How to cut Lead Ingot to fit in my pot

[cwskirmisher]

Recently, when the price of pure lead dropped, a bunch of us got together and bought a truckload of pure lead from a smelter. It came in 60-lb ingots. Our group shoots muzzle stuffers, so pure lead is a must for minie hollow-based rounds.
Anyone have a good way to cut up the ingots into say 5 lb chunks that will fit into my pot? Someone told me that a sawzall with a bi-metal blade would do it easily. I am not looking fwd to this... but the lead was cheap enough we could not walk away.

[Storydude]

Got Logsplitter?

[Willbird]

I have neatly cut up 60 and 80 pound pigs with a short handled sledge hammer and a hatchet. Some folks have used a circular saw or a table saw too.

Bill

[Bladebu1]

The last time I cut one down I used a axe with a BH 8lb and fit in a coffee can and melted it to where I could pour it into a muffin tin when the can got about 1/2 full I would pull out the block via a eye lag screw and dumped some more molds

[oldoak2000]

How thick is the ingot?

A (door knob) hole-saw-bit in a drill might get you some 2" or 3" dia pugs . . . if you don't have a saw but already have a drill . . .

[Gerry N.]

Recently, when the price of pure lead dropped, a bunch of us got together and bought a truckload of pure lead from a smelter. It came in 60-lb ingots. Our group shoots muzzle stuffers, so pure lead is a must for minie hollow-based rounds.
Anyone have a good way to cut up the ingots into say 5 lb chunks that will fit into my pot? Someone told me that a sawzall with a bi-metal blade would do it easily. I am not looking fwd to this... but the lead was cheap enough we could not walk away.

A sharp 8 or 10 point cross cut saw cuts lead just fine. I see no reason a Sawzall with a coarse blade wouldn't work well too. You will have an easier time if you lube the saw with something. Water thinned wire pulling lube, WD-40, paint thinner and kerosene are all good lubes. I used a spray bottle to apply them, it doesn't take much. Diesel oil works, but the stench is overpowering.

Save the sawdust, it's lead too.

Gerry N.

[snaggdit]

The problem with cutting is getting the "sawdust" out of the teeth of your cutting tool. I tried a saws-all before and the reciprical action does not allow the lead chips a way to be dropped out of a block that is wider than the thickness of the reciprical action. Hence the mention of circular saw or cross-cut saw. If you have one, a band saw would do nicely. Since it is soft lead, the chopping idea would work, too.

[cwskirmisher]

How thick is the ingot?

A (door knob) hole-saw-bit in a drill might get you some 2" or 3" dia pugs . . . if you don't have a saw but already have a drill . . .

The ingots are 4" wide, 3" tall and abot 22" long.
I'm guessing any cutting tool (Sawzall or crosscut saw) will dull very, very quickly cutting the lead. But if coarse enough should last awile? I have 540 lbs (9 ingots) to cut into useable pieces.

[Old Ironsights]

Why not just set up the turkey fryer with a deep steel stock pot and stand up the ingot in it?

Hold the top with a pair of Welders gloves. It will slump as it melts before the top gets hot.

[cwskirmisher]

Why not just set up the turkey fryer with a deep steel stock pot and stand up the ingot in it?

Hold the top with a pair of Welders gloves. It will slump as it melts before the top gets hot.


I use a plumbers stove now, and my pot holds about 20 lbs. I'm no physisssst, but a 60 lb ingot would seem to take an enormous amount of heat energy to get 'er melting... I don't want to stand there for 2 - 4 hrs waiting for that giant heat sink to retain enough heat to melt. Besides, my wife would murder me in my sleep if I took the 'big' pot... :)

[Shiloh]

Splitting mall and wedge.

The chunks that almost fit were hung from coat hanger wire and melted into the pot with a propane torch. When they fit, they went in also.

Shiloh

[Willbird]

The problem with cutting is getting the "sawdust" out of the teeth of your cutting tool. I tried a saws-all before and the reciprical action does not allow the lead chips a way to be dropped out of a block that is wider than the thickness of the reciprical action. Hence the mention of circular saw or cross-cut saw. If you have one, a band saw would do nicely. Since it is soft lead, the chopping idea would work, too.

My power hacksaw sucked at cutting lead, as did my bandsaw...in both cases the cut seemed to almost want to close up behind the blade. The hammer and hatchet trick works so nice it made other methods look silly. It may not work well with less ductile alloys than pure lead. It does not work well with 60/40 solder for sure.

