Look what I found

[jakemo]

I stumbled onto these in an old shed and for the longest time didn't know what they were. I recently found out that they are linotype ingots that are lowered into the pot on a linotype machine. Not sure what the hardness on these is or how they should be mixed with pure lead but am researching that now.

[cabezaverde]

Nice find!

[Burnt Fingers]

Linotype pigs. I mix four parts pure lead with one part lino. That gives me a nice 11 bhn hardness alloy that I use in almost all my handguns.

[Sig556r]

Is the shape why they call 'em pigs?

[kevin c]

Like stumbling on a pot of gold...

I've read that an old pouring technique for ingots of iron was into a channel that had a row of molds running off one or both sides. It looked like a litter of piglets nursing from a sow. Hence the name "pig iron". Maybe the same technique was used for Lino?

[Hickory]

Is the shape why they call 'em pigs?

It comes from the old days of early iron smelting, when it was refined to a useable material and convenient shape (very large ingots) for shipping to other foundries who would melt it down and cast it into useable shapes for machining into a product

[Mitch]

Them should be 4%tin and 12% antimony.find the alloy calculator here and play with then numbers to see what you can come up with for what your needs are.I for one have only seen pics of those.great find

[dbosman]

I'll be the downer. IF they are linotype, huge score. They are cast in a linotype mold, but that doesn't mean they are linotype.
Call some scrap yards in your area and ask if they can do an XRF scan for you.
Or, check out how to determine hardness with art pencils.

[jakemo]

Thanks for the comments and advice; just weighed one, 26 lb. 10 oz. each.

[Dusty Bannister]

The weight is a little heavy for most linotype ingots. Often about 22 pounds. Lay one on a blanket and rap it with a hammer. If it goes "thud" it is soft lead. If it goes "clang" you may have a winner. I see the "ears" are broken on a few of the ingots. Look closely at the really clean surface of the fracture and let us know if you see a very fine powder like appearance, with a lot of tiny shinny facets. That would be the fine grain of the antimony in the alloy. Sometimes with an oblique light shining across the fracture you can see sort of a wavy line like end grain on a piece of lumber.

Still, the XRF is a sure way to know what you have. Some linotype ingot molds have been seen on the auction sites. It might be possible that someone has poured less than linotype into the mold and that is why you need to look a little harder at what you have. If I did the math correctly, lino weighs about 92% of what an equal volume of lead weighs. You may have the real thing, but based only upon the weight being heavier than expected, you might exercise good judgement before you call it linotype. We know that there will usually be some weight variation based upon how full the mold is poured as well.

[lightman]

Thats a nice score. The broken ears are a good sign! Lino-type is hard enough to be a little brittle and seeing broken ears is pretty common. The ears probably would not have broken on soft lead.

We have a member here, BNE, that will test lead alloys for members. He takes a pound of lead as payment.

[Sig556r]

It comes from the old days of early iron smelting, when it was refined to a useable material and convenient shape (very large ingots) for shipping to other foundries who would melt it down and cast it into useable shapes for machining into a product

Thanks Hickory, nice to learn something new everyday...

[pworley1]

Congratulations.

[pete501]

I heard the term "pig" came from the way the cast iron flowed from a single channel feeding several ingot hollows. It resembled the piglets nursing off of momma.

[Burnt Fingers]

I had some linotype pig molds offered to me earlier this year. I passed.

[Thumbcocker]

You could very easily trade those for much more of a different alloy.

[Rizzo]

I heard the term "pig" came from the way the cast iron flowed from a single channel feeding several ingot hollows. It resembled the piglets nursing off of momma.

Then they should be called piglets shouldn't they? <grin>