Testing hardness with pencils

[benellinut]

I made a vidja about this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfsEDav4Sbg

Good job! Thank you, now I know how to shape the pencils and use them. I saved a copy of your video and put it in my "Cast Boolits" folder where I'm saving all the great info I'm learning from you guys. Slowly working my way to getting everything set up for my first casting, still to damn cold here and I don't want to melt lead inside the shop so it won't be until we get a few days in the 50's and without the winds knocking me over. I've still got a couple things to mock up and weld to keep the pot and stove secure while melting and a few more small things to order, pencil set is one of them, haven't found them locally. I'm hoping in a few weeks I'll have my first cast boolit dropped.

Thanks again for the video sir.

[62chevy]

Good job! Thank you, now I know how to shape the pencils and use them. I saved a copy of your video and put it in my "Cast Boolits" folder where I'm saving all the great info I'm learning from you guys. Slowly working my way to getting everything set up for my first casting, still to damn cold here and I don't want to melt lead inside the shop so it won't be until we get a few days in the 50's and without the winds knocking me over. I've still got a couple things to mock up and weld to keep the pot and stove secure while melting and a few more small things to order, pencil set is one of them, haven't found them locally. I'm hoping in a few weeks I'll have my first cast boolit dropped.

Thanks again for the video sir.

You should subscribe to his channel on Youtube. He puts out some very informative video. also another Youtuber is FortuneCookie45LC https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8m...FODu1QpedvpInA both great sources of info on reloading and casting boolits.

[GunFun]

Thanks guys. I can't pretend to have added any info beyond what was here.

So I'll do that now.

I made some alloy of half pure lead half wheel weights which is my normal pistol alloy. I also took some straight wheel weights ingots from the same smelting session and made some rifle bullets. All were normalized in an oven at 400 for an hour and quenched. Interestingly the pencils said the 50/50 were a little harder. I thought this had to be wrong, but it checked out when I got the Lee hardness tester. I don't have a good explanation for this.

So I guess I didn't add any useful information, other than that the pencils and the Lee tester agree.

[62chevy]

PM me if you know of a very cheap source of birdshot, or an efficient way to make #4 Buck.

Check out Bubba Roundtree Outdoors he has some neat molds for buck shot and maybe birdshot. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnh...pJD0oDDbRGenxA

[nanuk]

Good job! Thank you, ..... I saved a copy of your video and put it in my "Cast Boolits" folder where I'm saving all the great info I'm learning from you guys. ....

and HOW do you do that?

I've been looking for software to do that... seems YouTube has a problem with downloading videos

[benellinut]

and HOW do you do that?

I've been looking for software to do that... seems YouTube has a problem with downloading videos

With keepvid.com, copy and paste the url of the video to that webpage and you can choose the format of the video you want to save it as, but it only works with youtube. You can also save the soundtrack of any youtube video and save it as an MP3 file using the sister website snipmp3.com

Links;

http://keepvid.com

http://snipmp3.com

[benellinut]

You should subscribe to his channel on Youtube. He puts out some very informative video. also another Youtuber is FortuneCookie45LC https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8m...FODu1QpedvpInA both great sources of info on reloading and casting boolits.

Thank you, I'll do that! Lots to learn and you guys are a wealth of knowledge, todays kids have such a great advantage for finding info then when I was a kid.

I hope Obama doesn't cost us the internet by that hand off, I'll have to get my library card again if we do.

[skykingjohn]

got my pencels at walmart for like 6 to 8 dollars

[benellinut]

I looked in one WalMart just the other day and they didn't have any, I'll be heading south tomorrow and check another store. I also looked in craft stores that sell art supplies and nothing at any of those either. Not a big deal, I can always order them from Amazon.

[GunFun]

got my pencels at walmart for like 6 to 8 dollars

The reason I don't really advocate that is that while the hardnesses are theoretically consistent to any quality brand, the diameter of the graphite varies. This will mean my results don't translate as well to yours and vice versa. If we keep the official standard as the 'staedtler mars lumigraph' pencils then we still have individual pressure as a variable, but not the pencils. Keeping the pressure just below the level that would crumble the edge of the pencil is the best we can do for an easily describable uniform pressure.

