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Thread: Guide to Hand Sorting Wheel Weights

  1. #141
    Boolit Man


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    Hi Glen and welcome to casting.
    I use an outdoor burner for smelting also. I think it was an OLD plumbers unit. Looks a lot like the modern turkey boiler.
    I use an old dutch oven. When it gets too low to dip I grab the side handles with vise grips or channel locks to get the last out.
    Be interested on how the bottom of a propane tank works for you.

    Most of the time I am now using wood chips for fluxing. Chain saw chips from cutting fire wood so there is a bit of chain lube.

    The LEE lead hardness tester is fairly cheap and works well. Read the tests of various hardness testers on LASC site. While you are there download the free book " From Ingot to Target": A Cast Bullet Guide for Handgunners - A joint effort by Glen E. Fryxell and Robert L. Applegate. It is the best book out there. Lots of other gems there also.

    I haven't found any lube better than Fryxell's take on Alox: Moly lube (Wally World or any AP store) and bees wax.

  2. #142
    Boolit Buddy Cold Trigger Finger's Avatar
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    Thank You!
    What velocity does your lube work well at ?
    Summer =busy time at work. Long hours. Its getting in the way of my lead smelting.
    You are being watched.

  3. #143
    Boolit Man


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    Well at least it's light 24 or almost 24 hours there. If around Fairbanks in the hole it may be hot too

    Glen Fryxell gives you all the data in his free online book. Molylube is better than the old ALOX so anything that you read ALOX this is better.

    You can go to LASC & get or there is a Sticky with links in the CAST BOOLITS forum http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...or-Handgunners

    Glen has a lot of articles on LASC that will help you a LOT getting started. Other articles there are a treasure trove. Look around there and most can be downloaded as PDF.

    Glen's lube is what lives in my Lyman lubrasizer. Everything from slow 50 Cal front stuffer to Blowup speed in a 22-250 with homemade beer can PB GCs
    Last edited by K7sparky; 08-02-2017 at 02:21 PM. Reason: grammer

  4. #144
    Boolit Buddy MAGA's Avatar
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    Thank you for this informative thread!

  5. #145
    Boolit Buddy

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    Thanks to the OP and all that have contributed. This thread has been extremely helpful as I just got some COWW from a member here and a half bucket from the tire shop. The info helped me to quickly got through the batch and sort it all.
    The COWW from the member here was as advertised - mostly lead with a little zinc and steel.
    The tire shop bucket was unfortunately mostly steel Stick-on. It did yield some SO and CO lead.
    I had first gone through by scratching with a utility knife and looking for the Zn marking on those that were tough. I also used a magnet to help find the steel.

    Again, thanks for all the info.
    - Have a good day and a better tomorrow...

  6. #146
    Boolit Buddy Cold Trigger Finger's Avatar
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    You also need to look out for synthetic weights. I use a pair of diagonal cutters to check the hardness. A steel weight is easy to tell . Zinc are too hard to cut into very much. Lead stick on weights get cut through really easy and leadalloy wheel weights can be snipped through with a real good squeeze. For my hands at least.
    You are being watched.

  7. #147
    Boolit Mold
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    Very helpful.

    I just got my first bit of wheel weights... about a 1/3 of a bucket a small shop in town saved for me over the course of a few weeks. I ran out of light but I started sorting this evening. Looks to be about 2/3 lead with the other 1/3 steel and zinc. Now that I have something to mix with some of the pure lead I already have... I'm getting ever closer to being able to start casting.

  8. #148
    Boolit Grand Master

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    2/3 % lead is not a bad ratio. Not as good as the "old days", but still a nice yield. If this shop becomes a regular source for you consider doing something for them to ensure that they remain a regular source. Transfer some of your business to them, take them some donuts and coffee on a cold morning, maybe a pizza at lunch.

  9. #149
    Boolit Mold
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    Quote Originally Posted by lightman View Post
    2/3 % lead is not a bad ratio. Not as good as the "old days", but still a nice yield. If this shop becomes a regular source for you consider doing something for them to ensure that they remain a regular source. Transfer some of your business to them, take them some donuts and coffee on a cold morning, maybe a pizza at lunch.
    Yep. I was already planning on a 'random doughnut morning' when I can get there right at opening in the next couple weeks when I'm on leave. Good suggestion though. I got turned down by about a 1/2 dozen places before I happened upon them. Apparently, the guy who's runs the place's dad shoots and has 2 55 gallon drums full of weights saved up to cover himself for the next 2 lifetimes... so he was happy to spread some around.

  10. #150
    Boolit Buddy

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    Quote Originally Posted by Cold Trigger Finger View Post
    You also need to look out for synthetic weights. I use a pair of diagonal cutters to check the hardness. A steel weight is easy to tell . Zinc are too hard to cut into very much. Lead stick on weights get cut through really easy and leadalloy wheel weights can be snipped through with a real good squeeze. For my hands at least.
    I did come across a couple of different synthetic weights. One SOWW type was like a foam/tape and was ferrous, another type looked like a standard COWW, not magnetic, and the dykes would cut it, but it was a dense plastic (?) material.

    I did notice that most, though not all, of the Zinc were labeled with either the Z or Zn. Similar to the steel, Fe was on most, though not all.

    Of the box that I obtained through here, I had done a hand sort and scored using the blade as mentioned above. I have since gone back and used the dykes to further refine the search and handle the questionables. I am mostly done with that project.

