What's More Valuable - Loose LinoType or LinoType Ingots?

[rototerrier]

Just curious if lino ingots are more valuable than loose lino? Is it similar to how COWW Ingots are more valuable than loose wheel weights?

[Beagle333]

I wouldn't say more valuable, but easier to sell if it is still in lino form. Anybody that knows/trusts you wouldn't care what form it was in. You're not getting rid of steel clips and zinkers like with wheel weights. It'll sell for the same price, it just might take a little longer to sell, until you find a trusting soul that those are indeed linotype ingots.

[RogerDat]

The opposite. An ingot can be claimed to be "linotype" and be something less than that alloy. The linotype in its printer ready form is a known alloy. Much as an ingot of silver is unknown until tested, while a silver quarter of a certain year is known. The same applies to monotype or foundry type (individual letters). Or plumbers lead ingots of pure lead. The form verifies the content.

Wheel weight lead the ingot form has labor and fuel adding value plus the price per pound is for only lead. Raw WW's will have some weight in steel clips and may have zinc or steel unless being sold as sorted. To use those raw WW's you will have to melt, flux, and cast into ingots so in buying ingots with that work and expense already done you pay something extra for it.

[rototerrier]

Well, here's the deal....I just got home with a score of 700lbs of lino. Could be 1000, but rough estimates have it at around 1k. I have some brand new castboolits ingot molds from the recent group buy and am considering ingotizing them for my own convenience. I don't want this much lino sitting around in buckets. Everything else I have is neatly stored and stacked in ingots.

I am not sure I'll hold on to it long enough that I will eventually sell it, or if I'll shot it all up.

Just a lot of unknowns. All I know for certain, is that I'm keeping it for the immediate future and would like it not in buckets. But I don't want to make it impossible to sell in the future.

Just talking hypotheticals here

[rototerrier]

Is the MonoType of different value from the linotype? I just thought it was all mostly the same. I have probably 75% mono and 25% lino.

[RogerDat]

Well, here's the deal....I just got home with a score of 700lbs of lino. Could be 1000, but rough estimates have it at around 1k. I have some brand new castboolits ingot molds from the recent group buy and am considering ingotizing them for my own convenience. I don't want this much lino sitting around in buckets. Everything else I have is neatly stored and stacked in ingots.

I am not sure I'll hold on to it long enough that I will eventually sell it, or if I'll shot it all up.

Just a lot of unknowns. All I know for certain, is that I'm keeping it for the immediate future and would like it not in buckets. But I don't want to make it impossible to sell in the future.

Just talking hypotheticals here

5 gallon bucket about 2/3 full will stack at least 3 high. Or 4 if you are up to lifting one that high, but 3 high is pretty easy. Myself I face the same sort of dilemma, same mold, buckets of printers lead in raw form. My decision so far has been to not melt the raw form down. I just sort out the smooth spacer strips and melt those into a big batch that I get tested by member BNE because those spacers can be anything from plain lead to richer than linotype. So getting those out and tested makes the remaining strips of letters all a "known" alloy.

When I want a little extra cash for a mold, dies, or components I can easily scoop out some from a bucket and stack it in a box to sell. I do have some linotype or other printers lead in ingot form but not very much and certainly not the majority. It just reduces the value and convenience when selling too much. And when making a batch of alloy for use as bullets I do 100 pound batch so having it still in strips isn't much of a problem. Just scoop out some, weigh it, dump it into the pot. Those finished alloys get made into fancy ingots not the ingredients

[Joe K]

Personally I prefer to purchase linotype in its original form. This way I’m sure of what I’m buying. In ingot form of so much. My opinion of the value would be original form worth more.

[RogerDat]

Is the MonoType of different value from the linotype? I just thought it was all mostly the same. I have probably 75% mono and 25% lino.

Yes very different alloys. Lino was used to run a single days paper or magazine then re-melted and periodically "freshened" by adding tin to replace that lost as dross. Mono and Foundry letters were intended to be used for years and had to be much harder.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_metal table at the bottom shows that the alloys can vary a fair amount but that all the mono & foundry alloys are much higher antimony and tin percentages. By carefully examination of the individual letters the notch can tell you if the letter block is mono or foundry. I never bothered with that and at several hundred pounds you won't want to either. It doesn't take much to really sweeten a batch of plain or COWW's so just adding as if all was foundry in a recipe works fine. It is why I do 100 pound batches of finished alloy. I can have it tested in 1 sample and then "tweek" it a bit if required when putting ingots of that batch into the casting pot.

