best way to cut up rolls of lead ?

[remshooter]

an older gentelman had two rolls of lead sheeting in his basment ,the former owner had left, he was told it was to be put in an x-ray room for a doctor or dentist ,and this was left over . I bought 2 100 pound rolls off him they are roughly 4 feet long ,and after i dropped them on floor they vary from 4 " to 7 " thick . cant fit in my 20 pound pot ,so what is the best way ,and tool to cut it up with?

[leadeye]

Sawzall does the trick when I have to cut up folded roofing lead. Similar problem.

[largom]

Lay on plywood and use widest chisel you have and a hammer.
LARRY

[NSP64]

Sound like a good excuse to buy that bigger smelting pot you always wanted:-P

[Bullshop]

I roll it out and score it where ever I want it to tear with a box knife. Snip the edge with a metal shear or heavy scisers to get a tear started then with one hand on each side of the cut pull in oposite directions. The tear will follow the score line. On the really thin stuff the box knife will just cut right through.
BIC/BS

[Jbar4Ranch]

Just tear it if it's thin enough, say an eight inch or so. If it's thicker, a hatchet works fine. A pneumatic chisel would work well too. A saw works, but galls easily and you have all those little chips to sweep up afterward.

[IcerUSA]

If you are going to smelt this down for ingots I would just hang it over the edge of the pot and cut it with a circular saw with a old plywood blade put on back wards, small pieces that are from the cutting would fall into the smelting pot so clean up would be less of a chore .

Just an idea.

Keith

[remshooter]

thanks for the ideas, there are some good ones here, i'll give some a try

[imashooter2]

I'll second the hatchet. Works even better with a 2 pound hammer to strike the hatchet like a chisel with a handle.

[35remington]

Tin snips.

[357maximum]

Roll it up and use a hydraulic wood splitter....but I also second the notion of getting a large smelting pot and meeeelting it.

[GabbyM]

lay it on dirt then take an ax to it. OR it's probably thin enough to cut with shears as mentioned before.
Use what you've got.

Couple months ago I purchased a huge hunk of lead. Counterbalance weight off the rear of a salvaged fork lift truck. I used a carpenters 7 1/4” circular saw with carbide blade to saw it up. Took a few hours.
When I started melting it down I discovered it was zinc contaminated. Boo hoo.

Circular saw works but I wouldn't claim it as safe. I carpentered in my youth and spent the last thirty years in metal fab and machine shop and it scared me. Takes a bit of care not to over load with chips. I did lock up the blade once. Unbolted the blade from the saw then beat it loose with a piece of 2 x 4 . Amazingly the blade went back into service undamaged. That was some real ghetto metal fab.

You can melt lead to cut with a large propane weed burner torch but you'll have enough heat to gas off lead vapor for a toxic risk. Plus it's a big mess.

I've cut 4x4" lead with a wood splitting wedge and ten pound hammer. Runs into work.

[Cloudpeak]

Get a pot with a large enough diameter or have one made, a heat source that is very sturdy and stand the roll of lead on end in the pot and melt 'er down. You'd want to give the roll of lead some vertical support, that's for sure. I did this on some old lead pipe and it worked fine.

I'd rather spend a few bucks on the right equipment than "wrestle" lead. My time isn't worth much anymore but it's worth more than that.

Cloudpeak

[Ricochet]

Metal shears are what I cut 'em up with.

[DLCTEX]

I thought I'd posted a reply, but guess I blew it. I use a hatchet and a tree stump.

[WickedGoodOutdoors]

You could just lay it on some nice straight RailRoad Tracks and wait for the train to cut it for you.


But I think I would just use an Blue Tip Wrench and slice it.

http://cse.ssl.berkeley.edu/img/earthquakes/Railroad.gif

[MtGun44]

I'm guessing that the cool tracks pic is the result of an
earthquake. Any info?

Bill

[dk17hmr]

We cut lead pipe with an axe, just lay it out on the lawn and chop all the way through it.

[grumpy one]

What I would try first is:
Step 1, measure diameter of lead pot.
Step 2, re-roll the rolls of lead sheet to just a smidgen less than the pot diameter, cut off that roll with tin snips, start another roll, and continue until you have a set of rolls of lead that will fit into your pot.
Step 3, use an axe to cut the rolls laterally into short rolls of the right diameter to fit in your pot.
Step 4, melt the short rolls individually by sliding them into the pot.

[azjohn]

I use tin snips on roofing lead. Works great.

[Ricochet]

I'm guessing that the cool tracks pic is the result of an
earthquake.
I was thinking flood.

[mtgrs737]

You can cut it with a propane torch.

[Linstrum]

A chainsaw works pretty good for cutting massively thick lead sections, like sailboat keel weights. Turpentine is the best cutting fluid for chainsawing lead but since turpentine is as flammable as gasoline a great deal of caution is advised to prevent a flash fire since gas engines and electric motors are good sources of ignition. Regular chain bar oil works but it still tends to gall up and gum a bit.

The railroad track photo looks like a flood-mud slide. The ties appear to be concrete, so the tracks would be even less likely to float than with wooden ties.


rl506

[Winger Ed.]

Do ya have access to any teenagers?

Years ago I got about a ton of lead sheeting.
My youngest and his buds had a great time cutting it up, and smelting it down into ingots.
This concept worked fine, until they figured out it was sort of like work.

All I had to do was make sure they didn't take off their welders' gloves/eye protection,
drink beer, and supervise.

[snowtigger]

I have a large (for me) supply of 3/16" sheet lead. I tried everything I could think of, from the ax to the Sawzall. I finally settled on a Skilsaw with a carbide blade. Works like a champ. It also works for linotype in bars. Just put a cheap blue tarp under it . When you are done, fold up the tarp and pour the "sawdust" into the pot.

[Dan Cash]

I'll second the hatchet. Works even better with a 2 pound hammer to strike the hatchet like a chisel with a handle.

Please don't strike the hatchet with a hammer. The hadchet head can/will spall and seriously injure you.

Sawzall is my #1. If feeding the roll directly to the pot, hang the roll over the pot with a chain hoist/come-along/game hoist or similar device and lower into the pot as the melt requires.
Dan

[Morgan Astorbilt]

I guess I might as well chime in. I started out with about 600lbs. of 1/4" thick X-Ray room wall shielding. I've been cutting it with my Snap-On air chisel using a panel cutter bit(the kind used by body shops). It cuts extremely fast, rolling up about a 1/8" kerf, which is good to start the melt in the pot.
Morgan