Cleaning of stick on wheel weights

[dondiego]

Get in touch with your neighbor and be up front. Tell him you need to produce some smoke and would he mind if you did it when he was away or when the wind was in a different direction or..........do you have two close neighbors??

[Peregrine]

So, what do you figure the shipping would be on, say, 60 pounds of lead ingots mailed from the US to Australia? Probably significantly more than the cost of the lead? Not trying to be a wise guy, just thinking this through.

Admittedly I did not check where the OP was located before I gave that piece of advice.
However my feelings on doing the dirty deed of smelting within ten or so meters of my neighbors isn't changed. Is it really unthinkable that if all you have is a tiny piece of land surrounded by tons of other people than perhaps playing with a witches brew of heavy metals and garbage in open air isn't for you?

Look, I seriously don't want to be the buzz kill here. If OP is able to dissolve most of the grime, and grease/oil from his SOWW before he melts them by treating them with a solvent he'll be in much better shape than he would be otherwise. But whole reason we even have this thread is because he knows that processing WW is a dirty business and his neighbors would definitely not appreciate it if they clued in what was going on, aided by plumes of smoke. I'm just pointing out that instead of trying to pull a fast one he find somewhere better to melt.

Smelting is inherently smoky and puts off toxic fumes, there's no getting around that. He's a brand new shooter and bullet caster, just getting into this business. If he continues in this endeavor there's going to be plenty of smelting in the future, he needs to focus on doing it right. For practical reasons as well, if he's going to be casting in any quantity then washing all of his wheelweights in solvent (and then doing what with it?) and scrapping at the backing of each of the individually so you can hide what you are doing from your neighbors is ridiculously convoluted.

Get in touch with your neighbor and be up front. Tell him you need to produce some smoke and would he mind if you did it when he was away or when the wind was in a different direction or..........do you have two close neighbors??

Sounds like he has several, and from what I know of suburban Brisbane, he likely knows he's get crucified if he told them what he was up to. Hence him going through the effort of cleaning each weight off individually (could you imagine?).

[Dieselhorses]

Has anyone actually tried "boiling" them with water? Boiling temperature isn't anywhere close to melting weights but usually is a good remedy for sticky stuff.

[Gatch]

Has anyone actually tried "boiling" them with water? Boiling temperature isn't anywhere close to melting weights but usually is a good remedy for sticky stuff.

I haven't tried boiling it. Never even thought of it. The petrol has worked a treat though. Leads almost clean enough to eat off.

[ulav8r]

Boil in water with a little lye. Maybe put in a wire basket and clean them at the car wash first.

[JeffinTD]

Personally, if I were in that situation I think I’d take my pot, stove and steel folding table out in the middle of no where and do my fluxing and ingots there.

Using solvent and removing each label seems to me labor intensive, and not without risk. I’d also prefer not to attract attention of the neighbors, just in general principal.

Just my opinion. Don’t know if that is a realistic option for you.

[lightman]

Personally, if I were in that situation I think I’d take my pot, stove and steel folding table out in the middle of no where and do my fluxing and ingots there.

Using solvent and removing each label seems to me labor intensive, and not without risk. I’d also prefer not to attract attention of the neighbors, just in general principal.

Just my opinion. Don’t know if that is a realistic option for you.

I don't know Gatch's situation but this sounds like the best solution if its possible. Being that close to the neighbors would cause me to be concerned with them smelling other things. Yeah, moving all of my smelting equipment to the Outback would be a chore. But better safe than sorry.

[Gatch]

For me to drive to the outback is hrs away. I'll have the lead cleaned by hand in that time. It's done now anyway. All cleaned melted down and ingotized. And because it was cleanish, there was bugger all smoke or smell.

[skeettx]

Well done, and thank you for the report

[lightman]

Yes, glad it worked out for you. My comment about the "Outback" was mostly said tongue in cheek! I pretty much meant someplace in the rural od lightly populated.

[Gatch]

Yes, glad it worked out for you. My comment about the "Outback" was mostly said tongue in cheek! I pretty much meant someplace in the rural od lightly populated.

Yeah I hear you. It's just heading into autumn here so it's still fairly hot. Wildfires are a problem in summer. People tend to freak out when they see plumes of smoke they didn't know if in advance lol. Last thing I want is a fire truck shiwing up to spoil my party.