First weekly pail of ww's

[dragonrider]

Today I picked up my first weekly pail of ww's and got a bonus, an additional 5 gal bucket of ww's. That made todays haul about 7 gals. I have two thirty gallon barrels, one is completely full of Lee ingots and the other about 1/3 full of ww's. Gotta find a way to weigh that barrel of ingots. I think I have enough to last me the rest of my life, but I will keep collecting from this shop for as long as he will let me. Perhaps I will sell some.
When I got todays haul home I started sorting them for obvious junk and found these.

I tried melting one with a propane torch, won't melt, kept trying but no dice. Could these be the infamous zink weights? Notice that they are not formed around the clip, but riveted on to the clip. As I could not melt them, even though I tried diligently, I do not think they would be a problem in a smelting pot, so I don't think they are zink.

[grumpy one]

Riveted construction is unique to steel WW - manufacturing them by casting around the clip is impossible because the clip and the weight are of the same material. If you want to verify this, just check them with a magnet.

I don't recognise the flat weights with the zigzags on them. If they have adhesive on the back (i.e. they are stick-on weights for cast aluminium wheels) I find the zinc ones are just about always painted silver. Anyway, if you try a twist test you can find out - zinc has a very high yield stress compared with lead alloy.

Because I don't smelt at a high temperature - always under 700 F - I test unknown types just by swishing them around in the melt. The melting temperature of zinc is 787 F, so unless your melt is very hot, zinc weights will not melt. If you don't have a thermometer, you can estimate the temperature from whether the "true" WW in the pot is just molten, or has been blasted with a whole lot of heat after it melted. In the latter case, don't swish any suspect weights around - it might be hot enough to melt zinc.

Geoff

[imashooter2]

The flat weights are zinc and are exactly the same as I got in my last bucket of WW here in SE PA. I posted pics of them on the last zinc thread.

Free WW have dried up around here. Get all you can while they last.

[dragonrider]

Grumpy one,
did not realize some where made of steel, will try the magnet. thanks.

Imashooter,
Yes the flat ones are stickons, got about five pound of sticons in this batch, but other that those in the pic, they were all lead.

[drinks]

I have found 2 zinc wws, both had square ends and had the weight molded in the right end, weight in grams, such as "32G".

[Topper]

I think those flat "zigzag" ones are the stick on type for mag wheels.
Every bucket I pickup has a mix of those with a few lead sticky weight as well.

[The Double D]

Grumpy one,
did not realize some where made of steel, will try the magnet. thanks.

Imashooter,
Yes the flat ones are stickons, got about five pound of sticons in this batch, but other that those in the pic, they were all lead.

Don't toss them Zinc ones, just set them aside. Next time you are down at the post office get one of the flat rate boxes. You might have to ask for one.

When you get about 30 lbs or so of zinc drop me an email and I'll send you the $8.10 in postage it costs to mail one of those flat rate boxes. Might be helpful to wrap that box in the clear packing tape, I'll even buy that for you.

I need about 100 lbs to cast round ball for the gun I am building.

Here is my RB mould nect to a Lyman 45 call mould.





Here's the parts to build my gun



And here's what it will look like when finished



Those Zinc weights do have a use!

[kywoodwrkr]

Double D,
Could be worse.
Think this can be resurrected?

Actually ended up giving it to the Kentucky Mountain Artillery here.
They either traded the components for a piece or redid this one.
Haven't followed up on it.
Good luck with your project.
DaveP kywoodwrkr

[dragonrider]

Holy frijoles DD, that's a whole lotta round ball. I do hang onto those weights, if I ever get enough of them I'll send them your way.

[Hunter]

I believe I have found some zinc wheel weights as well. The clip was rivited on but a few slipped by me and did not melt but turned a golden color.

[Ken O]

Don't know what it is, but if it won't melt with a propane torch, it ain't zinc.

[grumpy one]

If it is riveted construction I'll be quite surprised if it isn't steel. Just check it with a magnet.

The steel weights just about always turn golden when immersed in molten WW. It's probably the lacquer that has been put on them to keep them from rusting.

Geoff