Is this Foundry or Lynotype lead???

[Tripplebeards]

Attachment 198143

I was given this lead yesterday. The one piece on the far right that has a plastic coating can't be lead since it's all rusty. Has anyone run across this type of lead? What it's from? And if it's Lynotype?

[John Boy]

Is this Foundry or Lynotype lead???

Hard to tell what it is with just a picture. Have it tested for hardness

[earlmck]

I have no clue just from looking. But foundry metal is so brittle it shatters if you pound it, so if you whack that stuff with a hammer and it dents, it is something other than foundry metal.

[lightman]

Hard to tell from the picture, but does not look like it.

[Tripplebeards]

I wonder what it was used for? The splined pieces are solid lead and the one with plastic chipping off is sold as well. Wonder if the coated ones were used as weights?

[pete501]

The long cylindrical ones that look like curros (third from left) are used in electroplating. They come in different alloys. Mine tested 7% antimony the rest lead. Originally longer and came with rubber coated hooks. I suspect the others may have been used for electroplating too.

[colchester]

Doesnt look like anything I have encountered in the printing industry in my 40 years. Looks like a counterbalance of some sort

[Tripplebeards]

The two end pieces were steel, the rest lead. I melted down the spline looking bars, both big diameter and small. I don't think they are as hard as WW lead. I did a fingernail test on them after quenching and when trying to bend the lee ignots apart they were more flexible than the WW ingots (which will literally snap apart or brake after moving up and or down). I made ignots of the smooth pipe but didn't test it. All I have left to melt is the plastic coated lead bar in the middle.

[Tripplebeards]

I just finished melting that big heavy flat bar in the middle that had the black plastic coating around it. I cut it into 8" pieces and removed the plastic before melting. The lead hardened to a color of a dull purple-blue/ deep grey in color that I would say looks like pewter. It doesn't look like lead compared to the other six box fulls I've melted in the last week. It gloomy like something all together different. As soon as it melted in my pot it instantly kept oxidizing on the surface of a bright purple and blue to a light teal. I wouldn't even get done kimmo get across the pan and it was already oxidizing purple again. Looked like gas on water. When I poured it into my lee mold after a couple seconds the top would turn purple before it hardened. The stuff is as soft as pure lead or even feels softer. But what is confusing is my pure lead I melted a few days ago looks like shiny hard Mercury vs this looks exactly like pewter...Could this be pewter?

[Traffer]

I just finished melting that big heavy flat bar in the middle that had the black plastic coating around it. I cut it into 8" pieces and removed the plastic before melting. The lead hardened to a color of a dull purple-blue/ deep grey in color that I would say looks like pewter. It doesn't look like lead compared to the other six box fulls I've melted in the last week. It gloomy like something all together different. As soon as it melted in my pot it instantly kept oxidizing on the surface of a bright purple and blue to a light teal. I wouldn't even get done kimmo get across the pan and it was already oxidizing purple again. Looked like gas on water. When I poured it into my lee mold after a couple seconds the top would turn purple before it hardened. The stuff is as soft as pure lead or even feels softer. But what is confusing is my pure lead I melted a few days ago looks like shiny hard Mercury vs this looks exactly like pewter...Could this be pewter?

Did you check the melt temp? Tin (pewter) melts at a lower temp than lead. Tin is also less dense.The density of Lead is 0.409 lb. per cubic inch or (2,863 gr. per cubic inch).
The density of Tin is 0.264 lb. per cubic inch or (1,848 gr. per cubic inch).
Pure tin melts at 450 degrees F. Lead melts at 621 degrees F. Pure tin has a Brinel hardness of 2.3. Lead has a Brinel hardness of 5. Lead is worth roughly $1 per lb. Tin is worth roughly $10 per lb. Let's just say, "you hope it's tin"

[Echo]

I just finished melting that big heavy flat bar in the middle that had the black plastic coating around it. I cut it into 8" pieces and removed the plastic before melting. The lead hardened to a color of a dull purple-blue/ deep grey in color that I would say looks like pewter. It doesn't look like lead compared to the other six box fulls I've melted in the last week. It gloomy like something all together different. As soon as it melted in my pot it instantly kept oxidizing on the surface of a bright purple and blue to a light teal. I wouldn't even get done kimmo get across the pan and it was already oxidizing purple again. Looked like gas on water. When I poured it into my lee mold after a couple seconds the top would turn purple before it hardened. The stuff is as soft as pure lead or even feels softer. But what is confusing is my pure lead I melted a few days ago looks like shiny hard Mercury vs this looks exactly like pewter...Could this be pewter?

I doubt that it is pewter - my guess is that it is pretty pure Pb, and you had it up pretty hot when you melted it. The purple is lead oxide, and it forms fast, faster the hotter it gets. Anf gold color on the surface is tin oxide, but I'll bet you had none of that.

[Tripplebeards]

I doubt that it is pewter - my guess is that it is pretty pure Pb, and you had it up pretty hot when you melted it. The purple is lead oxide, and it forms fast, faster the hotter it gets. Anf gold color on the surface is tin oxide, but I'll bet you had none of that.

There was a little yellow gold color on one of the melts but went away as fast as it showed