An unlikely source of lead

[ghh3rd]

I asked my brother to keep an eye out for lead when at work remodeling homes and businesses. Soon afterward he dragged over this 72 lb sheet of soft lead that was a shower liner in a ‘60’s house!

Maybe I should go prospecting and tear out my shower 😋207911

[Wayne Smith]

They were frequently used as the pan under the shower.

[ghh3rd]

Even in California??? ;)

[john.k]

In the 80s i worked on a building project,all the houses had lead sheet used as the dampcourse between floors.But concrete was poured over the sheet,so it will only reappear as demolition rubbish.Plastic was the norm even then,but these houses were part of a retirement village,corporation owned,and built to last.

[Bzcraig]

Even in California??? ;)

Yep, tore more than a few out, shame I wasn't casting then. Not sure when they stopped using them but guessing the 60's. All the ones I tore out were in houses from 40's & 50's

[retrobass]

Got a free shower pan myself the other day. Seems like pure lead for sure. Makes me wonder what outher sources of lead could be scrounged from remodeling projects.

[greyling22]

lead was often used to seal up the joints in cast iron drain lines. I threw a bunch out. lead is precious and all, but it was going to be way more work that in was worth to get it out. And it was nasty.....

[lightman]

Got a free shower pan myself the other day. Seems like pure lead for sure. Makes me wonder what outher sources of lead could be scrounged from remodeling projects.

Older houses often used sheet lead for roof flashing and the gasket (often called a roof jack) around vent pipes was often lead. I've heard of lead window weights but I've never seen one. Most all of this lead is soft.

[Wayne Smith]

This house was built during the Vietnam War (aluminum wiring) and when when we re-did the bathroom I got the pan - yes, it was pure.

[Buckshot]

..............Well heck. Sometimes it is only dumb luck or a couple of your pals are in the right place at the right time :-) My neighbor Ralf, likes to shoot (like me) and he reloads (like me) but he doesn't cast (unlike me :-)) He is a job superintendant for a fairly large construction outfit (offices in San Fran, LA, and San Diego). At the time I was working 1800 to 0600, so when he called my wife answered the phone. He was on some job that required radiation shielding. The sub on the job performing the shielding was wrapping up and he and his crew were getting ready to head back to Texas (I'm in So. Cal). There was a considerable amount of lead blocks left over so Ralf asked him about the lead.

He told Ralf he could have all he wanted. He just had to take them before the scrapper got there, as he'd already been called. So Ralf called me and DOnna told him I already had all the lead I needed (not true :-)), besides, I was asleep. Ralf knowing better grabbed a guy to help him load these lead bricks into his pickup. At the time Ralf drove a Ford F150. Ralf said they loaded lead until his rear bumper was 6" off the ground.

http://www.fototime.com/64943F906E94573/standard.jpg

Not only did he bring it home, but he stacked it in front of my garage door! There are 76 blocks of which 50 are 22 lbs, and the balance are 32 lbs. He said he could hardly see over his hood, and it was a good deal it was in the summer and daylight because if he'd had had to use his headlights, they'd have been useless, HA! He said what he brought home was a small part of what was left.

Ken was another good friend, and we'd gotten tangled up together in 577-450 Martini's through our gunsmith, which is a long (but not boring story) and too long to post here. Ken had been a navigator/bombardier in B-24's during WW2, and had been in on the Ploesti oil refinery raids, had been escorted many times by the Tuskegee airmen (he said they were magnificent!) and had given me a brad new, 'In the cardboard tube' spark plug that went in one of the engine. In any event, he was the supervising engineer for the physical plant at the University of Riverside (California).

Before I'd met Ken the university was getting a new science building and the old one was being demolished. In the process in one of the big piles of steel and other metals he spied some unusual pipes. It turned out they were pure tin as all the distilled water used in the labs traveled in tin pipes! Ken asked the demo crew supervisor about scrounging them out and was told to "Go ahead as it was all getting hauled off to a scrapper". So that's why Ken said he'd originally had five 30 cal ammo cans full of 1 lb ingots of Tin. Over the years I supposed I'd bought maybe 20 lbs of Tin from him for $1/lb.

He began to have some serious health issues. His 2 sons weren't really into guns but took a couple as did his son in law. He asked me if I'd be interested in a Greener Martini project he had partially completed a few years ago but wasn't up to finishing it, and would I think that $200 was too much (it was in parts, and the wood wasn't attached, nor was the barrel fitted). Of course I gladly paid the asking price.

http://www.fototime.com/9DC03C642E41F6B/standard.jpg http://www.fototime.com/9109FBD2EB448DC/standard.jpg
http://www.fototime.com/8C8714312BCD32C/standard.jpg

Not long after that I called him up to let him know I'd gotten the wood attached and the barrel on and would like to bring it over to show him. While there he asked if I'd be interested in the last of his tin for $50. I didn't know how much he had left, but of course I said sure. So I got one full ammo can and 27 loose 1 lb (give or take) ingots for a total of 87 of'em. Sad to say he passed away about 7 months later. He also had some great stories too!

