Cutting lead

[DiverJay]

I have an opportunity to pick up a 500lb lead boat keel for an amazing price of $100. Problem, (besides getting it home) is how do I cut it up into usable chunks to feed to my 20lb smelting pot? I've watched Youtube videos with people using chain saws and log splitters. Neither of these tools I own. The log splitter looked great but the chainsaw was rather slow. Nevertheless, my tool selection is limited to a table saw, chop saw, angle grinder, and sawzall. Anyone have any suggestions to help me tackle this job?

[geslayton]

Hammer and chisel would likely break it up pretty quickly I would think.

Sent from my moto e5 cruise using Tapatalk

[rcslotcar]

On 45 lb ingots I used a sawzall it was slow going but worked. I ended up using a torch with a pot to collect melted lead.

[Winger Ed.]

+1 for the sawz-all.

[jdfoxinc]

The weed burner from horrible fright. Sorry harbor freight. Dig 2" trenches in the dirt to catch the drips then remelt for your pot.

____[]____
I I I I I

THE KEEL is the square. The underline is the mother trench the I are the pig(lets). Heat to the surface closest to the mother, lead runs into it and overflows to the pig's. Cut apart with an ax.

This is my plan should I ever get the opportunity to buy a scrap keel.

[labradigger1]

Wood splitter, axe, chainsaw

[DiverJay]

The weed burner from horrible fright.

Kind of digging the $20 solution from Horrible Freight. $16 after the 20% coupon. 3,000 degree torch. Why didn't I think of that?

[kevin c]

Who doesn't like the idea of using what amounts to a small flame thrower?

[DiverJay]

Who doesn't like the idea of using what amounts to a small flame thrower?

Especially one that's CA legal.

[F_L]

Chain saw is the answer. I have recyled quite a few keels and tried every method of cutting them up. The problem with the weed burner is you have a 500lb heat sink.. The part of the keel you are working on loses heat to the rest of the keel. The weed burner will work but on a 500lb chunk of lead it will be slow. You might think about a bigger pot. I made a pot out of an old propane cylinder. Holds about 300lbs and heat it with a fish/turkey fryer burner. That is a lot less cutting.

[DiverJay]

I made a pot out of an old propane cylinder. Holds about 300lbs and heat it with a fish/turkey fryer burner. That is a lot less cutting.

Funny. I was just reading up on how to make one. I agree, it might be a better option than the weed burner.

[Dusty Bannister]

If you do decide to use the weed burner, you may consider melting the chunk in half. That would create two much smaller heat sink items. Then melt the two chunks in half. Between the melting run off that you can collect and recover, you will end up with several smaller pieces and that might make your project a lot easier to handle. Shield the project so that you do not have the breeze to take the heat away from the large piece of stock.

[kevin c]

I think the weed burner might work OK, by itself or with a big pot.

I put scrap isotope generators and containers that weigh 18 or 32 pounds into my scrap processing pot. If I hit one of them with the HF weed burner, not even wide open, the surface torched will start melting almost right away, even though the paper label on the other side hasn't started to scorch yet. Shift the flame and the melting stops, shift back and the lead just pours off. I guess a half million BTUs puts more heat into the surface than the mass behind it can conduct away before melting. Uses lots of propane, though.

My pot will hold 250# easily. But, even insulated, covered, and with a double jet burner roaring behind wind screens, it takes close to an hour to melt a full load. Especially with large chunks of lead, there are limited points of contact with the heating vessel, and radiant heating and hot air conduction are slow. That's why a lot of folks leave part of their last melt in the pot for the next time: intimate contact with the heated bottom of the pot speeds the initial melting of that lead, which, in turn, provides a liquid bath that immerses and speeds the melting of the new lead on top. This doesn't help, though, if you don't want to mix old with new, or if you're starting with a large chunk of lead in an empty pot.

Lots of words, sorry. Short version is that I speed each melt considerably by using the weed burner on top as the stand burner heats the pot from below. I actually may be saving some propane this way, as the melt time is a lot shorter.

So, keel too big for a pot - weed burner to melt keel over trenched ground molds. Keel fits pot - double heating with weed burner on top, stand burner below.

[Burnt Fingers]

I'd acid check that keel. Some of them have zink in them.

[DiverJay]

I'd acid check that keel. Some of them have zink in them.

To be honest, I don't know how to do that and am not having luck finding info on the interweb. Can you steer me in the right direction? I'm supposed to pick this thing up Monday and don't want to get burned in terms of time and money.

[kevin c]

Pool acid, AKA muriatic (hydrochloric) acid is what you want. A few drops on a clean surface of the keel will fizz/bubble if zinc is in the metal.

If you value your clothes and person, watch out for drips and spatters.

ETA: I think I got mine at Home Depot. Any well supplied hardware store and, of course any pool supply store should have it.

[jsizemore]

Scratch a small spot in the surface of the keel. Knife, screwdriver, hammer, whatever. Put a drop or 2 of hydrochloric/ muriatic acid on the fresh scraped spot. If it bubbles its got zinc. A couple itty bitty bubbles don't count. If it streams bubbles or foams, grab your wallet and run.

[Buzzard II]

Check first to see if it contains zinc. If not, my vote is the sawzall. Good luck!
Bob

[merlin101]

Rent a wood splitter for half a day and get a helper to horse it around. Just make sure the wood splitter is one that stands up!

[kevin c]

Oops, I need to change my thinking here:

I keep forgetting how dense lead is, by which I mean 500 pounds is heavy, but isn't physically huge. If pure lead, it's about 1250 cubic inches, which could be contained in a 10"x10"x12.5" cube.

I also just learned that there are different kinds of sailboat lead keels, namely fin type keels that protrude from the bottom and are relatively thin slabs with tapered edges, and ballast keels that are inside the hull and are long pieces of metal with a more solid cross section to fit low down along the centerline of the hull.

If the keel is a small fin, say 25" by 20" by 2.5" thick, a chainsaw with a couple tarps to catch chips might be good. If it's in long sections say 4" or 5" square and 4 to 8 feet long, a log splitter sounds perfect.

Either way, if you plan on melting the result in a twenty pound casting pot, you'll need under four inches maximum measurement on one face to get each piece to fit. That or you melt bigger chunks in a bigger pot to make smaller ingots for the casting pot.