If you don't want to share your findings, though just keep the same brand for yourself and you do have a reliable way to compare one batch of your lead to a previous batch.

That's just my thoughts on the topic. I want to be able to use other people's findings and vice versa.

[benellinut]

The reason I don't really advocate that is that while the hardnesses are theoretically consistent to any quality brand, the diameter of the graphite varies. This will mean my results don't translate as well to yours and vice versa. If we keep the official standard as the 'staedtler mars lumigraph' pencils then we still have individual pressure as a variable, but not the pencils. Keeping the pressure just below the level that would crumble the edge of the pencil is the best we can do for an easily describable uniform pressure.

If you don't want to share your findings, though just keep the same brand for yourself and you do have a reliable way to compare one batch of your lead to a previous batch.

That's just my thoughts on the topic. I want to be able to use other people's findings and vice versa.

Good point and one I didn't think of, I'll just order the same set you and the other guys are using off Amazon. I looked at them before and have them bookmarked, somewhere......

[GunFun]

i think they are about $3 cheaper at office depot. I left a link in the description to the video above.

[62chevy]

i think they are about $3 cheaper at office depot. I left a link in the description to the video above.

No they are 30 cents cheaper but if you have a store close by then you save the shipping, I don't.

http://www.officedepot.com/a/product...gn-Pencil-Set/

[skykingjohn]

i agree think i will get the same brand to

[rjw1911]

Great information. I bought the set of Steadtler Mars Lumograph pencils today. $14 at Office Depot. A lot better than the $110 I had already decided to spend on an LBT tester. Take out the twenty bucks I gladly paid to become a Patron Team Member out of appreciation for the great information I am finding here, it leaves me almost enough to get the powder coat equipment at Harbor Freight!
Now, to flatten some pencil ends, and start the testing.

[trucker76]

Good stuff. While rearranging the garage my friend inadvertantly mixed up my carefully separated coww and pure lead ingots. I have thumbnails like boxcutters and can scratch them both. Got the staedtler set today at staples for $16. Now to go and sort my ingots.

[Bodean74]

It's hard to ask questions when all the answers are already in the threads. And even more of a pain to comment with the level of wisdom in this site. So I guess I will just continue enjoying the great post , as this one is thank you.

[bangerjim]

The reason I don't really advocate that is that while the hardnesses are theoretically consistent to any quality brand, the diameter of the graphite varies. This will mean my results don't translate as well to yours and vice versa. If we keep the official standard as the 'staedtler mars lumigraph' pencils then we still have individual pressure as a variable, but not the pencils. Keeping the pressure just below the level that would crumble the edge of the pencil is the best we can do for an easily describable uniform pressure.

If you don't want to share your findings, though just keep the same brand for yourself and you do have a reliable way to compare one batch of your lead to a previous batch.

That's just my thoughts on the topic. I want to be able to use other people's findings and vice versa.

Agree..........we can't EVEYTHING on the cheeeeep around here! Stick with the Mars pencils. They cost more but are uniform and act at a "standard" when using this seat-of-the-pants SWAG method. Just like the real Brinnell test uses a standard diameter ball, use a standard pencil lead set. And that little bit more is sure less than a REAL tester would cost you. That way, the data you get will be comparable to the charts and what others are getting.

banger

[.45Cole]

Update: I got a set (12) of Marco Raffine pencils: B, 2B, 3B, 4B, 5B, 6B, 7B, 8B, H, 2H, HB, F at a local art supply store. I think I was $8 some out the door. Try your local guy!

[Steve Marshall]

I've accumulated just over a ton of lead and will start casting soon. I have an LBT tester and find it to be quite accurate testing bullets from Missouri Bullet Company.
One of the ideas I saw here rings true. Carrying a set of pencils when scrounging. An idea I got when someone posted about the 4 hardness
levels, i.e., soft, medium, hard and very hard. Wouldn't it make sense to just use at most 4 pencils? Utilizing the charts we saw, find a pencil that's likely in the middle of a range and sorting your acquisitions into 4 basic groups. Is that oversimplifying?