Plumbers Lead ?

[bbs70]

Yesterday I smelted some lead roof jacks, lead pipe , and some assorted other scrap that appeared to be soft lead.
What I ended up with is some very shiny ingots.
I figure part of the reason was it was 34 degrees and dropped to 6 while smelting and the lead was probably cool when cast.

What I'd like to find out is, how can I make sure it is all soft lead.
I don't really want to spend the money on a bhn hardness tester.
I did try ro scratch the surface of the ingot with my thumb nail and was able to leave a mark.
But I can also leave a similar mark on some wheel weight ingots I had cast last week.

I'm probably making too much out of this.
BUT I have a guy who wants to buy some of the soft lead ingots, and I want to make sure the man gets what he pays for.

http://i44.photobucket.com/albums/f12/gopherdust/My%20Stuff/Ingot.jpg

[mooman76]

The lead pipe and rof jacks are all soft plummers lead but I don't know what the scraps are. Sounds like all soft to me though. It is harder to scratch a ingot than it is a small piece. If you have WW ingots put them side by side and repeat the scratch test so you can better tell.

[KYCaster]

You can put your soft ingot and a WW ingot in a vise with a ball bearing between them and squeeze till you have a good indent in both ingots. The size of the dents will give you some idea of the relative hardness of the ingots.

Better yet, find the specific gravity of your alloy. That will tell you for sure if it's pure or alloyed with something lighter. It's very simple to do...Tom Myer explained it very well a couple of days ago. Search for posts by Tom Myer and it will show up near the top of the list.

Jerry

[deltaenterprizes]

The roof jacks have a bead of solder connecting the round piece and the joints on lead pipe are 50/50 solder.

[randyrat]

Warm them to room temprature, drop some WW ingots on the basement floor then drop your scrap ingots on the floor and listen. The softer lead will go thud and the WWs will make a ring,ding,ting or similar sound
The other Non scientific, but highly reconized method is make a few bullets out WWs then your scrap and compare. Softer the lead heavier they will weigh.
Remember it takes a while(up to two weeks) for lead and it's alloys to harden to full hardness after you smelt them. Also cooling temp MAY affect them also ie.. smelting in the cold of winter, kinda like water quencing.

[bbs70]

The roof jacks have a bead of solder connecting the round piece and the joints on lead pipe are 50/50 solder.

AH HA, I didn't know that, there were several pipe joints in the mix.
So probably this stuff is harder than regular plain lead.

I picked up some more lead this mornin' and I think I will smelt the roof jacks I just got with the ingots I made yesterday.

Or maybe better yet, just save those ingots and use them for my .45.

I gotta admit I like shiny ingots, they are just plain purty.:-D

[randyrat]

Tin has a BHN of only 7... Also a little tin makes nice boolits... Mix a little in each batch and i doubt anybody will be disappointed as long as you let them know about how much you mixed in.

[bbs70]

Well for the gentleman who wants the soft lead from me, I'm going to melt down the known soft stuff I bought today, that way my Concience will be clear I'm glad to say.

Was wondering, with a higher tin content on the ingots I had cast, could that account for the shiny ingots?

Was thinking about casting some boolits with the shiny stuff, sure would look purty.
WooHoo, I get to play Lone Ranger.

[deltaenterprizes]

Lead is shiny when it it is cast it takes a while for it to oxidize but it will over time. Do the drop test and see what sound it makes. I have had lead turn black over time, with a little tin it turns grey.

[Springfield]

Or you can cast a few and I can test them with my LBT lead hardness tester.

[FN in MT]

Can't even tell You how super convenient life is with a quality hardness tester. Do without a few lattes, beers, cocktails, stogies, movie nights, or whatever. And buy a tester. You will not regret it. Makes smelting a consistent alloy a lot easier,which then allows You to cast the best bullets. Why settle for less??

FN in MT

[cajun shooter]

+1 on that FN. After having my tester for the last 8 months I can see that I probably cast a few bullets with the wrong hardness. It makes you feel better about your bullets when you know and are not just guessing.