Lead Alloy smells funny

[Traffer]

I have a couple batches of lead, one very hard maybe 23bhn. Probably originally from linotype or monotype. It smells funny. Not when I melt it but now when it is cold. Especially when I rub it with my hand a little. I don't recall the hardness of the other batches that smell funny. But when I was about 12 yrs old I had a buddy that used to copy military medals by sticking them in clay and pouring lead in. His lead smelled the same way. I know that lead is inert and that it does not have any odor. Does anybody else even know what I am talking about here. I asked some other folks and they laughed at me. Said I was hallucinating. OK just did it again. When I rub it, my hand and the alloy smells disgusting. Any ideas?

[leadbutt]

The only metal that ive known that smells when you rub it is silver plate.

[OS OK]

That's a riddle...could it be that somewhere down the line someone used some chemical in it to pull copper or zinc out of the batch before you got ahold of it?

[scottfire1957]

Have your metal analyzed. That is the only way to know. As has been shown, it's the only way to know. Everything else is a guess.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

SNIP... It smells funny. Not when I melt it but now when it is cold. Especially when I rub it with my hand a little.

Dude, have you washed your hands ?


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Seriously, can you be more descriptive than "Funny"

[NavyVet1959]

Does it smell like rat piss?

If so, then it probably *is*...

[country gent]

Maybe the lino type or mono type has a high arsenic, cyinide or cadium content giving it the scent. If rubbing it transfers it to your hand then its recomended to wear old gloves handling it so they can be disposed of when done. This metal being so hard may be a babbit mterial with other alloys in it or impurities. Some shops saved babbit bearings melting down into ingot to reuse and not always getting all the crud out. Lino type letter were also commonly remelted and formed to make new. I would imagine that type makers all had thier ideas on what and how to flux when doing this.

[WILCO]

Heading out now to rub and sniff my ingots..........................................

[WILCO]

Thanks for the laugh Jon.

[merlin101]

Heading out now to rub and sniff my ingots..........................................

That might be illegal!

[Toymaker]

My first question would be "What kind of clay did you friend use?"

Then..... many people use sawdust to cleanup their lead. Unfortunately I have come across people who used sawdust from pressure treated wood. Back in the day this wood contained arsenic and chromium compounds as preservatives. Today they primarily use copper compounds. Many of these compounds have an unpleasant odor.
Arsenic, chromium and copper compounds will mix with your lead. The concentrations are too low to have an effect on the hardness but they could definitely impart an odor. This would be more noticeable if the ingot was warmed a little as you were doing with the friction of your hands.
Arsenic and chromium aren't used any more. You should be washing your hands with COLD water and soap after handling lead and that'll take care of the odor too.

[Traffer]

For those who gave serious answers, I thank you. I do fear that it may be something harmful like arsenic. I was hoping that someone else had experienced the same thing. I would love to get it tested to see what is in it. Whom do I send it to? How much do they charge? To those who have taken the opportunity to ridicule me, why when I say something like that on a post, do I get warned about inappropriate behavior. shame, Shame, SHAME ON YOU. It does give me an idea though, My sister has a cat. I wonder what he would do with this lead. If he cringes and hides, maybe it is ...say...30 to 40 percent arsenic?

[leadbutt]

They aren't laughing at you they are just having fun. Don't take it personal. They don't. You can probably go to a scrap yard and get it tested if they have their scanner gun. But anyhow.... Don't get offended here, for that go to the political and religious section.

[too many things]

does it smell like rotted eggs ?

[reed1911]

Clowns smell funny

From time to time I too get batches that have odd scents, but I have only noticed it when melting not when cold.

[Traffer]

I am not offended I was just trying to go along with the jok and give a little razz right back. But seriously, now with having experienced this with at least 3 completely different separate batches of lead, I would have thought someone would have experienced the same thing. It seems that I am the only person in the world who has ever experienced a lead alloy that has an odor and I have experienced it 3 different times now.
Well if that is the case, I guess I will have to try and explain the smell. Wish me luck. It first of all is ROTTEN EGG. Not sulfur smelling. It is more of an acrid sour smell. Maybe zinc? However it does not foam when applying vinegar, or CLR for acids. it does however change to a duller darker color if the acid is left on a minute or so. The alloy is very hard, 23bhn. It is very granular. High melt temp. Not sure exactly what temp but noticeably higher than soft lead. If I can think of any better description I will post. As far as getting it tested, there are no metal places around me that test. Can you recommend a place to send it that will not cost too much?

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

The high melt temp kinda rules out linotype or other printers alloy, the high Tin content lowers the melt temp considerably. Zinc surely does raise the melt temp of a Lead alloy. I've never had any lead alloy with a noticeable smell and never read about that either, hence my funny meme post.

BNE had done some XRF scanning of alloys for members in the past, send him a PM, maybe he is still doing that?
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/show...what-do-I-have
Good Luck

[too many things]

the egg smell is sulfur . it could be from any melt but it will transfer . from the pot . it don't take much. would bet the pot has a light yellow haze on the inside . very well have come for coal at some point . we had a range on old strip mine and the lead smelled so bad you had to stay down wind .

[Traffer]

I don't believe I did that. Where I said it "defiantly is rotten egg" I meant it definitely is NOT ROTTEN EGG"QUOTE=too many things;3809709]the egg smell is sulfur . it could be from any melt but it will transfer . from the pot . it don't take much. would bet the pot has a light yellow haze on the inside . very well have come for coal at some point . we had a range on old strip mine and the lead smelled so bad you had to stay down wind .[/QUOTE]
The "insert" thingy keeps getting stuck and when ever I edit it erases .... can't seem to fix that. Anyway, went back to the garage and tested it in muriatic acid. There is no doubt now...IT IS A HIGH CONCENTRATION OF ZINC. I had it in the muriatic acid for about 2o minutes and it never stopped foaming. Good thing I haven't tried to use if for bullets. I made a hammer head out of it...works great. Still have about 6lbs left. I guess I will use it for fishing jigs or give it away. Maybe try to make some zinc bullets. lol
I believe this batch came from an old ice chisel that I had filled the pipe handle with lead about 35 years ago. I just grabbed scraps and ww from our shop...anything that would melt, and poured it into the handle. When I started to glean lead recently, I opened up the chisel and melted out the "lead". I will have to research and see how much zinc lead alloy will hold, if there is a limit. I wouldn't be surprised if this was half zinc.
Thanks eveyone for your consideration. Now we know, an acrid smell when rubbing alloy means zinc. For future reference.

[JSnover]

Heading out now to rub and sniff my ingots..........................................

Too much information there, WILCO.
Not sayin' it's wrong… ya know….