Bill

[cwskirmisher]

My power hacksaw sucked at cutting lead, as did my bandsaw...in both cases the cut seemed to almost want to close up behind the blade. The hammer and hatchet trick works so nice it made other methods look silly. It may not work well with less ductile alloys than pure lead. It does not work well with 60/40 solder for sure.

Bill



So - looks like the votes are swaying toward a hatchet and a sledge. OK, I'll give it a whack (pardon the pun).:mrgreen:

[jhrosier]

I have cut lead with a bandsaw, using a coarse wood cutting blade (about 8tpi.)
My Craftsman bandsaw with a 1/4" wide blade will cut about 2" thick before it runs out of power.

I have heard of folks using a chainsaw to cut lead but I don't know if I would try that myself.

Jack

[Old Ironsights]

I use a plumbers stove now, and my pot holds about 20 lbs. I'm no physisssst, but a 60 lb ingot would seem to take an enormous amount of heat energy to get 'er melting... I don't want to stand there for 2 - 4 hrs waiting for that giant heat sink to retain enough heat to melt. Besides, my wife would murder me in my sleep if I took the 'big' pot... :)

Ah. I use a 5gal steel stock pot I got at a "buy cheap chinese crap" store and have been known to fill the whole thing up with scrap pb or zinc-free WWs, turn on the turkey burner and read a book while watching the thermometer.

No worries. Takes about an hour to get it to 650 & liquid. Very relaxing. [smilie=1:

[anachronism]

I use a big, heavy hammer & a wide, stout chisel.

[riarcher]

Big wood fire and a large SS pot from a yard sale.
Melt it down and repour into usable ingots.
No waste and doable.
That's what I do on a "yard cleaning day".

[runfiverun]

i would drill a hole in it suspend over/in the pot and torch it.
if you have a cutting torch that will work too.

[ghh3rd]

About 30 years ago I came home with a very big chunk of lead and couldn't figure out how to make it manageable. My dad brought out his acetlyn torch and quickly melted the entire thing into little stringy dribbles that were very easy to break/pull apart and put into the pot.

Randy

[44mag1]

Id use a skillsaw, Itll cut it for sure

[snuffy]

Id use a skillsaw, It'll cut it for sure

I guess I'm gonna have to have somebody take a picture of me cutting lead with my skillsaw. It works extremely well! The circular motion slings the chips away from the blade. The main problem with reciprocal saws is the chips pug up behind the blade, pinching then breaking it. And no, it does not dull the blade at all.

Be careful though, those chips are hot and traveling fast, it stings plenty on exposed skin![smilie=1:

[JIMinPHX]

If you use a sawsall, get the coarsest tooth wood blade you can find. Same goes for skill saws. Use very little pressure on the saw, in fact, you may have to hold it back a little when she bites. I've seen guys do it with an ax before too, but that was pretty rough. I've also seen it done with a chain saw.

[bobk]

I like the hammer, splitter, and anvil route. I picked up the Sazall one time, and thought about all those little chunks of lead. Not the sort of thing I want to spread around in the grass. Not to mention how much of it you'd lose. Pure cuts pretty easy with an axe, but the anvil turns the edge, so you have to resharpen afterwards.

Bob K

[725]

riverfiverun & old ironsights have it. Hold it up over/in a big pot and melt it. It's much faster than you think. Add heat with a propane torch or a welder's cutting torch and it'll drip quickly into your cast pot. A good system of controling the heavy weight above the pot needs to be worked out. Extra set of hands, suspension from above, something.

[blackthorn]

For the size you stated----Wood chopping block, the heaviest single bit axe you can find and a sledge to finish the cut if you dont have enough "oomph" to drive it all the way through the first wack!

[Cherokee]

The gas torch is the fastest way to get small chunks for your pot.

[KYCaster]

Recently, when the price of pure lead dropped, a bunch of us got together and bought a truckload of pure lead from a smelter. It came in 60-lb ingots. Our group shoots muzzle stuffers, so pure lead is a must for minie hollow-based rounds.
Anyone have a good way to cut up the ingots into say 5 lb chunks that will fit into my pot? Someone told me that a sawzall with a bi-metal blade would do it easily. I am not looking fwd to this... but the lead was cheap enough we could not walk away.


I don't know how much a "truckload" weighs...maybe 1000 lbs., maybe 40,000 lbs. Whatever it weighs, it seems to me to be a waste of fuel to melt lead that's already in ingots.

A skillsaw works very well, but a 7 1/4 in. blade probably won't cut completely through your 4 X 3 ingots. A miter saw with a 10 in. blade would do the job much easier, especially if you have "a bunch of us" to help.

Use a coarse tooth carbide tipped blade and keep it cool and lubed. Mineral spirits applied with a spray bottle works very well as a lube. At the first sign of overheating, stop cutting and cool/lube the blade.

