roll of lead one down one to go.

[corey012778]

finally after almost 6yrs I started smelting one of two rolls of lead my father in law gave me. man the lead oxide was bad. makes me want to put the drowse in my metal foundry to see what I can get out of it, if I felt like wasting the propane. ended up with 36 1.25 lbs avg mini muffin ingots left 10 to 15lbs in the pot to help the next roll go faster.




the next one up



may wait till it is a little cooler to do that and do the range lead and remelt some larger ingots that won't fit my casting pot.

[MaryB]

I toss dross into a bucket, when it is full I process it and get more free lead/tin/antimony.

[lightman]

Looks like a good days work. Looking forward to cooler weather myself.

[corey012778]

it was cooler yesterday then it has been and not raining, still was not cool enough. forgot how heavy those suckers where and got in a hurry and throw the whole thing in. going to cut the next one into strips.

would be a great day today to smelt some lead, well but for the wind and a little bit of rain

[kevin c]

I did rolls of sheet lead recently and boy did they dross up badly. Same with the swarf from cutting up lead barrels and carts lined with pure lead panels. Same with the shavings drilled from bars of Linotype. I guess all that surface area predisposes to a rapid rate of oxidation.

[Mr_Sheesh]

I suspect sheet lead would require a LOT of flux, as in put 10 pounds of wax in there then once that's gone add another 10 pounds, then another.

[Wayne Smith]

When I did the sheet lead it had something on it that turned black and grainy and sank to the bottom of my pot - I'm guessing something in the glue? Wax takes care of the true oxidation.

[kevin c]

Black and grainy and SANK in the melt? Denser than lead? I have no idea.

[Mr_Sheesh]

Could it be some compound of Lead? If you can retrieve some of it perhaps get an XRF analysis done on it?

[corey012778]

Maybe lead IV oxide. Stuff I scooped out was black. Did a little research.

But what I worked was dirty and did not think about.

Would oxides of something float?

[Mr_Sheesh]

It would just depend on its' density I'd think? Doesn't look like it -

Lead density: 10.66 g/cm3 (when molten)
Lead dioxide density: 9.38 g/cm3

[mold maker]

Sheet lead has lots of surface area per weight. If stored or used exposed to the atmosphere there will be lots of oxides. As with all pb oxides, lots of fluxing will reclaim most of it. Don't be in too big a rush to skim and discard them. You have already spent the money to heat them and your throwing that away too.
this is one of the cases where if a little is good, more is better.

[Wayne Smith]

Could it be some compound of Lead? If you can retrieve some of it perhaps get an XRF analysis done on it?

Years ago and long gone. It was lighter than lead, would float, but the weight of the lead kept some at the bottom of the pot - a cast iron pot on a Coleman stove.