Help Identify Metal (with pics)

[HangFireW8]

Hello, helpful people...

A friend donated these today with some wheelweights. It's nice to have friends.

One seems to have the word "solder" on the front, but on the back has stamped, either "Sl 21" or "Sb 21". I'm hoping for the latter. With my Lee tester it tested at about BHN 7.9.

The other says "Arnold & Co LIB" where LIB may be cut off. I came in at BHN 9.2.

These have been sitting around in a garage for years.

When I bang them on concrete, they both just go thud, no ring.

Any ideas?

-HF

[runfiverun]

looks like the body lead i have it's pure with some tin in it to help it melt easier.

[HangFireW8]

looks like the body lead i have it's pure with some tin in it to help it melt easier.

I'm sorry... are you saying the lower one looks like auto body lead?

-HF

[runfiverun]

if they thud, bend easy and melt near 800* it's lead.
if they thud,bend easy and melt at a lower temp like650 it has some tin in it.
if it has 21% sb in it the hardness will be over 22 bhn.
50/50 solder bars look similar to your lower one but have a hollow" tank" not tink sound to them,and if you bend them they will crackle.

[Bret4207]

Yup, looks like the old bars of body lead or wiping lead (solder) I've seen. The other guys gave you the scoop on figuring out specifically what it is, go with their ideas.

[HangFireW8]

if they thud, bend easy and melt near 800* it's lead.
if they thud,bend easy and melt at a lower temp like650 it has some tin in it.
if it has 21% sb in it the hardness will be over 22 bhn.
50/50 solder bars look similar to your lower one but have a hollow" tank" not tink sound to them,and if you bend them they will crackle.

Thanks, both of you for the info.

They both bend by hand, being very thick I wouldn't call it easy, but I didn't even think to try that. So, we're dealing with Lead or Solder.

On further examination, it appears to be stamped "ST. 21" on the back of the bar marked solder. Might be tin content, might be meaningless.

When I get around to it, I'll melt them, paying close attention to the temperature. I've got a fair amount of lead and tin already, it is antimony that I need... of course.

-HF