Removal of Antimony from lead?

[mlcasmey]

I know there are industrial ways to do this, but is there a relatively safe way to remove antimony form melted WW's and melted chilled shot to get the lead as soft as possible. Going for a black powder hardness and I understand antimony is the most important source of hardness in an alloy.

Mike.

[Dusty Bannister]

Not practical. Better to offer to trade with a forum member, and waste the money on shipping. Or go visit the scrap metal dealer and see if you can find roof flashings, shower pans or lead plumbing fittings. That will also benefit you with a small amount of tin in the soldered joints.
Dusty

[skeettx]

+1 , sage advise
Mike

[runfiverun]

if it's just antimony you can swage it and still retain the softness.

you might could use a borate to capture and remove the antimony from the alloy.
but to do it at home would take about 30 pounds of borate to clean 15 pounds of lead and quite a bit of time.
I don't know how you would remove the arsenic though.

[mlcasmey]

Thanks Skeettx.

Retired with a silver leaf in 2010. Go Army!

I think I'll just keep it in case I want to make some hard cast stuff in the future.

[skeettx]

Mike
Thanks
You live anywhere near Amarillo??
Mike

[evan price]

Short answer- NO.

http://www.gravitagroup.com/Lead-Refining.asp

Copper (Cu) is the first element to be removed along with Sulphur (S)in a two-phased procedure. At the first stage almost all of Copper is removed as Copper Sulphide (CuS) when elementary Sulphur is added at a temperature of 450°C. The next step is to remove the remaining residual Copper by adding small amounts of elementary Sulphur at 330°C until the reaction stops.Tin (Sn) is the next to be removed through oxidation by Chlorine or Ammonium Chloride (NH4Cl). The addition of Chlorine to the molten lead at 550°C produces Tin Chloride (SnCl2) which can be mechanically removed. Simultaneously small amounts of Antimony (Sb) and Arsenic (As) are also removed by oxidation.

[mlcasmey]

Sadly no. I live in the land of 10,000 lakes and 10 million liberals, Minnesota. STill waiting for it to warm up enough to do some shooting.

Mike.

[Defcon-One]

Nope. You can't just remove something from an alloy!

This might work, though: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...-lead-for-sale

[mlcasmey]

Thanks every one. Don't need any more feedback. The answer is pretty clear.

Mike.

[hickfu]

Wow, I have never heard anyone want to remove the Antimony before.... I have pure plumbers lead that I would trade for WW lead.

Doc

[skeettx]

Doc, take a vacation to Minn. and take the plumbers lead with you
Do the trade, and all will be happy
I, of course, want the lead SHOT as I shoot so much shotshell.
Then leave Minn. and continue your vacation and come to Amarillo
and bring me the shot
Mike

[mlcasmey]

Doc. I happen to be in a position where I have hundreds of pounds of lead shot and WW's and no pure lead. I just bought a Pedersoli Gibbs target rifle in .451 with it's recommended Mould and sizer that requires pure lead cast bullets so they can expand a little and engage the L&G's. I can buy all the pure lead I want, but was just looking for a way to use what I have and soften it up. Seems like that is not. So I will buy pure lead and keep the rest for when I start casting hard bullets one day. Now I'm buying all of my hard cast rifle and pistol from Meister or Oregon Trail.

BTW, I've been melting the boxes of WW's that were donated to me from some tire shops so I can clean it up and put it in ingot form. What a mess that is. I have no idea what is in some of this stuff but I just keep spooning out whatever does not melt at the lead temp range. And there are some wierd weights out there.

[Thundermaker]

This thread has been inactive for a good while, but this might help a visitor. I melted wheel weights in my lyman bottom pour pot. I turned the heat up as high as it would go. I allowed the alloy to "cook" for about 15 minutes. A thick layer of dross formed. I skimmed it and allowed a few more minutes. I skimmed a total o three times. After that, only a thin skin formed over the melt. I fluxed it back in and began casting. The alloy I ended up with is harder than pure lead, but it's much softer than wheel weights.

[lwknight]

Give it a few weeks and it will be just as hard as the WWs were.

[shadowcaster]

I just bought a Pedersoli Gibbs target rifle in .451 with it's recommended Mould and sizer that requires pure lead cast bullets so they can expand a little and engage the L&G's.

Don't discount WW lead in any black powder gun, muzzle loader or cartridge guns, it will work just fine. I know of many shooters that use WW or comparable lead in their black powder guns without a hitch.

Shad

[mpkunz]

I realize this is a really old thread, but removing antimony is not difficult in an industrial setting. You need metallic sodium, control of the atmosphere, and what would be moderate temperatures industrially. http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4425160.html Paper here, for what that is worth. Personally, having 40+ years of process engineering experience, I would not have any trouble attempting this, but your mileage will probably vary. A decent BS level chemist should be capable of doing this with equipment available in a college level chem lab, or on ebay.
FWIW.
Mike

[odfairfaxsub]

You could possibly lower the content by maybe relying on surface area and oxidation while over temp.

[DanishM1Garand]

Put a WTT ad up in the swapping and selling. People get lead from different places. Mine is almost all dead soft, I'd trade.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I realize this is a really old thread, but removing antimony is not difficult in an industrial setting. You need metallic sodium, control of the atmosphere, and what would be moderate temperatures industrially. http://www.freepatentsonline.com/4425160.html Paper here, for what that is worth. Personally, having 40+ years of process engineering experience, I would not have any trouble attempting this, but your mileage will probably vary. A decent BS level chemist should be capable of doing this with equipment available in a college level chem lab, or on ebay.
FWIW.
Mike

Mike,
Let's say I want to remove the Antimony from 500 lbs of lead alloy that contains about 3% Antimony.
As a "at home" project.
Do you have a rough idea of capital equipment cost?
and how much money outlay for consumables?
and approximate labor time needed?
Thanks in advance,
Jon