Scored a drum of wheel weights!

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Spent the better part of the day sorting and rendering. Made it down to the halfway mark on the drum, so about a third of the weights. Got past the first layer and the steel has eased up. Did find a big stash of zinc weights that are similar in size and weight and all the same brand. Make me wonder if they were dregs from a closed up tire shop. Still a truck weight here and there, but no motherlode yet. Took approx 200 lbs of steel weights and clips from the drum, plus 60 or so lbs from previous melts/random scrap and traded it for, you guessed it, more lead! This time I went for some lead roofing and pipe @ $.60/lb since it still sounds like a fair deal. Based on today's work, I'm pretty sure I am going to come out better than 50%, unless there is an ugly surprise in the bottom of the barrel. I'm pretty sure it is the same barrel that has been at the yard for several years, so age is on my side.

I was going to scrap the Tonka truck, but then decided it would make a fun pellet gun target!

[Mitch]

I was thinking the same.the deeper you get the better it may be depending on how long it took to fill the barrel.I got 92lbs of lead in a bucket yesterday mosly soft stuff from what i see $.70a lb.some muffin ingots maked with weight and sorce.eithe pipe or sheet most are marked.Jee ww are so much fun.There is one thingi want to do if a run into a bunch of coww.That is make a basket to fit my big pot to remove the clips.Just a thought from your pic.you could tip the trailer the other way hook a comealong on the barrel and tip it over.scooping them up off the cement or trailer would be better than getting them out of the barrel.

[lightman]

After seeing the picture I would pull the barrel a little more forward and then tip it over toward the back and use the trailer floor as a table. A come-a-long would help.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

Executed the drum tip without disaster, used the cultivator to scratch out workable amounts onto a cookie sheet. I didn't do a complete sort, but pulled out most of the trash, stick ons, steel, and zinc. I sorted mostly by sight as I scratched through with the cultivator, but the zinc and steel made a distinct sound against the cultivator which helped root out a few missed by sight. Worked out a concrete scratch test for zinc.

Mix continued to be about your standard tire shop mix, just a few smaller truck tire weights here and there, and a few battery terminals/posts. I think most of it came from the same shop, as I kept finding wire scraps twisted up the same way.

Found a few interesting items, I'll take a pic later. No cigarette butts! A couple handfuls of valve stems. A couple razor blades, but not bad, biggest thing to watch out for was fish hooks. Looks like somebody cashed in their tackle box at some point. I kept any sinkers that were in decent shape.

I've got 40-50 lbs of zinc to hopefully sell/trade, and probably 250 lbs of steel to sell (in addition to the 200 already sold, while still warm!) giving my and estimated 800 lbs of clip on ingots, and a total of around 900 lbs of usable lead. I still need to melt down the stick ons, but the end is in sight.

If I had to guess, I've probably spent 14-16 hours sorting, melting, and pouring. Somewhere around $20-25 worth of propane.

[jsizemore]

And now you have a drum to store your ingots in. The best way to stack them.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

And now you have a drum to store your ingots in. The best way to stack them.

Not sure where I would put it! I better be sure, before I do, because it ain't movin!

[Markopolo]

I would sort.. period.. not all that hard.. just take a bit of it at a time... intensity vs consistentcy.... being consistent always wins out..

[Silvercreek Farmer]

I would sort.. period.. not all that hard.. just take a bit of it at a time... intensity vs consistentcy.... being consistent always wins out..

Too late now!

[lightman]

That was a good score! For around $250 plus your time and work you ended up with 900# of lead and the steel and zinc may pay for your propane! That stack of ingots should make you feel good about your hard work!

[Cast_outlaw]

That’s great I trade soft led to a guy in town here and he bring me up wheel weights from the city so far have gotten 3700lb and anothe 2200 on the way for about $280cnd mostly lead as the shops are required to separate themhere still a little zinc and ferrous in it but mostly lead

[Hossfly]

Nothing better than a nice pile of ingots laying there on the driveway cooling. Good days work, it’s what makes you sleep right at night.

[Mitch]

I am happy to here you got the barrel tipped over without much problem.So far I have only got buckets and that was hard enough to deal with.That is a great lookin pile of ingots 900lbs er about 30k of bullets depending on how big of bullets. now you will be looking at some angle iron ingot molds they stack a lot better!!I still have some muffin ingots but not many.

I don't know that I want a barrel of ww.here I find a lot of pipe and sheet a bar of solder now and then and the usual odds and ends.never in the 8 years a been buying lead have a found any type metal.So from the soft lead,super hard and solder I have colected I can make any alloy I want.but if I score some ww for the right price ill go there.Just cuz as mentioned it feels good to have a new pile of igots

[coloraydo]

If that Tonka truck is in decent shape, it might be worth a lot more than you would think. Research it further.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

If that Tonka truck is in decent shape, it might be worth a lot more than you would think. Research it further.

10 year old truck from Walmart. My kids rode it hard, literally. Metal bed, but lots of plastic otherwise.

[Silvercreek Farmer]

The final pile. Small pile is stick ons. Second pic is interesting things I found. Peed shop, sinkers, unused anchors, some unidentified steel parts. A brass chisel, a bit of solder, A knob on the end of wire. Seems soft but much shinier than lead should be. Tin, perhaps? Now I just have to put it all away! Wish I had about a 30 gallon steel drum. The 55 gallon would take up quite a bit of space.

[sureYnot]

Good looking piles.

Sent from my XT1710-02 using Tapatalk

[swheeler]

Looks good, you've got a lot of casting and shooting to do to use all that up!

[lightman]

That was defiantly a nice score. In that picture, I think I'm seeing a few stubs of bar solder, a few lead anchors and some fishing sinkers. I probably would test the lead anchors and the sinkers for zinc and consider it to be soft lead. Good Job!

[Winger Ed.]

Save the sinkers.
I melted down a bunch one time,,,,, then, later on I was drilling holes in boolits to replace them.

[Bookworm]

I've got a 5 gallon bucket of sinkers. I keep thinking of melting them down, but haven't yet done it. I'm hoping someone will buy them from me, for more than the lead is worth.

Then, I'll go buy more lead.