Sterotype lead

[Ramson222]

I've been offered what is supposedly sterotype lead that has been cast into ingots. It should be 6% tin and 14% antimony. Any idea on what price would be fair to both of us?
I tried to find some for sale online but wasn't able to.

[NyFirefighter357]

$2-$2.5 per lb if you trust the alloy it's worth the higher end.

[samari46]

You can easily cut that with pure lead to 50-50 at least to extend it but with the high antimony and tin could drop that to maybe 25% of steriotype and the rest pure lead. Have any idea of how many pounds you are looking to get?. Frank

[Conditor22]

Be safe, scratch a smooth spot with a knife or chisel and test it with pencils.

Should be around 23 BHN.

[Ramson222]

I will definatly test with pencils first. Thanks for that. I would not have thought to take pencils with me.

[kevin c]

One way to look at it is to determine what it'd cost you for a pound of the same alloy if you had to buy the individual component metals yourself.

Lead scrounged yourself might be around a dollar a pound, so at 80%, what's in a pound of stereotype would be about eighty cents worth.

Sn as pewter you can buy at around nine dollars a pound shipped, pure tin is more. Call it around ten dollars a pound, so the six percent is sixty cents worth.

Making antimonial alloys from pure Sb is beyond me, so I use Rotometals SuperHard. With their premium for alloying the metal for you, it comes out to a bit over seven bucks a pound for the Sb, so the fourteen percent costs just over a dollar.

Total this way is $2.40 a pound. Your figure could be more or less, depending on what it actually costs you to get the component metals. This also doesn't figure in how you value convenience versus the effort to find and process potentially scarce materials.

ETA: there is also the caveat emptor risk you take buying an item whose content is an assertion you have to take at face value. Most of the time the seller, recognizing this, discounts from the selling price of the same material from a source that can guarantee the content. But the risk is still there, regardless of the discount.

[lightman]

I agree with NYFirefighter as to price. I would definantly scratch it with something to check for hardness.

I never would have thought about breaking down the cost by separate components like Kevin described but it looks like he arrived at about the same value.

[Conditor22]

I See what stuff is selling for on CB Shipped and stay below that.

The price I'll pay depends on how badly I need/want it.

A couple of years ago I found Monotype for .80¢ a pound, naturally, I bought all they had. Recently I stumbled across Linotype for $1.00 a pound [didn't really need it but couldn't say no

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

It should be 6% tin and 14% antimony. Any idea on what price would be fair to both of us?

If a lead alloy is ingotized by someone not-in-the-biz and doesn't have test data to show what it is, then it is scrap Lead. If you have clues as to what the alloy is and you can confirm your hunch with pencils, then it's worth a bit more than scrap lead price. Then it comes to how much you want or need that supposed alloy. IMHO, I wouldn't pay over $1.25 per lb. I surely wouldn't pay $2 per lb.

[RED BEAR]

Boy its has been a while since i bought any lead. Last time i called turned it down at 90 cent per pound. I guess i might be in for a rude awakening when i have to go to the scrap yard. Will have to rent a truck to get it as scrap yard is 30 miles away and no longer have a truck. I realize you are not talking about scrap but i have not and will not pay $2+ per pound.

[Ramson222]

Thank you all who replied, I will take all into consideration and try to bargain appropriately.