Lead from Cast Iron pipe jionts ?

[Johnch]

Well I hope it is pure lead or close , as I need some to cast Maxi's and RB's

For the price of 2 12 packs of cold beer
I got about 200 - 250 lb of lead from cast iron pipe joints

The plumber redoing the school drain lines had a pile of the lead and the Oakum (sp) from the joints
He Didn't want to mess around taking it to the salvage yard

So we made a trade
I took his truck and got him & his helper each a 12 pack of beer
They sat the pallet with the lead on it , in the back of my truck

A fair trade IMO

I bet the Oakum ( oil soaked hemp ) sure smokes when I smelt the lead down

But it is 94 degrees today
To warm to even think about smelting lead

John

[DukeInFlorida]

My experience with it is that it is, indeed, pure lead. I've seen some of the old timers make up clay "dams" and then pour in the lead. They then took a tool, and tamped that into the joint. It would have to be very soft for the tamping to work.

I have some on the floor in my garage that a guy gave me. Nasty looking brown rings of something heavy. Haven't smelted it down yet, but I will.

Hope you didn't buy them the "good" beer.....

[fryboy]

stinks is putting it mildly IMHO .... i'm also tending to believe that it's possibly solder ,watch the temp it melts at ,if it's under 600-650 it more than likely has tin in it

[deerslayer]

Almost all the poured joints will very near pure soft lead. Any wiped joints such as closet flanges or reducers will typically be 50/50 lead/tin solder.

Most of the oakum will peel off before smelting and a hard smack from a hammer will usually break the cast iron from the lead if the hub is still there.

As far as the smell that is the smell of money to us Plumbers and I miss that smell! LOL

[edsmith]

it is not solder,it is lead. I started out as plumber in the lead and oakum days.

[Hardcast416taylor]

It`s soft lead. I poured these joints during my career as an industrial steamfitter/pipefitter/plumber. When I retired in `03 I was 1 of only 2 plumbers left in my group that still knew how to pour and "chink" a lead/oakum joint.Robert

[Curlymaple42]

My dadinlaw and his dadinlaw used to pour those joints. I get to hear stories about it. They had a glove with a crucible built into the palm of it and would scoop the lead out of the pot and pour it on the joint or something like that. Neat stuff. I have a few of the tools too from that are as well for working with lead. Wooden flange flaring tools and such. Neat stuff.

[Johnch]

Well I got most of it smelted tonight even with the 95 degree temp

I guessed light

With 1 more pot to go , my propane ran out , will have to finish Friday
So far I have 57 ingots that will average just over 4 lb each

So I will probely end up with about 275 lb of clean ingots
And after testing a few ingots with a ball bearing and a known pure lead ingot in the vice
It apears it is pure lead or darn close

So I will have a few years worth of Maxi's and RB's worth of lead

And when the Oakum started smoking each batch
I was creating a darn good smoke screen down wind
But it kept me from needing any other flux


BTW I have made a fair amount of lead wool /oakum joints over the years
Not my favorit job , but not that hard either

John

[missionary5155]

Good morning
All the old cast joints I have got my hands are were pure lead. Last batch I received was a 5 gallon bucket full from a nearby Tech school were young fellers learn to pour the lead joints.
Had to swap a bucket of ww but it was a fair price.
Mike in Peru