What Do I Have and Can I Use it?

[Grampie not Grumpie]

This morning a friend gave me 10 - 12 lbs. of babbit. I have used babbit before and couldn't tell much difference from water dropped W W. However when I melted this down it has a golden sheen to it. It is harder than WW by quite a bit and probably melted at a higher temp. I melted it in a cast iron skillet over a propane "turkey fryer." A pocket knife will scratch it but my thumb nail won't. BTW I hit the tire stores in town this morning and came up empty.

Can I use this mixed with WW or should I just put it aside?

Any ideas or comments?

Grampie not Grumpie

[felix]

It is a mistake to melt any unknown babbit because you will get what you got. Now, you must add it to WW by cutting it through for a chunk to add. Do not use straight babbit as a boolit alloy as a general rule because of the layering effect of the elements in the pot. It is difficult to flux babbit at home to make a homogeneous mixture that will hold up during casting. Special rules for special stuff applies here. ... felix

[Grampie not Grumpie]

I melted it down and have kept it separate from the rest of my lgnots until I decide what I have and what to do with it. I may end up making fish sinkers with it.

Grampie not Grumpie

[JeffinNZ]

Fish sinkers! I think you mean fishing sinkers and please don't as it is a waste.

I was given a BIG bearing with babbit lining. I chipped all the babbit off and smelted it into ingots. The ingots weigh about 60% that of the same sized ingot of lead. This told me I had tin based babbit and I use it for adding tin to WW. I treat it just as pure tin and get very good results.

[glicerin]

The gold sheen is typical of tin. If your ingots ring like a bell then you probably have hi speed babbit(same as tin babbit, nickel?babbit,). I use it gladly as a source of tin. 80% tin, 12% antimony, 8% misc such as copper or nickel which has never given me a problem. I add about 1.5% babbit to 98.5 WW, to bring tin up to 2%. Don't use for muzzleloader or bpcr(adds hardness). If your ingots of babbit crack when struck, with small glass-like crystals, you probably have zinc(seldom gold colour, usually a matte dull grey on surface, but crystals shiny. diagnose and good luck

[felix]

Nickel is seldom more that ONE percent in any babbit I have read about. ... felix

[jdgabbard]

Seems that it would be kinda hard to add a certain percentage of babbit to any alloy as your casting in ingots.

Wonder if it would be easier to cast up boolits with it and then put those in a container labeled BABBIT so that you could just pull out one or two to toss in the melt...

Just an idea.

[yodar]

I melted it down and have kept it separate from the rest of my lgnots until I decide what I have and what to do with it. I may end up making fish sinkers with it.

Grampie not Grumpie

Melt it down not exceeding 628 degrees and the copper, if present will slush up to be skimmed off. Possibly could be some antimony, perhaps tin as well. (both desirable casting alloys additives in small amounts)

I would never add more'n 4 oz per 10 lb pot of wheelweight metal

yodar

[Grampie not Grumpie]

jdgabbard said" [Wonder if it would be easier to cast up boolits with it and then put those in a container labeled BABBIT so that you could just pull out one or two to toss in the melt...
Just an idea.[/QUOTE]\

That's a great idea! I cast several dozen boolits today using it and they do weigh about 70% of a WW boolit. When I was heating it and casting the boolits the "pot" had a "rainbow of colors" that I tried to stir up and keep mixed. I am going to have to get the babbit all cast into boolits and kept in a plastic jar labeled "BABBIT" for further casting. Should I have kept the pot skimmed off??

On a slightly different note: I am pretty new to casting. Only been doing it since early January. I have cast probably 500-600 boolits for my .44 mag revelovers. I am using a Lee 240 gr. TL SWC two cavity mold. I cast straight WW and 234 to 236 gr. is about as close to 240 gr. that I can get. Any ideas?? I keep my Lee 10 lb. bottom pour pot on about 8, (I don't have a thermometer) and the boolits come out looking good well-filled and flat bottoms with sharp edges. The boolits measure .430 with my "micro".

Any imput would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Grampie not Grumpie

[theperfessor]

GnotG-

For a bullet of that weight, if your bullets are coming within 4 to 6 grs of the nominal bullet weight I wouldn't worry a bit. Could be a mold with insignificant size variation (manufacturing tolerance) or the alloy you're using.

What's more important is if your bullets are consistently the same diameter and weight and how they end up shooting in your gun.

If they fill out well, are the right size, and shoot OK you're fine.

Happy casting and shooting to you!

[Beekeeper]

Grampie,
I worked with babbit in the oilfield when I was a kid.
The man who taught me used a pine stick to stir the melt and tested it as the stick would scorch at the right temp for pouring.
He told me the pine stick charing also caused all of the metals in babbit to combine the same as we flux our melt I would guess.
He sometimes tested temps by sticking his finger in the melt,( don't recommend it,tried it) said the oil on your hand kept you from getting burned. Guess I didn't have enough oil on my hand.



beekeeper

[Tom W.]

Sometimes I think y'all worry too much. If you're going to use it for plinking, paper punching or general farting around, just mix it with your w/w and be happy. It doesn't take anything special to melt babbitt nor to flux it, but it does have a peculiar smell... I've worked with it for many years on a daily basis when I worked in the sawmill... Sometimes our supplier would leave an ingot or two in my truck......

[Grampie not Grumpie]

Beekeeper,

Ditto on the pine stick. When I was an elevator mechanic and we poured babbit shackling cables that was the way we tested for tempature and to flux it before pouring.

This babbit I was given the other day is so hard, (I can scratch it with a pocket knife but not with my thumbnail), I feel it needs to be cut with a lot of WW before casting into boolits. When I melted it down into ignots it had a blue and purple slush floating on top of the golden sheen of the melt. I tried to keep it stirred but it seemed to keep getting thicker as I poured off the ignots. I skimmed off some and put it in a metal 1 lb. coffee can. I'll decide what to do with that later.

Grampie not Grumpie

[Beekeeper]

You have the high speed type of babbit.
It was used in highspeed bearings and has about 90% tin and 10% lead.
There is a babbit post here on the forum where they tell the actual content of the 2 types ( high and loww speed ) of babbit.
I have added a minute ammount into my melts for years. Makes lighter boolits but a lot harder ones.


beekeeper

[Grampie not Grumpie]

Well I gave up on casting the babbit into boolits to store for adding to the pot. I can't get it hot enough to pour good. It is too thick to fill good and is a mess to work with. I even emptied out the Lee electric 10lb pot and used it. It would not run out the bottom even with the head cranked wide open. I just poured it back into the ignot molds and going to look for some smaller molds to pour them into. The boolits were perfect size, a bout a half an oz. each.

Grampie not Grumpie

[mag_01]

GnG --- Babbitt produces a hard boolit To the point of being brittle. tore up one of my sizing dies. I found mixing 10 to 15% to a mix produces good boolits and like someone mentioned if you watch your temperature components you may not want float to the top.