Set up your saw on a tarp or sheet of plastic to catch the chips.

I think three or four guys could chop up a ton of ingots in well under an hour.

Jerry

[fecmech]

I just cut up an ingot the size that you mentioned on my table saw which is a cheap 10" Ryobi with a carbide blade. Cuts just like a piece of wood, wear goggles and stay clear of the chips they hurt! Oh, and as Jerry said, set the saw on a tarp so you can pick up the chips. It took less than 5 minutes to cut into chunks that fit my rcbs furnace.

[cwskirmisher]

I just cut up an ingot the size that you mentioned on my table saw which is a cheap 10" Ryobi with a carbide blade. Cuts just like a piece of wood, wear goggles and stay clear of the chips they hurt! Oh, and as Jerry said, set the saw on a tarp so you can pick up the chips. It took less than 5 minutes to cut into chunks that fit my rcbs furnace.

I have a compound mitre saw. Would that work? I have a ceramics blade and a carbide general purpose blade.

[AZ-Stew]

An acetylene torch runs hot enough to create lead fumes. Not a good situation.

I have cut alloys harder than pure lead using a coarse-bladed band saw. I would think that if you don't force the stock into the blade, even pure lead could be cut this way, assuming a lubricant, such as described above, is used.

Regards,

Stew

[AZ-Stew]

Oops. Double post.

[fecmech]

I have a compound mitre saw. Would that work? I have a ceramics blade and a carbide general purpose blade.
I don't know why it wouldn't. The blade on my Ryobi is the general purpose blade that came with the saw. It's certainly nothing special as the saw only cost $89. new.

[bigdog454]

I had a 4 in by 5 in bar I cut with a sawzall, coarse blade. It worked fine. I placed the bar on a block of wood with a pice of cardboard under that to catch the chips.

[rockrat]

Don't know if this would work with pure lead, but I take a piece of pipe and drop my linotype bars on the 4" pipe to break them. Might work with pure lead if you first put it in the freezer for a day, to help make it somewhat brittle.

[Dan Cash]

My power hacksaw sucked at cutting lead, as did my bandsaw...in both cases the cut seemed to almost want to close up behind the blade. The hammer and hatchet trick works so nice it made other methods look silly. It may not work well with less ductile alloys than pure lead. It does not work well with 60/40 solder for sure.

Bill

Be very careful striking the hatchet with the hammer as chunks of steel from either or both can come flying off with great velocity. They can seriously injure a person.

A power hack saw has too fine of teeh. A 14 point band saw or circle saw will cut the lead like a hero.

[Ian Robertson]

I have cut pure lead on a bandsaw. Really bogged down until I used some lube and then it flew through it. It was about 8tpi and I used a wax stick lube you push into the running blade for each cut or when it bogs down. Your basic Delta 14" wood cutting bandsaw.

[cwskirmisher]

Thanks for all of the suggestions. Here's what I did -

1. Tried the sawzall with a 9 tpi coarse blade. Did fine - but very tedious and excruciatingly (sp?) slow.
2. Tried the compund mitre saw. Did OK with that too - but had to go even slower, and chips are a PIA to keep close enough to recover. Dust bag collected some, but most flew. I guess I could have done it against the garage wall and let the chips fall onto a sheet or something. Nah. Must be an easier way.
3. Hatchet and sledge. What can I say - if you like doing this, you are a better man than I. Got thru a couple of ingots and had to stop for beer break. But boy did the wife like the guns (sorry - couldn't help it), uh, biceps.
4. Caved and bought 60,000 btu fish fryer for a miniscule (for the effort) $40, rescued an old cast iron 10 qt pot (half-buried in the garden and being used as a planter - with wife's blessing of course), and cranked up the heat full blast. 40 minutes later had a 60lb pool of beautiful molten lead. Other ingots did not take half of that to melt once it got going. Ladle-ing it into ingots/muffin tins was IMMENSELY EASIER than #1,#2 or #3 (with the exception of the beer break [smilie=w:).

[wildwes]

I use an axe for a bunch of old lead conduit that I have outside the building, it's in like 4 ft pieces. Lay them on a good piece of firewood for a chopping block (like about as big in diameter as a truck wheel) and go to town with a good sharp axe. Won't hurt the axe either

[Old_Dog]

I bought a old dutch oven from a flea market witch I put on my Colman stove to melt down pigs of lino. This works better than any method I have tried so far. I have used the hatchet method and a horizontal band saw (kept plugging teeth in saw). I use a large ladle to put lead in ingot molds after melting in the dutch oven.