But then I usually make printers lead and tin into fairly rich alloys like Lyman #2 to stack on the shelf and cut that down with plain. Cut a little for rifle, a lot for revolver, less cut for magnum or not cut at all for high velocity rifle. Sometimes I will shoot for 3/3/94 alloy but since I can easily cut home brewed Lyman #2 to that alloy percentage from its 5/5/90 alloy as needed I don't make that much of it directly from lino or type metal.

Another option is to just periodically as needed scoop out a 100 pounds of the type metal or Linotype and make ingots. Have sample from those ingots tested and then you can plug those values into the alloy calculator to make finished alloys. The 100 pounds of printers lead will go a really long way in terms of sweetening plain lead or COWW's so you have convenience of tested ingots of your letters without diminishing the value of the bulk of your stash. Plus real accuracy as to the alloy from that printers letters.

[stubshaft]

I'm with the linotype in it's original form. I have bought ingots of mystery metal that did not hardness test anywhere near lino.

[rototerrier]

Buckets of raw it is. You've all convinced me!

[ShooterAZ]

That's the best choice if you're planning on selling it sometime down the road.

[nun2kute]

You are quite welcome to store buckets of lino in MY garage any time, of course there is one of the neighborhood kids who seems to like to frequent my garage in the wee hours of the morning so some might come up missing !?

[JimB..]

I share your dislike of buckets, but I have lots of lead stored in 30 cal ammo cans and think they’d be perfect for type. Not super cheap, think I give $4 or $5 for them at the gun show.

[RogerDat]

I share your dislike of buckets, but I have lots of lead stored in 30 cal ammo cans and think they’d be perfect for type. Not super cheap, think I give $4 or $5 for them at the gun show.

But if you like your guts to stay where they started avoid the 50 cal ammo cans. That there size full of lead is just a wee bit heavy when you pick it up. I use 30 caliber ammo cans for cast bullets. Zip lock freezer bags for each type or state of processing and all the same caliber in the same can. The 30 caliber size slide under the bench bottom shelf, or stack really well.

[lightman]

I have this same problem. I have 3 buckets of mixed type that I will probably never use. It would store better if it was in ingot form. It will be easier to sell if in its original form. So far its still in the buckets in its original form.

[rototerrier]

I must admit, I'm learning about this type lead. I've always dealt with soww and coww. You'd mentioned ingotizing spacers?

I've started going thru it and it is all monotype with spacers and blocks and all sorts of different style elements. I was thinking I had some linotype, but it was just mono organized into print.

Is it recommended that I separate it all out and melt down everything that's not monotype? Thinking I may go this route. The Mono's are so small / slender, they will pack nice and tight into ammo cans or buckets. All the spacers and blocks, not so easy. They take up odd space. The spacers and blocks make up a smaller portion of the overall weight, but do take up a lot of space.

It all came in 2 cabinets. One where lots of type were all separated and organized. And the other had over 120 slide out drawers which were in different sizes of print where the type was laid out for printing. Looks like this is where they stored them for reuse. Pretty cool to see.

[JimB..]

I believe that linotype spacers are a different alloy than linotype text, but that for mono-type the alloy is the same, but I only know what I’ve picked up here over the past few years.

[Petander]

Years ago I cleaned a ton of WW. I also had quite a bit of monotype so I made ~20 lbs ingots with 10% and 30% of monotype mixed in. That was before I had an electric pot,I was being practical. Ingots got marked,of course.

Many,many times afterwards I've noticed I'd rather have them separate. When you have pure,WW and mono all separated it's much easier to tweak alloys. And easier to trade mono,if you want to.

Mono is also easiest to use in letter form if you have a standard pot.

[dondiego]

You could always ingotize one bucket for your own personal use.

[Petander]

You could always ingotize one bucket for your own personal use.

Ingotize!

Me likes that word. I ingotized my ww into too big ingots, now I have to first un-ingotize and then re-ingotize them into smaller ingots to fit in the Pro Melt.

Big ingots are nice to store,though. And another flux in between never hurts.