Identifying lead/alloy?

[jason280]

I picked up 36lbs of this stuff, thinking it was pure lead. It's not pure lead, but maybe some kind of alloy. I can mark/cut it slightly with a razor blade, but it doesn't thud...more of a thuddy ring to it. Doesn't bounce when dropped on concrete, though.

[Kraschenbirn]

Without a full chemical analysis...to me 36# ain't worth the cost...'bout the best you can do is test for zinc and hardness. Hit one of your ingots with couple drops of muriatic acid; if it foams, it's contains zinc...no foam, it's lead and who knows what. So far as hardness, if you haven't got a hardness tester, there's a sticky here on using pencils of known hardness to determine an approximation of Bhn.

Bill

[dbosman]

The wire sticking out makes me instantly think of a sacrificial anode for something going into salt water. Anodes are typically zinc or aluminum.

Update. Specifically a crab trap anode. https://www.leefisherfishing.com/products/zinc-bar

[jason280]

Here are a few more pics....







It's probably nothing I can use, should have checked it a little more closely....

[lightman]

I would test it with a few drops of acid to check for zinc. If it contained no zinc I would smelt it together and try a few bullets. A hardness tester will not tell you the alloy but it can give you an idea. You can cast a bullet with it and compare the weight to a bullet from a known alloy. If it were mine and passed the zinc test I would just make bullets from it until I used it up.

[toallmy]

I am a commercial fisherman on the Chesapeake bay in Virginia , Sr that looks exactly like the zink that the fellows use on the crab pots . I Suggest you don't mix it with your lead , but someone may have cast lead with bracing wire through it as a weight of sort . Does it have any markings on it , the zink suppliers generally have the company name cast in the bar's ?

[jason280]

No markings that I have seen. I paid $8 for the bucket, hoping I had snagged a deal on lead....

[toallmy]

Well the zink anode price is way up , the last I heard the 50 lb box of small 1/2 lb blocks were over a 100.00 .

[Grmps]

Send a small sample and 1# pure lead to BNE and he will XRF it for you.

[toallmy]

That's the way to do it ,^^^^^^^^^ then you know for shore .

[jason280]

Bne???

[runfiverun]

he is a member here.
I wouldn't be too down in the mouth about scoring 36 lbs of zinc.
it has all kinds of uses in the casting world.
set it aside and move on, as you read and learn more you'll figure out what to do with it at some point.

[bangerjim]

Anodes. Do the acid test 1st - easy and cheap. Zn will bubble up violently with 30% pool acid (HCl). You can even steal a few drops (in an eyedropper) of sulfuric acid (H2SO4) from your battery. Not as active but if those are Pb there will be NO reaction at all!

Banger