..............Buckshot

[Grmps]

In Europe, they use it for roofing on large structures.
One structure had a big fire and there was lead pouring out the downspouts.

[lightman]

..............Well heck. Sometimes it is only dumb luck or a couple of your pals are in the right place at the right time :-) My neighbor Ralf, likes to shoot (like me) and he reloads (like me) but he doesn't cast (unlike me :-)) He is a job superintendant for a fairly large construction outfit (offices in San Fran, LA, and San Diego). At the time I was working 1800 to 0600, so when he called my wife answered the phone. He was on some job that required radiation shielding. The sub on the job performing the shielding was wrapping up and he and his crew were getting ready to head back to Texas (I'm in So. Cal). There was a considerable amount of lead blocks left over so Ralf asked him about the lead.

He told Ralf he could have all he wanted. He just had to take them before the scrapper got there, as he'd already been called. So Ralf called me and DOnna told him I already had all the lead I needed (not true :-)), besides, I was asleep. Ralf knowing better grabbed a guy to help him load these lead bricks into his pickup. At the time Ralf drove a Ford F150. Ralf said they loaded lead until his rear bumper was 6" off the ground.

http://www.fototime.com/64943F906E94573/standard.jpg

Not only did he bring it home, but he stacked it in front of my garage door! There are 76 blocks of which 50 are 22 lbs, and the balance are 32 lbs. He said he could hardly see over his hood, and it was a good deal it was in the summer and daylight because if he'd had had to use his headlights, they'd have been useless, HA! He said what he brought home was a small part of what was left.

Ken was another good friend, and we'd gotten tangled up together in 577-450 Martini's through our gunsmith, which is a long (but not boring story) and too long to post here. Ken had been a navigator/bombardier in B-24's during WW2, and had been in on the Ploesti oil refinery raids, had been escorted many times by the Tuskegee airmen (he said they were magnificent!) and had given me a brad new, 'In the cardboard tube' spark plug that went in one of the engine. In any event, he was the supervising engineer for the physical plant at the University of Riverside (California).

Before I'd met Ken the university was getting a new science building and the old one was being demolished. In the process in one of the big piles of steel and other metals he spied some unusual pipes. It turned out they were pure tin as all the distilled water used in the labs traveled in tin pipes! Ken asked the demo crew supervisor about scrounging them out and was told to "Go ahead as it was all getting hauled off to a scrapper". So that's why Ken said he'd originally had five 30 cal ammo cans full of 1 lb ingots of Tin. Over the years I supposed I'd bought maybe 20 lbs of Tin from him for $1/lb.

He began to have some serious health issues. His 2 sons weren't really into guns but took a couple as did his son in law. He asked me if I'd be interested in a Greener Martini project he had partially completed a few years ago but wasn't up to finishing it, and would I think that $200 was too much (it was in parts, and the wood wasn't attached, nor was the barrel fitted). Of course I gladly paid the asking price.

http://www.fototime.com/9DC03C642E41F6B/standard.jpg http://www.fototime.com/9109FBD2EB448DC/standard.jpg
http://www.fototime.com/8C8714312BCD32C/standard.jpg

Not long after that I called him up to let him know I'd gotten the wood attached and the barrel on and would like to bring it over to show him. While there he asked if I'd be interested in the last of his tin for $50. I didn't know how much he had left, but of course I said sure. So I got one full ammo can and 27 loose 1 lb (give or take) ingots for a total of 87 of'em. Sad to say he passed away about 7 months later. He also had some great stories too!

..............Buckshot

Sounds like you have a good friend! With that much lead, I bet his F-150 was sitting low. That looks like nice clean lead. I recently hauled 2800# and it squatted my F-250 a little. Sorry for the loss of your other friend.

[Shiloh]

Even in California??? ;)

Yep.
Before the kooks took over. Practical, cheap, available.

Shiloh

[bedbugbilly]

And being used in a shower it should be "clean" lead! :-)

[Plumbob22]

I asked my brother to keep an eye out for lead when at work remodeling homes and businesses. Soon afterward he dragged over this 72 lb sheet of soft lead that was a shower liner in a ‘60’s house!

Maybe I should go prospecting and tear out my shower [emoji39]207911Sheet lead that is used for shower pans is PURE lead that is referred to as 4 lb sheet lead. (4 lbs per square foot). I own a plumbing company in Saint Louis, MO and we still have some customers that we install lead pans for their showers. BTW I have over 6 tons of clean pure lead in 8-1/2 lb bars in the corner of my warehouse and I am planning on making more bars this winter. :)

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[Plumbob22]

lead was often used to seal up the joints in cast iron drain lines. I threw a bunch out. lead is precious and all, but it was going to be way more work that in was worth to get it out. And it was nasty.....If you ever run into any more cast iron drain lines and want to get the lead out of the joints, just hit the hub with a hammer and break it. The lead joint will be much easier to get out.

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