Questionable lead

[kmrra]

This is some lead that I smelted a week or so ago, this lead is mostly fishing weights and plumbers lead that was found metal detecting as you can see in photo 1 there is a glob that pools up when I pour Indots ,photo 2 shows where I took my pocket knife and shaved the poole off the bottom , when I do so this come off as granuals, It only does this on the pools. the rest of the ingot is normal or seams so. Thankfully I havent mixed this with any of my other alloy ....was hopeing that one of yous guys knows what this is , I have never run on to this before. any help would be appreciated.

[KYCaster]

Dirt/crud that didn't get removed from the melt. Floated to the top before the ingot cooled.

Jerry

[kmrra]

Im remelting this batch now for the 3rd time each time I keep getting some heavy dross , I may have to run it thru the xmelter out side again. I havent run on to this before, thank goodnessI havent mixed it with anything yet , I hope I dont have to bite the bullet on this batch

[xs11jack]

If that is some old plumbers lead it is 40% tin.
Ole Jack

[kmrra]

It was mostly fishing weights but there were a couple of good sized chunks that you could tell that it was a pipe solder joint , each time I melt it and pour ingots it leaves that fluffy looking pool on the ingot , and it flakes off in granuals with my pocket knife , and I get a lot of sfuffy dross when I skim the pot . Im going to resmelt the whole batch and get me some saw dust to flux it with, I will either get it cleaned up or it will get scraped, this is a first for me.

[rancher1913]

do the zinc test.

[kmrra]

i will try that

[Hardcast416taylor]

This time when you flux with sawdust be generous with the amount you put in the pot, and repeat the flux a second time before ingoting.Robert

[kmrra]

OK I re-smelted this batch of lead today and I poured the saw dust to 4 times and poured the ingots right out of the outside pot and they turned out like they should , then I ran a batch thru the casting pot and they were better , I think I have been reading too much and playing with the temp, and that was what is causing my problem , I do like the saw dust tho, I always used bees wax....At least I dont have 55# of junk metal, Thanks for all the advice guys .

[kmrra]

Well I tried the acid test and I have no problem there , , I went back to doing it they way I use to and all Is fine, Im just reading too many post and trying to regulate my lead temp too much, I guess that what happens when you read too much . I had read a post a while back from one of the older guys on here dont recall his user name and I think he went over my problem, as he said to forget the temp and run it higher than what is recommended , which is how I was doing my casting and getting good bullets, he said its more technique and rhythm than anything. So im just going to do it they way it works for me. Since its been 30 years since I have done any casting im having to reeducate myself again. Live and learn , and with learning the different coatings that are available , its even more confusion LOL. All I know is that I will never use a lube-sizer again , for some reason I just always hatted that, with a passion.