Mark your ingots

[pjames32]

I marked for years with a Sharpie or magic marker. Discovered after many years the writing faded and disappeared. Now I use letter stamps. The CAST BOOLITS/REDNECK GOLD ingots are EZ, just stamp your selection on each ingot. I'm old so someone other than me will be using most of my ingots!

[BattleRife]

I found it very much worth investing some time to make a custom stamp for those alloys I ingotize regularly. Line all the ingots up in a row after they drop out of the mould and whack each one just once with the stamp and hammer. You get a mark that will last forever and you can do a whole bunch in very little time.

These were made using common hex head bolts and a dremel.

[Mk42gunner]

Very nice, BattleRife.

Those three stamps would take care of 99% of all my stuff right now.

Robert

[jimb16]

I use stamps that were made for marking steel. Last forever. WW, PB, LT, PWTR, SN, #2 Works for me.

[MrWolf]

I found it very much worth investing some time to make a custom stamp for those alloys I ingotize regularly. Line all the ingots up in a row after they drop out of the mould and whack each one just once with the stamp and hammer. You get a mark that will last forever and you can do a whole bunch in very little time.

These were made using common hex head bolts and a dremel.

That is thinking outside the box. Nice

[Land Owner]

NYFirefighter357 - you WILL eventually overload that unsupported wooden ledger on which you are stacking your ingots and it WILL sheer or tear away - doing untold damage and creating misery. It is recommended that you add some floor to ledger "columns" (2x4's) slightly wedged in to prevent sag. Looks like a good haul though in the meantime.

I have been considering a way forward for my own ingots - hundreds of unmarked single composition 50-50 Pb-COWW alloy, and the remaining few pure Tin. I have spreadsheets that describe it all, but that isn't enough.

It occurs to me in what many have written above, is that memory and hard won experience of those that cast IS NOT to be expected of anyone that doesn't. Most folks have NO IDEA with regard to malleable metal composition, alloys, BHN, Pb, Sn, Zn, Ar, etc., that WE take for granted after YEARS of casting experience.

What you KNOW, and do not think twice about, may be a "Quantum Leap" for someone else - especially a spouse. You cannot suddenly give away your knowledge and expect the "uninitiated" to understand. The value of what we know is only worth the fragments of information we leave others. It will be up to them to "catch up".

[NyFirefighter357]

NYFirefighter357 - you WILL eventually overload that unsupported wooden ledger on which you are stacking your ingots and it WILL sheer or tear away - doing untold damage and creating misery. It is recommended that you add some floor to ledger "columns" (2x4's) slightly wedged in to prevent sag.".

That's a block wall with a footing that's 42" bellow grade with a 2"x8" sill plate on a gable wall with very little structural weight on it.

[Chainsaw.]

And absolute must do! I have 900#s of one alloy and about 100#s of pure. Pretty easy to distinguish by the trained eye, but I may not be the only/last person to see it in ingot form.
A sharpie works just fine for me. Each ingot marked to save any confusion.

[Land Owner]

That's a block wall with a footing that's 42" bellow grade with a 2"x8" sill plate on a gable wall with very little structural weight on it.

Dooph! Homer Simpson moment here. These eyes saw something else in the photo, a misidentified "cantilever" holding a lot of weight. My bad.

[lightman]

I got a gentle reminder yesterday to mark you ingots as to just what they are. I recently received a new Lee 148 WC mold and wanted to get started with it. I needed some more lead since the pot I am currently using has pure lead in it.

I went to my stash of ingots, and found plenty, but they weren't marked. I was momentarily concerned, since most ingots of lead based material look very similar. Then I remembered that I had only cast triangular ingots of wheelweights until I acquired a sufficient quantity of pure lead to smelt a batch, which luckily I had marked.

This means that any unmarked ingots I have right now are wheelweights; but a few minutes taken to mark them when cast would have removed all doubt.

You don't even need special number or letter stamps, they work but are a bit small for my aging eyes. What I tend to use is a large flat screwdriver to make block letters with. It is a lot easier to see a P or WW that is roughly an inch tall than 1/8 or ¼" size.

I did discover that various alloys oxidize to different colors, more lead in the mix gives a darker color. If the samples are the same age, if not all bets are off.

Robert

I agree, permanently mark your ingots and leave a ledger with what the markings are. I wish all of mine were marked.

Unfortantly most of mine are not marked and there are enough of them that the task would take forever. I save up my scrounged lead all year and have a big smelt once a year, at the end of the winter when hunting season closes. I've added the extra step of stamping them then.

You guys that store your ingots in plastic buckets, be aware that if your ingots are stacked in there with weight on the sides of the bucket that the bucket can or will split in time. Learned that the hard way!!!

Most of mine are neatly stacked in milk crates with a tag attached to the crate.

My plan for the next smelt is to buy a couple sets of Harbor Freight steel stamps and tack weld a few together to form initials like PB, WW, ect. I've tried various methods of holding 2 or 3 stamps together and they eventually get loose.

[Mk42gunner]

I wish we could still find the steel milk crates. Dad had one when I was a kid, many uses for a near indestructible steel crate that size.

Robert

[lightman]

I agree. I have one that I used as a seat when I was working on the control panels on electric wells. It and a boat cushion was just about the right height to be comfortable.

[Mr_Sheesh]

My concern on stacked casting fodder is, what happens if & when an earthquake hits? I am in WA tho, some parts of the country get far fewer quakes. Safe is good, buried under 600# of lead could immobilize you...

[Ural Driver]

Just ordered more of the Redneck Gold/Cast Boolits ingot molds. Can't beat em.

[Walks]

I have over 20 1x4 ingot molds, collected them when they was Cheap.

OHAUS - Linotype
LYMAN - #2
SAECO - 20/1
RCBS - COWW's
LEE 1lb - Pure Lead
LEE 1/2LB - FoundryType
Blank - could be anything, Molds are Old Lachmiller or early RCBS I paint the ends; black is SOWW, red is unknown.
Lodge scone pan triangles are range scrap.

BOY HOWDY !!!!
Do I have a system! It's so well organized that I have a key inside of every reloading manual I own. And a BIG Laminated one on the garage wall.
Else I'd forget. Why My Wife puts a nametag on all my shirts.

[barnabus]

I have used permanent black felt markers for years.
They are still easily readable after many years.
I store my ingots in 50 cal ammo cans.
I have many different alloys.
Wheel weights, Linotype, soft, solder, Lyman#2, 50/50-WW/Lino, etc.

same here..i store my different ingots in metal garbage cans.when i need ingots for the shop i use metal feed pail that are marked,ww,rs, lino and set these the floor next to my bench. i have three different pots so i just add acoordingly and use a marker on ingots if i empty a pot.

[fredj338]

I have over 20 1x4 ingot molds, collected them when they was Cheap.

OHAUS - Linotype
LYMAN - #2
SAECO - 20/1
RCBS - COWW's
LEE 1lb - Pure Lead
LEE 1/2LB - FoundryType
Blank - could be anything, Molds are Old Lachmiller or early RCBS I paint the ends; black is SOWW, red is unknown.
Lodge scone pan triangles are range scrap.

BOY HOWDY !!!!
Do I have a system! It's so well organized that I have a key inside of every reloading manual I own. And a BIG Laminated one on the garage wall.
Else I'd forget. Why My Wife puts a nametag on all my shirts.

I do a sim thing, diff alloy in diff ingot molds. Works for me & is dead bang simple.

[P Flados]

FYI,

I have found that a medium ball point pen with firm pressure makes a very good writing tool that looks "round bottom engraved". The rolling action of the ball makes writing easier than dragging some other object (screwdriver etc.) across the surface. Might not work as well on really hard stuff, but it has worked good enough for all of my stuff.