Thanks everyone.....

I went to the Dentist today to have my teeth cleaned and checked out. I remembered the discussions here about lead foil that is around the X-ray film. After taking my X-rays, I asked the technician what they did with the lead in them after the film was removed. She said that some guy used to pick it up for making fishing sinkers, but he is no longer with us. They had nearly a box full and were wondering how to get rid of it.

I graciously offered to take it off their hands without charging them a penny, and any more they are ready to throw out in the future. She got the Dentist and he agreed to let me have it. It was in a small cardboard box filled nearly to the top that was waiting for me when I left. It turned out to have between 18-1/2 and 19 pounds of lead foil in it. I already have it melted down and cast it into ingots. I marked them "DL" for "Dental Lead".

I have been using scrap lead from houses in the late 1880's to 1930's for casting my 41 Long Colt bullets for CAS shooting. That is softer than most scrap lead (about Bhn 4.5 to 4.7), but I am willing to bet that this stuff is even softer. The next time I cast up some 41LC bullets, I am definitely going to give this stuff a try.

You are welcome. Unfortunately both my dentist an my dental surgeon have both gone to electronic x-rays almost as soon as they came out.

The last time I used dental foil, it was a bit too hard for muzzleloaders. You might want to test it first, pretty sure there's a fair amount of tin in there......


Dan

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Originally Posted by 220swiftfn

The last time I used dental foil, it was a bit too hard for muzzleloaders. You might want to test it first, pretty sure there's a fair amount of tin in there......

Dan

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After it has had some time to sit, I intend to hardness test the ingots. If there is some tin in it, great. I just hope that it does not have any antimony in it. The foil sure felt soft, but it was too thin to hardness test. The bullet mould I plan to use it in is a large hollow-base bullet. It is always a challenge to get a fully formed skirt.

Something I've started doing is while I casting my ingots I pour a couple into a 45 mould (cause it easy to test) and test the BHN with my saeco then mark the ingots. It give a good baseline later on.
Jeepyj

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Originally Posted by jeepyj

Something I've started doing is while I casting my ingots I pour a couple into a 45 mould (cause it easy to test) and test the BHN with my saeco then mark the ingots. It give a good baseline later on.
Jeepyj

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I do something similar with a .44 cal Lee 200g RNFP, but then I put about 10 samples in a medicine bottle that I store with the ingots to test for hardness perhaps years later. I have found the alloy as cast is often quite different 2 weeks or more later. Another caveat is to make sure the "sample" mould is completely up to temperature to insure that you are not, in effect "quench casting" your alloy with a too cool mould.

In my experience with dental lead, it is NOT pure lead, but has antimony or something that increases the hardness to about that of clip on wheel weights. It's good metal to utilize tho, and get it before it goes the way of the old wheel weights, gone!

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Originally Posted by Wayne Smith

You are welcome. Unfortunately both my dentist an my dental surgeon have both gone to electronic x-rays almost as soon as they came out.

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This is the trend Wayne.

Used to see silver solutions run through a cathode machine where the silver was deposited on copper grids. These grids were sent to a refiner and the hospital got a check. BIG dollars in this, but those days are all but gone. Developing X-rays has gone the route of surplus powder.

Shiloh

Looks like you guys are right about the hardness. I couldn't wait any longer so I hardness tested a couple of ingots. The ran from Bhn 9.2 to 9.5. I will have to let it age some more to get the final hardness. If there is antimony in it, it may go up a little from there, but I have never seen it go down from an early test. Also, ingots are usually one to 1-1/2 Bhn softer than the same ingot cast into bullets since the bullets cool quicker. I am thinking that these ingots will be indistinguishable from my truck wheelweights when all is said and done.

That is not a problem. Wheelweights are good, too. I will just continue to use my soft lead roof sheeting for the 41LC bullets.