Cutting down race car weights

[dj454]

I live in a very racing oriented town. I have had good luck running across old race car weights from former racers. I have had no issues casting boolits with it but I do have to harden it a little. Here is the problem I am running into. The race car weights are too large and heavy to put in my pot when making ingots. I have one that is rather large at 105 lbs. Cutting them down to managable chunks has been a heck of chore to say the least. My band saw bogs down so its a no go. A hack saw takes way too long. I have had the best results with a sawzall but it still takes forever and eats up the blades. Any suggestions on cutting these big chunks down to size? I don't have a torch or I would consider that. Thanks.

[Mk42gunner]

Hydraulic wood splitter. Works like an axe, but less likely to miss and hit your foot.

Robert

[willie_pete]

Hang it from a hoist and slowly lower into the pot if large enough.

WP

[Gtek]

Have you tried any lubricant when cutting with saw blade? Might surprise you. Gtek

[WILCO]

Sell them off and buy smaller ingots of a known alloy.

[plainsman456]

I have attacked some with a hatchet and a 2 lb shop hammer.

Still takes some time.

[ACrowe25]

Hatchet... Get your workout in for the day.

[dj454]

I haven't tried lubing the blade it never crossed my mind. As far as selling it to get known alloy why would I do that? I can barely get wheel weights here and they are mixed with steel and zinc and I have to sort them plus the wheel weights cost me more and are a lot more work. None of the tire shops will sell them anymore since they are on recycle trade in programs. I have to buy wheel weights from the scrap yard and he charges too much for them. The race car weights have been cheap and I have had no problem casting great accurate bullets with them. I add a 1lb of tin per 20lbs of race car weight. Plus the weights are cleaner than wheel weights too.

[wv109323]

If the blades are getting clogged with the lead use a courser blade. I used to cut PVC pipe with a hacksaw. Cuts could be made but a lot of strokes and a crooked cut. Try a handsaw, and the PVC cuts quick and straight. It does take a little more effort and the pipe needs to be held more secure.

[lightman]

As stated, a log splitter works great. A shop hammer and a splitting wedge will work, too. A propane weed burner should melt it down to size. If I had regular access to large chunks of lead, I would consider building a large smelting pot. Most of us don't find that much lead. Some members post about using a chainsaw, but I have not tried this. Lightman

[marvelshooter]

I got a kick out of this thread because I recently helped a friend make a weight for his drag car. We used a piece of square steel tubing and poured the lead in so he could weld mounting brackets to it. Cutting it to fine tune the weight was a pain but flooding the blade with water based lubricant helped a lot.

[Mk42gunner]

I forgot to add that stock car weights around here are usually made from straight wheel weights, thus may not need as much additional tin as you are adding. I have ran into this several times when scrounging WW, "I save them for the stock car guys, they need them to make weights for their cars."

Robert

[starmac]

I think I would try a skill saw before a chainsaw.

[Mechanicalmayham]

I picked up a dutch oven without the lid. It was pretty ratty. Someone left it out in the weather and it filled with water that pitted the bottom and side pretty bad. It is also warped so using it on the stove is out. I put it to task to make ingots. I have several 5lb ingots from old plumbing supplies, shower liners, lead piping and sheet lead up to 3/4" thick. Breaking down this big lead sucks but I bust it up into manageable size chunks and throw the old dutch on the turkey fryer burner. Get it melted down and use a big ladle to pour off smaller ingots. A friend welded me up some ingot forms so I can pour 4 1.5lb with about one ladle.

[Greg5278]

A Chainsaw is easiest, but you must wear Proper protective Gear.
If you don't have one, the Sawzall works, but as you mention it clogs up. I would try a coarse blade, perhaps the Fleaim ground Pruning Blade. I would take a Punch and offset every 3rd or 4th tooth to increase the clearing of the Chips. The blade is available from Home Depot. I would second the use of Lube. Perhaps try liquid Dishsoap. It works wonders on certain types of Steel, but I am not sure about Lead. Lard also works Nicely, and makes the place smell like Dinners cooking!
Greg
AKA 12 Bore

[Tatume]

I had the same problem. I hung the lead from a step ladder and made a chimney about 18" high by stacking bricks about a frying pan, with the lead in the chimney and above the pan. Heat was applied with a weed burner, and within minutes the lead was melted, dipped out of the pan, and poured into ingot molds.

