Anything I need to know about lead pipe?

[TexasJeff]

As I continue to scrounge for more lead sources and build up the reserves, I very recently came across a source for free lead pipe.

I cut off a small sample and am sending it to a metallurgical lab to confirm pureness. But it looks like excellent stuff. The person giving this to me estimates that he has around five to six hundred pounds of pure lead pipe.

Is there anything peculiar or specific about the old lead pipe of yesteryears that I need to know about while smelting, and then casting?

And I guess, while I'm at it, same questions would go for old sailboat keel lead--I'm about to close in on a very good supply of that as well.

Much appreciated.

Jeff

[corvette8n]

It is usually very close to pure. Used pipe has all kinds of mineral deposits inside,
Mine was given to me in about 6in lenghts with the ends closed by the cutter. I used a torch to burn a hole thru it and pre-heated it before I threw it in the smelting pot. Smelt where you have good venalation. It is soft so you may wan't to trade it to some muzzleloaders, not sure how much ww or lino you would have to add for bullet use.

[fishhawk]

only thing with the keel is you don't know what all is in it could even be zinc in it for all you know, keels are usaly just about any thing. i get lead pipe here and works fine for muzzle loaders just make sure it's dry before you drop in a bunch of melt other wise it will be exciting to say the least!

[EMC45]

I have a good bit and that is some soft stuff.

[testhop]

lead pipe can haveall kinds ofjunk in side it depends what was used for justmelt down outside in caseof smell makes great blackpowder ball
if you trade it off for ww you should get better than a even swap maybe 3 for 2

[wheelgunner]

DEFINATELY smelt these outdoors. Most are from waste pipes and traps and after all those years of having excrement run through them the odors when smelting can get pretty nasty!

[skullmount]

Is there anything peculiar or specific about the old lead pipe of yesteryears that I need to know about while smelting, and then casting?



Jeff,

I have been in the same spot, a few years ago. I did not have the re$ources to send a sample to the lab.....but while talking to the plumbers on a "new" site in Detroit that I was working on....and mining on :-D they told me to stay away from the flared end where the actual connection is made. They said that in removing them and what they had learned from others is that the connection "ends" have some type of additive in it to make it "harder". (might not matter to you) I cast only for muzzleloaders and want as close to pure as I can get.

Skullmount

carl

[imashooter2]

Note that the "stuff" inside lead pipes holds water. To be safe, start from a cold pot every time.

Sail boat keels are made out of "heavy stuff that we were able to melt".

[mroliver77]

I have a nice pile of lead pipe that my ex wifes cousins husband got for me. He worked for a plumber and would salvage it when putting in new water lines. It is dead soft. I use it for ML and to mix with WW. 50/50 mix with WW and water dropped makes a good bullet for my .38 and .45 Colt. Heat treat in the oven and it makes great 2000fps hunting boolits. I bought the 311440 GB and cast these for 30-30 and they hit like a fist! I have some fittings and will have to check to see if the are harder. WW are getting hard to find and I have a very good stash of soft lead so I stretch the antimony as much as I can. For pistol 30-1 lead-tin makes a decent boolit but I catch them to remelt.
J

[DLCTEX]

Lead pipes, lead flashing+soft lead. I keep all I can find. 54 cal boolits use it up in a hurry, along with 45 and 36 cal. pistols. The City here saves me all the old lead water meter loops they replace(our alaline water does not leach lead, but rather forms a calcium crust inside to seal the water from the lead, so no urgency to change them). Each one yields about 15 lbs. of lead Dale

[cbrick]

My experience with sail boat ballast is that it is made from whatever the boat mfg can get his hands on that will melt into the mould that fits his hull. It may make good bullets but test it seperately, don't ruin a pot of good alloy blending it until you know what you have.

Rick

[TexasJeff]

Appreciate the feedback and advice.

I may end up having way more of this (pure lead pipe) than originally thought. It's been sitting for years, so there's no recent use.

Will definitely be smelting out on the back deck. I've been looking at the "sticky" thread about smelting setups and getting some good ideas for my needs.

Hoping to get up to my potential sailboat keel lead place early next week. As I understand from one of his retired employees, the guy only used lead in his custom-hulled keels. With recent floods and storms we had this past summer, lot of damaged boats. Lot of them were totalled by the insurance companies.

Jeff

[Jim]

When lead pipe was in use, it was used to connect the tail piece of sinks and lavatories to the connection in the wall. Lead pipe was never used for solid or semi-solid waste. The other use for lead in plumbing was to seal the connection in cast iron soil pipe. However, it was used on the outside of the pipe and was not exposed to the solids in waste pipe.

[randyrat]

When you pour your ingots save a little hot melt in the bottom of the pot to save heat for the next batch. Soft lead takes more heat than WWs to smelt. You'll see what i'm talking about once you get started. Nice haul..... You may even find some brass in some of the pipes depending where they came from. Your ingots may have a nice blue hue to them , not to worrie. With all that soft lead at hand you may have to buy yourself a smoke pole to shoot soft bullets. FUN

[kidmma]

Skull...
That asnsers why I had 2 different batches of lead pipe. I didn't remove the flared ends of the lead pipe. When I started dropping the ingots on the floor they had distinct "ring" to some of them. When I did a comparison test for hardness, some of them came out about 16 BNH!

Scott