I had somebody give me a bucket of dive weights, anyone know what kind or if they are Lead? There are no markings on them and they look leadish but I am leery of the dread zinc.
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I had somebody give me a bucket of dive weights, anyone know what kind or if they are Lead? There are no markings on them and they look leadish but I am leery of the dread zinc.
Dive weights can and are anything. Just keep your melt at 600 and you will be fine. if something isn't melting at 600 it doesn't belong. I'd go in smallish batches and when your finished remelt and make uniform ingots, but that's me. Zinc melts at 700
Just melted several myself...
drop the weights on their edge from about 30" on to the concrete...
them that go 'thud', melt together, there's a good chance they are nearly pure lead.
them that go 'ting', melt together...they may be suspect...keep the melt low temp. as stated above.
I haven't run into Zinc in any dive weights yet...but knowing how people are today I wouldn't put it past them to be careless and to use Zn.
Like the others said, dive weights can be whatever the maker had on hand. In addition to what OS OK said I would wire brush a clean spot on them and test for zinc.
The factory weights that I have looked at had a hardness consistent with wheel weights. By the look and texture I suspect they had some tin in the alloy.
I would melt one down and check the temperature it melts. That should give you a reasonable idea, and maybe cast and weigh a few bullets. I have one that is so hard, I've just used it as a door stop in the shop for years.
Don't melt them. They're worth much more as dive weights.
If you sell them as they are, you can buy two or three times as much lead as what they weigh.
Yes-yes-yesQuote:
Originally Posted by Winger Ed.
Test each weight with a drop ot two of muriatic acid, that will tell you you have any zinc.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Winger Ed.
Agreed, worth much more as weights than as scrap lead if you can find a buyer. If you can't, do the muriatic acid test. As with everything else, dive equipment has come a long way since Mike Nelson and hard weights on a belt. Many scuba divers use soft weights now which are actually shot in a bag that goes on the weight belt so the demand for hard weights might not be what it once was.Quote:
Originally Posted by NyFirefighter357
I remember my dad going and digging up bullets at a gun range, melting them down to make scuba weights. He was a tool and die maker so made a mold, sold the weights to local shops. Would think lead would be more popular as zinc would require more weights to be used. Those weight belts are bulky enough as it is.
I called the local dive shop to see if they would buy my lead weights.
They offered $1.00 a pound.
I said that is the price of scrap lead.
He says YEP...dale
I've always tried to go by the rule not to melt something if it was worth more than the scrap value. New decoy weights, new wheel weights and factory made dive weights are a few things I won't melt. I'll give these away before melting them. But I'll melt homemade decoy weights and homemade dive weights with a clear conscious. And used decoy weights. Around here lots of decoys get left in the field. If I get off of the tractor to pick up a decoy and it has a weight that sucker is going in the pot!Quote:
Originally Posted by Winger Ed.
But to each his own. The amount of effort and time plays a part in this.
When I first starting melting anything I threw a bunch of duck decoy weights in a pot and thought it was pure lead. Turned out it was close but not close enough. Had some antimony apparently and BHN turned out to be 8 or 9. Found this out AFTER making up some alloys. Lesson learned-always KNOW what you start with and label everything. :coffeecom
Sell them on eBay. All diving stuff is expensive.
Guarantee the shop charges alot more than scrap value.Quote:
Originally Posted by dale2242
Remember, the shop is not a retail buyer.Quote:
Originally Posted by dale2242
I'd be curious to know what he sells them for.
You should be able to sell them for about 75% of that to a dive club, ebay, etc..
I have a friendly Jewelry shop near by that buys gold, they have an x ray machine that gives the types and amounts of metal on a read out sheet.
They have been kind enough to survey unknown lead for Me so that I know exactly the mix.
Good Shooting
Lindy
I have not had anything but bad experiences with dive weight and that was trying to turn them into fishing jigs. Nowadays, I only deal with dive weights that might go thunk the dropped on concrete, not clang. I turned some down three weeks ago that rang when dropped then bought dirt scrap roofing lead from the recycler instead.
Test for zinc, I have been lucky no problems so far.
"Sea pearl" branded ones are about 10% antimony.
I have even melted brand new ones to make weights for specific types of diving suits. The ones I poured for my buddy were about the size of money and about half inch thick. He was quite happy since he couldn't find any as good as mine.
Be well
Over the years I've made and sold hundreds of dive weights, cast from unknown or contaminated lead. It was a way to profit from mistakes buying lead. At any rate, it was a way to use unwanted lead for casting boolits.