[myg30]

Skill saw with carbide tip blade works. Use a shield to keep the chips. Kerosene works for lube on blade to keep chips from sticking. WD40.
Glad you have a supply of lead there. Tin is expensive.
If memory serves me,[ im crs] 2% Tin is all that's needed. I don't believe you get any more benefit from adding 5% [1lb per 20lb]. I would double check the mix chart in the Cast boolit pages from lasc.us at the bottom of the page.

Mike

[reloader28]

When I made my race car weights, I just melted all the SOWW and COWW together without sorting. That probly why they're soft.
I sold my last stock car about a year before I got into casting boolits. There was a right at 400lbs of lead bricks bolted to that car to make the minimum weight.[smilie=b:[smilie=b:

If only I would have known. It was no problem to get WW back then. They couldnt give them to you fast enough.

[dj454]

You are right I mistyped it my tin ingots are 1\2 lb not 1 lb. I have used some of them as is for light 38 loads I only harden with tin for mild 40's and 10mm.

[Walter Laich]

+1 on skil (correct spelling--had to look it up) saw with carbide blade.
.
Lay a big tarp under it to catch all the little pieces that will be thrown off.
'
Also protective equip is a must.
.
any whatever you do, don't saw your leg off :wink:

[bangerjim]

Check out the dual-cut rotary electric saws out there. You know......the ones with 2 carbide blades that turn in opposite directions.

I use one to cut up BIG lead castings. It has no kick-back, no galling, and cuts thru lead like a warm knife thru butter! And is VERY fast!!!!!! Put a tarp down to catch the "saw dust".

Much better than axes, splitters, band saws, recipro saws! It can also be used to cut wood, metal, plastic, and just about anything! It even "cuts the cheeze"!!!!!!!!!

HA........ha.

banger

[Nrut]

Skill saw with carbide tip blade works. Use a shield to keep the chips. Kerosene works for lube on blade to keep chips from sticking. WD40.
Glad you have a supply of lead there. Tin is expensive.
If memory serves me,[ im crs] 2% Tin is all that's needed. I don't believe you get any more benefit from adding 5% [1lb per 20lb]. I would double check the mix chart in the Cast boolit pages from lasc.us at the bottom of the page.

Mike
myg30 is correct on all points!
I also use a Skil saw and lube the carbide blade..
Using more than 2% tin is unnecessary and expensive..
You will have a lot of lead saw chips and after you see where they fly you'll figure out how to collect them..

[8mmshooter]

Try putting a regular steel saw blade in a skill saw backwards .I do it all the time to cut steel siding,corrugated roofing and aluminum. make sure you use eye protection.

[Charlie U.]

I have the same kind of blocks and ran into the same problems.
My first attempt was to try cutting them with hacksaws and bandsaws but that just bogged down the teeth of my saws and using a sawzall was a bear too.....Ended up hacking the blocks down into thirds using a wood chisel and a heavy mallet.

I still have 5 more of the blocks, with access to more for the asking, so I am glad you posted this question. I think I will give the log splitter a try.

[Airman Basic]

A little work, but my solution is to score the weights with a hatchet, lay the scored line across a 2 by 4 and rap it with a small sledge. It'll break at the line.

[JSH]

I would be real cautious. When I was still fooling with dirt track stuff I had seen guys melt old batteries down. Seemed like there was always a half dozen laying around behind everyone's shop. I even remember guys in salvage yards that were racing getting a big pile of pallets burning then just dumping batteries ,case,acid and all into the coals. Then they would just pick up the alloy a day or two later out of the ashes.
Jeff

[jonas302]

Log splitter is the cats tail to cut lead otherwise you could consider drilling a line of holes and wedging to break them

[lwknight]

Not everyone has a log splitter.
Weed burners are cheap. You can render off 50 or 60 pounds in 30 minutes then the next 100
will go even faster because everything will be getting preheated.

[Lloyd Smale]

another vote for a chainsaw. I keep an old one just for cutting big lead.

[MGySgt]

Circular saw with the blade mounted backwards. Doesn't really matter what your TPI is, but a fine cut blade normally makes less 'chips'

I have had some large chunks of lead to smelt - but then again I also have a 20 pound propane tank cut down to smelt my WW in. It holds over 200 pounds. Put it on a turkey fryer and use a heat shield around it and it don't take long to melt it down to flux and pour into ingot's.