Type Metal Questions

[lightman]

The recent thread on type metal hardness inspired me to start this thread. I have three 5 gallon buckets of type. Its mixed foundry, mono and maybe a little lino. I've had it for about 40 years. I'm thinking about what to do with it. I'm considering smelting it all together, sending BNE a sample to analyze and blending it with pure to make a nice useable alloy. Maybe keeping a few ingots to use as a sweetener for other stuff. If I do melt it I will look at it closely for any interesting letters or anything with any possible value.

My questions are;
1. What do you think about my idea?
2. What would you do with it?
3. If I do melt it all together will I have any problems with the tin and antimony rich alloy separating or keeping
everything together. I estimate about 600 to 800 pounds and if so it will be done in two batches.

I know that if you sell type most buyers want it in the original form. I don't really ever see myself selling this. I've had it since 1975 or 1976 and it probably sat around the newspaper office 10 years before I got it. This stuff is all different sizes from 1 X 1 inch squares to tine slivers 1/8th inch wide.

Thanks for any ideas or suggestions.

[MaryB]

Sort it so the foundry is separate, the amount of mono is likely small but it doesn't hurt to separate it too. Smelt each separately into 1 and 1/2 pound ingots. I use stainless condiment cups, full is ~ 1# 1/2 full ~ 1/2 pound... weigh each ingot and mark it with weight and composition. Then use it to blend alloy as needed, I do a lot of Lyman #2 but am playing around with different alloys in the 223 so it leaves more flexibility down the road. And if you decide to sell any down the road it is more acceptable than a blended alloy but for buying I prefer raw form so I know what I am getting.

[Lloyd Smale]

I allways melted it as is. But then ive never sold any. I just alloy with pure or ww to get the hardness I want then make up big batches of the alloy.

[ioon44]

If it were mine I would keep it in the original form, sorting out the different size letters and spacers would be a good move also.

I have had problems with the tin and antimony rich alloy separating and not mixing back in , always had better luck mixing it with Pb or coww make what alloy I wanted too cast with.

I have some small single letters 1/8 " or smaller that make slushy foam that is almost impossible to mix in to coww and using a lot sawdust and bees wax . I have tested it for zinc and it does not show any.

[lightman]

The alloy separating out and not mixing back in is my major concern. Sorting this stuff is going to be a major job, but I am retired and usually have a few slow boring months in the winter after hunting season. Probably no worse than sorting wheelweights!

Thanks for the ideas so far, please keep them coming.

[Oklahoma Rebel]

use pine shavings, throw a handful or two, enough to cover the top, and as soon as it starts to smoke, light it on fire, let it burn, if you stir do it gently, I use a wood paint stirrer. when the flames die, and all the shavings are burnt down, skim off the ash and the alloy should be clean with no foam or slush. that's my method-Travis

[Lloyd Smale]

alloys really don't separate. To separate an alloy would be like taking the iron out of steel. You might loose a tiny bit of tin do to oxidation but its pretty small in the big picture. Probably not enough to measure.

The alloy separating out and not mixing back in is my major concern. Sorting this stuff is going to be a major job, but I am retired and usually have a few slow boring months in the winter after hunting season. Probably no worse than sorting wheelweights!

Thanks for the ideas so far, please keep them coming.

[ioon44]

OK, so what do I have when I try to alloy small mono type letters with coww and use a thick covering of pine shavings and let them bun off and still end up with foamy slush?
I have skim this off and poured it in to a ingot and tested it with acid with on reaction as zinc would show.

[OS OK]

just marking the thread so I can follow this conversation...

[Oklahoma Rebel]

so... several of you have mono? hehehee.... sorry, I had to say it...... I know Grow up! lol i'll try

[OS OK]

Ha REB!

I took a minute...but eventually I caught on...dang, it's been a long time since that word came up in a conversation!

[Oklahoma Rebel]

lol, that's a good thing!

[MaryB]

Keep fluxing, add a bit of bees wax and it will go back into the melt. Might have to crank temps a bit higher.

[William Yanda]

so... several of you have mono? hehehee.... sorry, I had to say it...... I know Grow up! lol i'll try

I get it, the kissing disease.

[lightman]

Thanks for the replys everyone. I won't have time to do anything with this until the end of the year so feel free to keep the ideas coming. Like I said, I've had this stuff for nearly 40 years and have moved it 3 times. Its sitting in a corner of the garage right now and I'm just thinking that I need to use it.

When I first started casting, this was one of my earlier scores. Not knowing any better, I actually cast a few bullets with it. The fill out was fantastic! But talk about getting them to fall out of the mold? My Lyman 450 did not really like sizing them either!

