How do you inventory your lead stash?

[lightman]

Like the title says, looking for ideas. Since I joined the site in 09 I have seen pictures of your scores, your stashes in the old "Lifetime Supply Thread" and pictures on the loading bench thread. Do you have it displayed on shelves, a paper list, a computerized spreadsheet, ect?

I mainly only have 2 types of alloy, with a few other lesser amounts of other stuff. I use mostly wheel weights. I smelt in batches of between 350 and 400 pounds. I usually lightly blend any harder alloys into this. Then there is my soft stuff. Mostly cable sheathing with some roof flashing and stick-on weights. I also have several bars of linotype and a few buckets of mixed foundry and monotype that I keep separate.

Over the years I have used muffin tins, cornbread molds and finally settled on the 1# Lyman style molds. These are stacked in milk crates and the crate is labeled with the type of lead and the date it was smelted. I'm now marking the ingots with a metal stamp but I have too much not marked to ever go back and do them.

So, how do you keep up with what you have and what you need. Please feel free to post pictures if you want. Oh yeah, if you use milk crates, be sure its where you want it to stay when you load it. I estimate a crate weighs around 700 pounds.

[rancher1913]

I use a paint marker and write on the ingot what it is then all like kinds go in a five gallon bucket marked with what is in it. I fill the buckets only half full and then stack them 4 tall in a shed. I can see the number of buckets and type and know when I am getting short on any one type. have about 40 buckets like this so I think I am good for a little while.

[dragon813gt]

Mine are muffin ingots that are stamped w/ the alloy composition(96-3-1, 96-2-2......) and stored in foot lockers. I'm not to concerned w/ knowing how much I have on hand. When it looks like I'm low I will order another ton.

[Kraschenbirn]

All my raw materials such as Pb, Lino, COWW, etc, are poured into either 1# ingots or 2# muffins after smelting/fluxing and marked with a felt tip laundry pen. From these, I mix my 'shooting' alloys on an 'as needed' basis. Only exception is Lyman #2 which I mix in 30#-40# lots and store in 2# muffins...also marked with the laundry pen.

Bill

[Yodogsandman]

I stack the ingots and spray paint the ends real quick with a color that represents the alloy. Some day I'll get around to stamping them.

[NyFirefighter357]

I stamp mine like this and store in 5 gal. buckets

[warpspeed]

cast into muffin tins, stored in 5 gal plastic buckets

[lightman]

Thanks for the replys everyone. I just made a list of my milk crates and their contents. I have a major smelt ahead of me, weather permitting, after hunting season. Just looking for a more efficient method than what I'm doing. I'm slowly moving my stash to the same location and trying to get better organized in my old age!

[Hardcast416taylor]

By how many knee high piles of ingots I must step around along with how many pails of both un- sorted and un- smelted. Then there are the 2 sorting tables with piles of unsorted WW`s on them. There are the tubs of different leads on casters under my casting table. In short I have now in excess of 1 ton +/- assorted types of lead and mixed alloys. Wonder how much they can put in my casket so I can `TAKE IT WITH ME`!Robert

[Grmps]

I built a storage unit for behind my casting area for everyday use


And some behind my casting area that needs cleaned AGAIN (need to restock the COWW)



the rest are in milk crates, ammo cans and wooden boxes made for storing ingots

[USSR]

Seems like some of you guys got a lot of time on your hands. I just put the ingots into the box with the appropriate label on it telling what the alloy is (Pure, COWW, etc.).

Don

[dverna]

I have about 3000 lbs on hand of casting lead. I keep it simple, but that is because I do not hunt with cast bullets. Cast bullets are just a way to shoot as inexpensively as possible.

Most of it is 92-6-2 alloy from a foundry. Stacked as it comes from the foundry

Next is range lead and wheel weights. Dropped mostly from Lyman ingot molds. This is a mix of "stuff" for plinking pistol bullets - mostly .38 Spl. I use milk crates, old pots and pails to hold it.

Then there is Linotype. It is also from a foundry and is stored as shipped.

[skeettx]

Linotype here


Wheelweights here


Waiting here

[Bigslug]

Ammo cans.

.30 cals fit the 1# ingots better, and you can actually move one when it's full. .50 cals are more ubiquitous and are fine so long as they are thought of as stationary storage containers - rather than mobile ones - when full. The big 40mm's are good for what you have a lot of. Label the fronts of them with a marker in whatever code you deem appropriate for their pre-smelt source. Smaller dribs and drabs might go into baggies with a Post-It note, into a clear plastic dog treat container, or into the rejected bullet container to be smelted back down with the segregated range scrap pile I refer to as "Other People's Cast"

Stamping ingots? Life is too short.

[fatelk]

I palletize mine, label the pallets, then stack them in my warehouse and track inventory with a cloud based IMS.

Here's a photo of me doing my monthly physical inventory count:

[dragon813gt]

Stamping ingots? Life is too short.

It doesn't take long. It took maybe two minutes to stamp these ingots. It's around 800#s.


The ink from a sharpie will disappear over time so that's not a good method. Anything other then directly stamping has potential issues.

[OS OK]

Amazing how all these pictures are so beautiful.

I'm weird huh?

[Rcmaveric]

I got some wooden crates on sale at Michael's and glued a little black board placard to it. The placard has the type of lead that crate contains. I only have CWW, Range scrap, and soft lead. I have a couple hundred pounds of each.

[fatelk]

I'm a little surprised that nobody has called me out for my bogus warehouse photo in my last post, but maybe I shouldn't be. I get the feeling that that's a normal sized stash for some on here.

[Springfield]

I don't really keep an inventory but all alloys are in different ingot form, so I can tell with a quick look how much of everything I have. Main alloys are pure(triangular ingots), WW(Lyman ingots), Lino(smaller Castboolit ingots) and ready to use for Blackpowder cartridge guns(Redneck Gold ingots). Plus some small tin ingots in an ammo can.