    If the weather is good this weekend, I will work on rendering the WWs into ingots.
    - Have a good day and a better tomorrow...

  11. #151
    Boolit Bub Rubino1988's Avatar
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    I like the video thank you

  12. #152
    Boolit Grand Master
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    I got about a 1/3 full 5 gal bucket from a friend.
    He thought he was giving me gold. I knew better.
    First sorted with a magnet.
    1/2 the bucked was steel
    Next drop each on a metal plate.
    Took out all that went "ping"
    Also sorted all the plastic, and stick-on out.
    1/2 of that was taken out.
    Sorted out all with Zn on them.
    Rest were kept on the side.
    Pile that seemed to be lead was sorted.
    Those with "P" were lead.
    Of the stick-on 1/4 were lead.
    Those that didn't "thump" when dropped, were put aside.
    So, I have a pile of known lead, around #10.
    A pile of unknown, and of zinc.
    Zinc I'm keeping. Metal and plastic went in the trash.
    Any idea how to find out what the unknown could be?????
    I'm thinking it might be a mix alloy.
    But a mix of what????
    Should I just trash them????

  13. #153
    Boolit Grand Master

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    If you post some pictures someone here could probably ID those unknowns for you. I am not familiar with any mixes. There are lead alloy weights, iron weights, zinc weights and a composite weight thats some type of powdered metal. There is also a stick on weight thats flexible like rubber. I have also found a few chrome plated weights.

    My method for sorting weights is that I dump them out on a flat surface and start "cherry picking". I start with the junk. Tire stickers, valve cores and stems, lug nuts, brake pads, ect. Then I pick out the stick ons, separating out the lead as I go. Then I pick out the steel. This leaves the zinc and lead weights. I look at each weight and make a test cut on any weight that looks suspicious. I use a pair of electricians dykes for this. Lead cuts fairly easy. You won't even be able to mark on the steel and you would really have to have a grip like Godzilla to make a mark on the zinc.

    After you sort several it gets easier. You almost develop a radar for zinc. The steel/iron weights are very distinctive looking. I've not found a magnet to be very useful. It will be attracted to the steel clip, even in lead weights. A magnet is useful when sorting out the steel stick on weights. I would look at the ones that your magnet attracted one more time. If you miss an iron weight it won't hurt anything. You won't melt it at anywhere near the temps that we melt lead at. If you miss a zinc weight you may get a second chance as it melts at a higher temp than lead and will float to the top. And a tiny amount of zinc won't ruin a batch although I try for zero.

  14. #154
    Boolit Grand Master

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    Similar to lightman, I use a pair of side cutters to determine whether wheelweights are zinc or lead. The zinc are noticeably harder than lead, it is easy to tell which with a quick squeeze on the side cutter handles.

    Longbow

  15. #155
    Boolit Man


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    The sticky on SOWW makes a mess in the smelt pot but seems like good flux.
    I keep the SOWW that feel / cut like pure lead (which is most of them) separate. The LEE hardness tester shows them much softer than COWW
    I echo lightman, keep the smelt temp down and zinc will float on surface. A few always seem to sneak in.

    If you have a local scrap yard keep them on your list to visit. They also get plumbers lead (pure) and lately lead sheet (pure) from Hospital X-Ray room referbs

    If your unknowns all look the same try floating one with your smelt pot when it is just hot enough to keep the meld liquid. Or if you run a PID controller on your pour pot even better.

  16. #156
    Boolit Mold vidiot's Avatar
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    An absolute complete explanation of WW lead. Thank you .. Mr Revolver

  17. #157
    Boolit Buddy Liberty1776's Avatar
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    So I found a COWW with a "T" on it, then ran into this excellent thread.

    The T weight I have has a thick plastic coating over steel. It's magnetic. Very tough construction. Even getting through the plastic was difficult. It's a sleek, nice-looking weight, however, and will take the weather for years without discoloring or reacting to the rim. I can see why they're being adopted.

    This "T" sample bodes ill for the future of wheelweights for casting. Lead is passing away.

    Click image for larger version. 

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  18. #158
    Boolit Mold
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    I use a fairly coarse bastard file to determine whether it is lead or something else. it's quick and identification is very easy.

  19. #159
    Boolit Bub


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    The letters that you are seeing on the weights refer to the rim types that the clip is made for, with the exception of course to fe and zn which denote iron or zinc weights.
    All of the plastic coated one go right into the steel bucket.
    I also use the corner of a coarse bastard file on any I have doubts about, you will know a zinc wt. right away

  20. #160
    Boolit Buddy pcmacd's Avatar
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    The only thing that is dangerous about wheel weights is the oxide on them.

    You could swallow ten or twenty pure lead 200 grain bullets and it will not affect you blood lead much, if at all.

    But lead oxide from lead dros? Or lead styphnate from primers?

    This is another story. These are salts and oxides of lead. Your mucous membranes (eyes, mouth, nose) will absorb that stuff just like they would table salt.

    That is why you ALWAYS scrape/wire brush/clean your lead pot in front of a fan that is pointing away from you to the outdoors.

    Poison your neighbors. Not yousef.

    That's why you don't smoke when handling lead, nor eat nor drink w/o a good scrubbing up with a stiff brush on your fingers.
    Kalifornia passes "feel good" legislation hand over fist, legislation that is looking for a problem to solve and affecting only law abiding persons.

    So, after 40 years of that nonsense, that's why I now live in Arizona.

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check