[Hardcast416taylor]

A few years back I tried a small pot of straight mono from a large box of it that I have. I was using a RCBS .416 350 mold trying to make some `solids` from the mono. Yes I had a time of it with getting the boolits from the mold, they looked very pretty and fully filled out though. My 450 Lyman sizer acted like I was trying to shove a 50 pound rock thru it!. I only cast 30 of these slugs and have never tried this since.Robert

[fortrenokid]

Hey Lightman

I'd say you have a problem. But, no worries. Your problem is the best kind: a good problem. You have so many alternatives, each is probably good in it's own way, and lots of experimentation would be required to determine which would be best. And the experimentation would probably be very satisfying in its own self, i.e., the journey being as rewarding or even more so than the destination

Lots of Pards have chipped in with ideas and each has its own merits/demerits. I'd prob go with sorting out all the bits, melting them down into ingots, weighing those, selling the excess, and keeping the remainder for your own bullet casting. Side note: I , too, am retired and too much free time is not good -- or so SWMBO keeps telling me -- so those melting activities would keep you busy and would prevent an idle mind from becoming the devil's workshop! (great line from the musical "The Music Man".).

I'm intrigued, too, by the possibility of combining a lot of the materials, melting them down into uniform ingots, sending them off to be analyzed as to content, and selling them labeled as just what they are. You might wind up with a good, hard alloy that meets a lot of casting requirements in itself. Further, you could put in some mental effort and include some formulas with the ingots for blending them with softer alloys to come up with a near-ideal casting alloy for the particular need.

I'll concur with an earlier comment that sawdust makes a good fluxing material. I add a little candle wax/paraffin (maybe because I like to see the flame!), add a small amount of sawdust, and then gently stir it into the mixture. Surely seems effective at attracting and grabbing onto slag items while reblending the various components (lead, tin, antimony, whatever else) back into an effective alloy. When done, there is a small layer of ash on top that skims off easily ... and it leaves the beautiful, silvery alloy ready for casting that inspires and motivates all determined bullet casters.

So ... I'll join lots of others in wishing I had your problems: an abundance of casting material and the time and determination to try various alternatives. Suggestion: after working at your (non?) problem, you might post a new thread telling us what you did and what the results were.

Good casting and good shooting!

Fort Reno Kid

[SWANEEDB]

The recent thread on type metal hardness inspired me to start this thread. I have three 5 gallon buckets of type. Its mixed foundry, mono and maybe a little lino. I've had it for about 40 years. I'm thinking about what to do with it. I'm considering smelting it all together, sending BNE a sample to analyze and blending it with pure to make a nice useable alloy. Maybe keeping a few ingots to use as a sweetener for other stuff. If I do melt it I will look at it closely for any interesting letters or anything with any possible value.

My questions are;
1. What do you think about my idea?
2. What would you do with it?
3. If I do melt it all together will I have any problems with the tin and antimony rich alloy separating or keeping
everything together. I estimate about 600 to 800 pounds and if so it will be done in two batches.

I know that if you sell type most buyers want it in the original form. I don't really ever see myself selling this. I've had it since 1975 or 1976 and it probably sat around the newspaper office 10 years before I got it. This stuff is all different sizes from 1 X 1 inch squares to tine slivers 1/8th inch wide.

Thanks for any ideas or suggestions.

Lightman,
Am glad you posted this, have thought about doing the same with all my 'printers' lead which we have a fair amount, maybe near what you have in lbs or just maybe more. We now have so much 99Pb, thoughts we had/have is to come up with a blend that will be quite close to Lyman #2, would just like to have that on hand so when we cast most of the guess work is done, we do a smelt of approx 250lbs in one batch. With a known alloy or at least close tested by BNE would give us more peace of mind.
Thanks for your post.

[ioon44]

Back in the 1990's I cast some .38 cal bullets from straight mono and the bullet would break in to at the crimp or break when the nose hit the feed ramp on a .38 super.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

The recent thread on type metal hardness inspired me to start this thread. I have three 5 gallon buckets of type. Its mixed foundry, mono and maybe a little lino. I've had it for about 40 years. I'm thinking about what to do with it. I'm considering smelting it all together, sending BNE a sample to analyze and blending it with pure to make a nice useable alloy. Maybe keeping a few ingots to use as a sweetener for other stuff. If I do melt it I will look at it closely for any interesting letters or anything with any possible value.

My questions are;
1. What do you think about my idea?
2. What would you do with it?
3. If I do melt it all together will I have any problems with the tin and antimony rich alloy separating or keeping
everything together. I estimate about 600 to 800 pounds and if so it will be done in two batches.

I know that if you sell type most buyers want it in the original form. I don't really ever see myself selling this. I've had it since 1975 or 1976 and it probably sat around the newspaper office 10 years before I got it. This stuff is all different sizes from 1 X 1 inch squares to tine slivers 1/8th inch wide.

Thanks for any ideas or suggestions.

Myself, I keep it all separate and in it's original form, but I don't have 800lbs of mixed type.
If I had 800lbs of mixed type, that's been sitting unused since '75 and I wasn't planning on selling it, then I'd surely think your plan of smelting it all together, getting it analyzed and blending with pure to get a preferred boolit alloy, would seem logical, IMHO...because I would rather spend my time casting loading and shooting, and NOT sorting type metals.
Good Luck.