dont think high temp had anything to do with it because i had a hard time get the large block up to temp. but is this normal for pure lead or is something else in the lead.

TES
09-22-2013, 08:25 PM
Just pure lead. Same thing happens when smelting down lead pipe that is very old.

runfiverun
09-22-2013, 08:58 PM
definitely normal for pure lead.
the ingots will have a bluish tint to them too, until they turn grey from oxidization.

lwknight
09-22-2013, 10:14 PM
Love it!! Pure unadulterated lead.
Hard to find these days.

MtGun44
09-23-2013, 11:29 AM
Yep, pure Pb has those colors and the alloys do not.

Bill

bangerjim
09-23-2013, 11:46 AM
Yes.......pure lead is perrrrrrrty! Colors do not mean anything.

You do not want those colors in your alloy for casting because you will be way too hot. And you will burn off a lot of your tin/ant from the mix and have to spend time reducing it back in.

Cast away.

bangerjim