Finn45
05-04-2006, 03:34 PM
Oh yeah, been reading from many sources that stick on weights are pure lead or near to it. I've seen also mentioned that it's same alloy as clip-on weights and it just feels softer because stickers are so thin etc. Last spring I saved all stick-on weights separately, still have them marked in separate pile.
Today I was finishing my spring melt, started it couple of days ago. Visited local recycling center (junk yard) before it and found big lot of very very old lead that was used to seal some containers built of bricks or something in the old days. I bought few pounds just to see what it is besides ugly and dirty. There's maybe more than a ton of it.
Melted first the remaining clip-on weights and poured few samples just to see what hardness this batch might have.
After that I melted those few pound of scrap lead and poured few samples as well.
Last was going to be the stick-on weights. I started but stopped after few pounds; weather was just too calm and fine to spoil it with that kinky smell of burning dirty rubber. Will melt them later, probably when visiting my in-laws... But, I poured few samples from these as well.
I already noticed when pouring stick-on samples, that it has very similar looking alloy as clip-on weights; lumpy when still cold, similar coloring and similar behavior (frozen and leaking) during cooling in the ingot mold. I measured these with Saeco tester; clip-on weights resulted exactly Saeco5-BHN8 as they have been doing before. Quite soft alloy almost right after pouring and air cooled. And the damn stick-on weights resulted exactly perfectly the same Saeco5-BHN8 reading. Very clever to separate them and store them almost behind locked doors [smilie=b: ... How about the scrap lead then; it resulted as perfectly as possible Saeco0-BHN4 and when melted it was very fine looking, no odd colorings and cast very wet looking samples. No lumpy texture, no frozen and leaking behavior during cooling in the ingot mold... Pure old lead. Unfortunately $0.40 per pound, so no big reason to collect it all right away.
Stick-on weights are softer when handled, why? My theory is that because they are extruded, or swaged in the manufacturing process, they remain as soft as the alloy is. But clip-on weights are cast in machines and because of the production capacity they are most likely cooled very fast and therefore they get harder, just like water quenched boolits.
No way more separating them for me. This might be different in the US, but don't bet too much on it before you check the facts.
Today I was finishing my spring melt, started it couple of days ago. Visited local recycling center (junk yard) before it and found big lot of very very old lead that was used to seal some containers built of bricks or something in the old days. I bought few pounds just to see what it is besides ugly and dirty. There's maybe more than a ton of it.
Melted first the remaining clip-on weights and poured few samples just to see what hardness this batch might have.
After that I melted those few pound of scrap lead and poured few samples as well.
Last was going to be the stick-on weights. I started but stopped after few pounds; weather was just too calm and fine to spoil it with that kinky smell of burning dirty rubber. Will melt them later, probably when visiting my in-laws... But, I poured few samples from these as well.
I already noticed when pouring stick-on samples, that it has very similar looking alloy as clip-on weights; lumpy when still cold, similar coloring and similar behavior (frozen and leaking) during cooling in the ingot mold. I measured these with Saeco tester; clip-on weights resulted exactly Saeco5-BHN8 as they have been doing before. Quite soft alloy almost right after pouring and air cooled. And the damn stick-on weights resulted exactly perfectly the same Saeco5-BHN8 reading. Very clever to separate them and store them almost behind locked doors [smilie=b: ... How about the scrap lead then; it resulted as perfectly as possible Saeco0-BHN4 and when melted it was very fine looking, no odd colorings and cast very wet looking samples. No lumpy texture, no frozen and leaking behavior during cooling in the ingot mold... Pure old lead. Unfortunately $0.40 per pound, so no big reason to collect it all right away.
Stick-on weights are softer when handled, why? My theory is that because they are extruded, or swaged in the manufacturing process, they remain as soft as the alloy is. But clip-on weights are cast in machines and because of the production capacity they are most likely cooled very fast and therefore they get harder, just like water quenched boolits.
No way more separating them for me. This might be different in the US, but don't bet too much on it before you check the facts.