Came across this lead at work. Will be taking apart this lab room and making it to something else. So everything goes to the trash or into the back of my truck. My question is how long does the radiation or what ever they used this lead for, stays in the lead? I know this lab has not been in use for over a year.
When you have shot one bird flying you have shot all birds flying. They are all different and they fly in different ways but the sensation is the same and the last one is as good as the first.
-- Ernest Hemingway
60 days max. What a find!
Wow..that's good to hear.
Also the silver blocks seam to be Linotype because of the ring they have when moving them.
Not real sure, don't have a tester.
These blocks are 8"x 4"x 2" and are 30 lbs each.
When you have shot one bird flying you have shot all birds flying. They are all different and they fly in different ways but the sensation is the same and the last one is as good as the first.
-- Ernest Hemingway
probably should have worried about the radiation before you handled it
have some like the bricks and they test out real close to coww for hardness and usability, mine made excellent shot.
I have 10-12 of those same bricks sitting outside in the lead stash. They are not particularly picky when they make them, so the alloy can be just about anything - but they usually tend towards pure lead. I have to mix mine 50/50 with hardball alloy to get a good silhouette rifle bullet out of it.
The hardest part is cutting them up into small enough pieces so they fit in the pot - I ended up getting a stainless pot from goodwill and melting the brick on the BBQ, then pouring the lead into ingot molds for easier handling.
If the alloy is pure lead and the exterior is clean, it's not a radiological problem. The only time you might have a problem is when it's alloyed with antimony or other elements and it's been used in areas that utilize high energy photon beams for radiotherapy. Normal diagnostic xrays pose no problem.
The strongest reason for the people to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against the tyranny of government.
-- Thomas Jefferson
I did wash my hands afterwards.Originally Posted by rancher1913
probably should have worried about the radiation before you handled it
have some like the bricks and they test out real close to coww for hardness and usability, mine made excellent shot.
if the cylinders there are lead they will have some tin and antimony in them.[1/3 or so]
the bricks are probably @1% antimony.
I didn't grab the cylinders, thought that they were the most contaminated.
I'd check with the local high school or community college science teacher and see if he would check it with a geiger counter.
The strongest reason for the people to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against the tyranny of government.
-- Thomas Jefferson
The cylinders look like isotope lead and should be safe. The half life on that stuff is extremely short. I would grab them too. Nice Score!
As long as they are empty of sources, get the cylinders also
Mike
NRA Benefactor 2004USAF RET 1971-95
The hospital rad tecs should have checked for radioactivity before they ever let you near the stuff. Ask them. If they didn't check they are grossly negligent.
Yes..your correct. I believe that's why it was off limits for sometime. We just got the green light to start the job, I was fortunate to check
out the job first.
When you have shot one bird flying you have shot all birds flying. They are all different and they fly in different ways but the sensation is the same and the last one is as good as the first.
-- Ernest Hemingway
I work in the industry .I deliver radio active med to the local hospitals. It is shipped in lead pigs that we reuse every day. If lead can retain any radioactivity ,I have not encountered it. We test the pigs after each use and as soon as the source is gone so is the radioactivity. I am around the lead bricks every day and and the same applies.
n.h.schmidt
Thanks n.h.schmidt that's good information. Would you happen to know what alloy the bricks have? The silver ones seam to be linotype.
When you have shot one bird flying you have shot all birds flying. They are all different and they fly in different ways but the sensation is the same and the last one is as good as the first.
-- Ernest Hemingway
any radioactivity they have seen will be shed in less than a month.
they use lead because it is a shield/barrier not because it soaks up the x-rays or isotopes.
Two things here:
1. Lead is dead and radiation does not stay in lead. ( good grief people)
2. If those blocks were used as shielding for radiological monitoring equipment, they may be "Low-Alpha" lead worth around $100.00 per pound. Or they may just be plain old shielding.
Melting Stuff is FUN!Sent from my PC with a keyboard and camera on it with internet too.
Shooting stuff is even funner
L W Knight
I was told the same by the xray techs at the local hospital. They said if it retained radioactivity they wouldn't be allowed back in the xray room until it was gone.
I was talking with a neighbor a few years ago and the conversation came around to my reloading and casting. I was helping him in his building of a large R/C plane that was quite large. I then went with him to the flying facility in Red Rock Canyon and he flew the plane.
A week or so later he asked me to come over to the house as he had something for me. He had about 350 lead bricks from the nuclear facility North West of Las Vegas. They were doing some alterations and these lead bricks 2 1/2 x 5 x 12 were excess and slated to be hauled off and disposed of at considerable cost. He had them trucked to his garage and it was up to me to make use of them.
Wow this was a very nice pile of almost pure lead that would work well with my pile of high percentage tin (solder drippings and pieces of wire solder from a radiator shop) that were also considered toxic waste and my friend (owner of radiator shop) was very happy to keep me supplied with super moldable but light for size alloy for my boolits.
Used as received they cast very easy but the boolits were very brittle and never expanded at all. It is a bear to melt down those droppings and drippings etc in a bare cast iron pot over a coleman stove.
When I finally upgraded to a turkey fryer and a propane tank it was a lot easier. And if I left an inch or so of melted alloy in the pot the following smeltings were a breeze. Another friend got into welding and made me some ingot molds. A Ballard casting ladle makes smelting and pouring melted alloy into molds (ingot) a really easy and safe procedure.
Now I look forward to an extensive smelting session where I combine the two ingredients and end up with a high quality alloy for casting boolits.
As I am pushing 76 years I could be taking that final dirt nap any time now but I hope for the best but I think I have my lifetime stash of boolit making alloy.
Pax NobiscumDan (Crash) Corrigan
Currently casting, reloading and shooting: 223 Rem, 6.5x55 Sweede, 30 Carbine, 30-06 Springfield, 30-30 WCF, 303 Brit., 7.62x39, 7.92x57 Mauser, .32 Long, 32 H&R Mag, 327 Fed Mag, 380 ACP. 9x19, 38 Spcl, 357 Mag, 38-55 Win, 41 Mag, 44 Spcl., 44 Mag, 45 Colt, 45 ACP, 454 Casull, 457 RB for ROA and 50-90 Sharps. Shooting .22 LR & 12 Gauge seldom and buying ammo for same.
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| C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
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