Dental Pb

[Echo]

I had my teeth cleaned a couple of days ago. Had been a little while, so the tech had to dodge occasional shrapnel from her efforts. Afterwards, I asked about lead from X-Ray film - 'Why, Yes, I had a TON but took it away about a year & half ago. Had to load it into the trunk of my car and drive it to the recyclers. But I'm sure we have some more now'.
Turns out they had what looked like a bunch, in a 1x1x1 box half full. Turned out to be about 8 pounds, once I got it melted down in th old Lyman, And, Surprise.
When I dumped the ingots, they clinked - not clunked, or went thud - they clinked. Measured w/Lee hardness tester, and found 9.4 bhn.

Is this normal? I would have thought about 5-6. Seems there is something else in there besides pure Pb. Any thoughts?

[462]

Echo, I got 2 1/2 pounds from my dentist, also. Didn't do the drop test, though. Just stacked them with the stick-on ingots.

Hmmm...now, which ones are they?

[MakeMineA10mm]

That's interesting... I'm guessing they're in such thin sheets for what they're made for, they have to alloy them with a hardener to keep them from inadvertantly bending... Possibly / probably antimony?

I got a bunch of cable sheathing from a friend at the phone company, and I thought it would turn out to be pure, but it's hardened. Has more antimony in it than my latest scrounged WWs. (About the same Sb as the old WWs used to be.)

[Echo]

462, drop 'em & see which ones 'clink'...

MM10 - I'll bet they added tin to make it tougher, so it wouldn't tear.

Anyway, it produced a tablespoon full of powdery dross, probably from the residue of the adhesive.

I'll see how much boolits weigh when cast from this stuff.

[454PB]

Mine test 8.7 BHN

[462]

Echo, now why didn't I think of that?

[kyle623]

would you mix that in with ww's , stick ons or keep it seperate?

[Echo]

I think I will keep it separate and cast a small lot of 9mm (-402) boolits with it. I don't intend to do a lot of 9mm shooting, but the Walther P1 is kinda fun. Should make about 450 boolits...

[randyrat]

I beleive there was a thread on this a while ago and someone said they were Tin/Antimony/lead. I'm not sure of the Antimony.
We know they aren't pure lead, too dangerous to be in a dentist office. So they must have a high Tin content.

I melted about 25 lbs of it down one day, the stuff melts like Tin, low temp. I have a feelling it's high in Tin.

[oldtoolsniper]

Next time you are getting your fangs scraped ask if he has an MSDS sheet for his right to know board, or request the manufacturers name and try and find it on the web.

I know what kind of ingot molds you use! :bigsmyl2:Get a cheap letter metal stamping kit, the ingots stand on end. Pick the two letters you want to indentify your ingots, hold the two letters together, whack the pair once and you are done

[John Boy]

Seems there is something else in there besides pure Pb
Echo ... Dental XRay lead has a Bhn in the 8.7 range. That would make it close to a 1:40 alloy which is 2.5% Sn and 97.5 Pb

[zomby woof]

I used to work for Kodak Dental X-Ray. I e-mailed some friends a while back for their alloy composition.

I just got this from Kodak Dental X-ray. The lead they use is Lead >96%, Tin 1.5% +/- 0.1%, Antimony 1.5% +/- 0.1%.

There are other suppliers of Dental X-Ray packets, who knows what they use. Kodak is the largest supplier (now Carestream).

[montana_charlie]

We know they aren't pure lead, too dangerous to be in a dentist office. So they must have a high Tin content.
Too dangerous?
Would you mind explaining what you mean?
CM

[Echo]

I just got this from Kodak Dental X-ray. The lead they use is Lead >96%, Tin 1.5% +/- 0.1%, Antimony 1.5% +/- 0.1%.



Wow. This sounds like good stuff that I can use as is for any pistol boolit I might want to cast. This might start a run on dental offices...

And I am very fortunate - have the best dentist in town. For the last 35 YEARS! I'm with MTC - we should be worried about sealed-up lead in a dental office, amid X-Rays, air drills, luscious well-armed (w/dental picks) yummies tending to us?

[randyrat]

Too dangerous?
Would you mind explaining what you mean?
CM sure, not from me but you know the medical feild would go NUTS if they though they were handling pure lead

[PatMarlin]

Jeeze I had a chance to get loads of that lead before I started casting and passed... :roll:

[montana_charlie]

sure, not from me but you know the medical feild would go NUTS if they though they were handling pure lead
Oh, THAT!
Well, you rarely see any medical types running around without gloves, anymore.
I think they put on a fresh pair to go to the storeroom for a new box of gloves...

[MakeMineA10mm]

d*** it, my dentist casts....... :???: