Going to the scrap yard

[Jim22]

Picked them up today. The kid weighed it on the big electronic scale. I had said I wanted forty pounds but when he weighed it it was about 45 so I said I'll take the extra. While there I found three SCUBA dive weights. Two 2# and a 3#, also a used iron lead dipper. It was pretty crusty. But the old man sold it to me for $5.00. The SCUBA weights went for the same price per pound. I haven't melted them but took the pencil test to them. The two 2# are close to pure lead. The 3# is harder - prolly wheel weights. After I smelted it all into Lee's one lb. or so ingots and I let them cool I put them onto a plastic box, including the 3# dive weight and five earlier ingots I weighed it all. Actually added another ten lbe of wheel weights from another source. Weighed it all on Mom's bathroom scale and I have 42.5 lbs of wheel weight alloy. i also have ten or so lbs of random lead - fishing sinkers, someone else's bullets, some teardrop shaped flat things and some other junk that I put away to dry. Will smelt some other day. That ladle was a big help. Gave the kid $5.00. He acted like he had never been tipped before.

[ulav8r]

My local scrap yard was asking $1.15 for dirty lead and $1.50 for "clean" lead that looked to be a 3-4 pound chunk that they had smelted. I did not think to ask if they could provide content specifications on the clean lead. This was 2-3 weeks ago.

[John Boy]

Any type of “sheet lead”

[imashooter2]

Solder. Many places will sell it for the same price as the scrap lead they throw it in with, and it is worth considerably more.

[dondiego]

The old man who owns the yard has a kid in his twenties doing the work. Deal was for an extra dime a pound the kid will smelt, skim off clips, ad make ingots. I'm looking forward to picking them up.

Are they sorting out the zinc before smelting?

[Jim22]

Are they sorting out the zinc before smelting?

No. I found one or two wheel weights that wouldn't mely so I threw 'em out. Also some stick on wheel weights and a battery terminal clamp. I'm still happy. Also found a couple lengths of scrap solder.

[dondiego]

Well, if they cast up god boolits you are good to go! If not, check with some muriatic acid for bubbling.

[Jim22]

My scrap yard is charging less than $1.15 for dirty lead. I think because I tipped the kid he will let me pick thru wheel weights next time. I'm gonna wait until frost is over - or maybe not.

[Jim22]

Well, if they cast up god boolits you are good to go! If not, check with some muriatic acid for bubbling.

The acid finds zinc?

[Acknott]

At my scrap yard clean lead is still pretty dirty, but seems mostly pure after cleaned up. Wheel weights are half price.

[dondiego]

The acid finds zinc?

Zinc in your allow will cause hydrogen bubbles to form in the presence of HCl. Some zinc is OK but if there is too much it will cause problems. Scratch a clean spot on your ingot and then apply a drop of muriatic acid that you can get at swimming pool supplies stores. If there are no bubbles there is no zinc.

[Acknott]

Zinc in your allow will cause hydrogen bubbles to form in the presence of HCl. Some zinc is OK but if there is too much it will cause problems. Scratch a clean spot on your ingot and then apply a drop of muriatic acid that you can get at swimming pool supplies stores. If there are no bubbles there is no zinc.

Thank you! I never knew this. Now I have to go test all my ingots

[Tronix3]

What is an it gun?

[Jim22]

Just tried something new - for me - with the lead I scored at the scrap yard. I mixed two lbs of wheel weights with a dead soft two lb dive weight. Then added enough tin to give about 2%. The boolits cast beautifully - prolly because of the added tin. Cast all the alloy in my bottom pour Lee pot until it went dry. Got a fair size pile of boolits. Haven't counted them because they're still hot. Looks like about 150 ea 160 gr boolits. I plan to powder coat unsized. Fired a few groups yesterday at 50 yds with a peep sight and straight COWW and got several groups about an inch and a half. Much better than I expected from microgroove rifling. 16.0 grs. W296. Now I want something that might expand. Whoever told me to size to .360" for the Marlin was right. Plain base, bevel base boolits. Now I need to weigh them. I expect em to weigh more than the 160 grs. I was getting with straight COWW.

Part of what I got at the scrap yard was a bunch of fishing weights. They look like flattened tear drops. Checked em with the pencils and they are similar to COWW. Back to work.

Edit: Just counted and weighed them. Got 162 boolits and they are about a grain and a half heavier than the COWW. Average about 161.5 grains.

[RogerDat]

The acid finds zinc?

Muriatic acid sold in hardware stores will react with zinc but not with lead. Dive weights can be anything. The molds were commonly available. One thing is the molds have a weight specified by the mold. That weight will only be realized with pure lead. So if the weight says 3# on it and weighs a little less then it may well be COWW lead or even Zinc which is why you test with the muriatic acid. Couple drops dripped on it will bubble in response to zinc. Down riggers can also be anything. Again if they mold imbeds a weight that would be based on filling with plain lead. One can pour large weights with zinc contaminated metal at a higher temperature. it just screws you up when casting in small molds. Melt and mold has to be really hot to cast zinc which they can do for scuba or downrigger weights. Making them less inclined to care. Small fishing weights had the same mold only casts correct weight with plain lead and I have found the guys that do the smaller fishing weights avoided zinc as much as we do.

Wheel weights are only worth buying if they are cheap and cheap depends on the ratio of zinc and steel WW's to lead ones. 40 cents a pound is cheap unless you figure half of the weights are not lead then it is 80 cents a pound. Considering you have to sort and melt and clean and pour that into ingots it isn't such a good deal compared to what you can buy already made into ingots or in a form you can easily melt down. If you can sort them to get the lead ones that is best then you have a true picture of what you are paying per pound of lead. Easy test is tap them against something like a piece of steel, lead thunks when struck, zinc goes tink, because zinc is harder. I use a large pair of diagonal cutting pliers to "nip" the weights. Zinc is too hard to nip. Lead gets a deep cut from the tips of the wire cutting blade with no real effort.

The nipping with diagonal cutters (dikes) is pretty much fool proof. I have had 1 single zinc WW float to the top of my melt in well over a thousand pounds of WW's.

If you are going to hit scrap yards a spring loaded prick punch for making a prick to start a drill in can give you an idea of the hardness. You push it down against the lead and the spring trips the punch with about the same force each time. Softer lead takes a bigger divot from the punch than harder lead.

Do some looking at threads that ask "what is this" to get a feel for what may be available and what it is. Lead was the plastic of it's day. A lot of different forms were used that were made of different alloys. What it was can often inform you as to what alloy of lead it is. Lines of type, individual letters for printing, linotype pigs, iso containers (for radioactive medicine. totally safe when scrapped) foils from dental xray film (not common anymore but good alloy that stinks when smelting down from the adhesive) pipes, sheet lead, lead rings from large sewer pipes, counter weights and flywheel weights, body solder bars, or wiping solder bars (assorted sizes of thin bars maybe 10 inches long). The point is just as a certain year of quarter or half dollar is a know silver alloy so to is it with lead. Certain items will be a known alloy. Learning the forms will aid you greatly in scrounging.

Donuts and $5 pizza are both generally welcome. Especially on a Saturday morning. May not have a food truck coming through on a Saturday making either food stuff welcome. I have brought a couple of Frosty's from Wendy's on a hot day to the guys. Beer can be a good choice but I would sort of touch base on it first. Ask them what type of beer they like, let them know you want to bring some by. Some places will be fine with it. Others the guy may get fired or in trouble driving home after drinking it. I have opted for the big 16 oz cans and just get them each one as a rule. And that is only at the one yard where I know it is ok.

Saying thanks for letting me be in the way to sort WW's or helping me get that big chunk out of the bin can lead to them setting aside some good stuff for you. I got around 500 fully prepped 5.56/.223 brass because they thought it was nice and clean and I might like it. Or the old 25 lb. bags of shot that came in that get set over in the corner by the desk for me let me know they appreciate being treated for their assistance and help. Like your momma told you... saying thank you is just polite.

[RogerDat]

Worth noting Powder coating allows one to use more soft lead in the mix. Soft lead is the most common lead to find in a scrap yard. I personally tend now to focus on finding "premium" alloys because scrap yard prices for lead are not so great that buying soft lead for that price makes a lot of sense given the makeup of my stash.

Consider if you can afford to buy around $75 worth of lead posting WTB for WW or Berm lead in the swapping and selling forum. Will be made into ingots, usable, price will be competitive to buying scrap. Best way to buy is MFRB with around 60 lbs prices were approx. buck a pound plus $13 shipping. Has a lot going for it in terms value. If money is tight your time and scrap can get you more lead but ready to use ingots of good bullet alloy has value compared to the work of making scrap into usable alloy.

You go to the scrap yard regularly and you will over time find some good stuff and build up a nice stash of plain lead and lead alloys. Just like with savings account, if you add more than you take out over time it adds up. Buy 40 lbs. and use 20 lbs. for a few months and you have a hundred pound stash.

[labop]

That would be an xrf gun. If the yard has one ask them to test a large piece as it will save you a lot of guessing as to alloying. If you really get in good with them take in a 1 pound ingot of your big scrap melt next buying trip.
labop

Sent from my moto g(7) power using Tapatalk