Zinc Removal with Sulfur

[Beagler]

Using Articbreeze's Idea found 90% sulfur pellet the other 10% is inert derivative of sulfur as stated on 50 pound bag(AGWAY). Outside I go to fire up the turkey cooker and pot. Have a couple hundred pounds of zincified WW lead. Will see what happens.

[Beagler]

Well ever see the cartoons where they smell something nasty. Thats exactly how it smelled, cough cough cough!!! tried to stay up wind!! Well anyway articbreeze's idea looks like it works don't know if removes all the zinc but when poured into ingots they stayed on the shiny side and not the zinc galvanized look they had before.

[bumpo628]

I think I can see the cartoon stink lines coming off that pot in the second picture.
Glad to see that it worked.

Where did you get the sulfur?

[*Paladin*]

I think I can see the cartoon stink lines coming off that pot in the second picture.
Glad to see that it worked.

Where did you get the sulfur?

Cool! I'm with bumpo- Where'd you get the sulfur? This would be handy in case I ever end up with a contaminated batch. Did you just flux and skim with the sulfur?

[markinalpine]

For more information, look to the top of this Lead and lead alloy's forum for a couple of threads:
1. A possible way to remove zinc from molten lead: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=62957
and
2. Zinc Removal with Sulfur Report: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=63082

Lots of your questions and some you may not have thought of yet are answered.
Good luck,
Mark :coffeecom

[Beagler]

This is a 50 pound bag I got at agway it was around 25 dollars smallest bag they had. 50 pounds should go a very long way!!!

Check out Markinapine's links the sulfur report is the on that got me to try it.

When you do it make sure you are away from the house and any open windows it will smell like a 40 pound stink bomb. Recommend some how putting a longer handle on your ladle and staying upwind. Its going to get chunky and funky real quick. just keep stirring until its done smoking and all gray

[Beagler]

Just poured a bunch more 00 buck with the sulfur treated ww lead and the cooled shot looks great

[trooperdan]

Beagler, you should sell some of that sulfur in a couple of pound lots!

[bumpo628]

Beagler, you should sell some of that sulfur in a couple of pound lots!

That's what I was thinking.

How many pounds do you think would be needed for about 50 lbs of contaminated lead?

If that amount fits in a small flat rate box and you charge about $1 a pound, then it might be worth your while to unload the extra. By the way, the post office just came out with flat rate bubble envelopes that are about 9.5" x 12". That would be another way to do it. You'll make your money back plus a little extra.

[BulletFactory]

That's a good idea. I could use a pound if it will treat 50

[Beagler]

check out your local garden centers, Agway, Tsc. Lady at agway said it was a pretty common thing. people use it to increase the acidity in soil for certain crops. Never new it was available until few days ago until I looked for it. PB is ok to ship since its just a metal but sulfur Don't know about mailing it through USPS since they have a problem shipping chemicals and since sulfur is used to make other things if you know I mean. Don't want to get in trouble and getting my toys taken away.

[BulletFactory]

Roger that, didn't think about it as an ingredient.

[BulletFactory]

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=sulfur+for+sale&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=11387479640746704252&sa=X&ei=dXF4TcLRFYP4sAO1xomKAw&ved=0CEUQ8wIwAg#

[bumpo628]

So, any idea how many pounds would be needed for 50 lbs of lead?

[lavenatti]

I don't think it's just the amount of lead you have to worry about. It'll be the amount of zinc in the lead that dictates how much sulfur you'll need. The temp of the melt is going to affect how long before all the unreacted sulfur evaporates or burns also. Guess you'll just have to try and see.

I've bough five pound bags of garden sulfur on ebay in the past. Much cheaper than better grades of sulfur from places like skylighter.com.

[Beagler]

The first time I did it was with a 3/4 filled dutch oven pot it probably had about 40 pounds or so in it. Sulfur fluxed it three times. The first time used little over half a 12 oz can. Second and third I used less. By the third time there was alot less chunks to scoop off the top. The PB i was fluxing was straight unsorted WW I melted down a couple years ago for sinkers not knowing about the zinc problem for castin boolits. So there was quite a bit of zinc in it when I started

[bumpo628]

Thanks for the info.

[lwknight]

Beagler , how do you know that it was zinc?
Did you do the muratic acid test?
Did it foam up like oatmeal?
A very low antimony content makes the galvanized look.

I'm thinking that you just removed the antimony.

[BulletFactory]

Muratic acid test? I have some muratic acid, and I would like to prove if some of my lead is contaminated.

[Ole]

Muratic acid test? I have some muratic acid, and I would like to prove if some of my lead is contaminated.

Take an ingot, put a drop of muratic acid on it.

If there is zinc in your alloy, it will sizzle.

If there is no zinc in your alloy, it will not sizzle.

[BulletFactory]

Thanks. I wasnt sure if I should make some filings and then acid test those.

[Ole]

Thanks. I wasnt sure if I should make some filings and then acid test those.

That would probably work too. :mrgreen:

Basically the acid reacts with the zinc but doesn't react with lead, tin, arsenic, or antimony.

[BulletFactory]

Well that's just all kinds of handy isn't it?

[BulletFactory]

I drilled a hole in an ingot to get some shavings and a cross section at the same time, carefully washed and dried the sample to avoid contamination, washed a clear glass lid, and set the lead shavings in some acid, and after a few seconds, it did give some very light fizzing, and a barely visible smoke or vapor. I'd say that my alloy is contaminated with zinc.

[rattletrap1970]

What about trace metals? WW have a lot of trace metals. I have cast a lot of boolits and they are close to stated weights, accurate, fill out well, minimal leading (if any) but do sizzle a little.

[Longwood]

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?q=sulfur+for+sale&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=11387479640746704252&sa=X&ei=dXF4TcLRFYP4sAO1xomKAw&ved=0CEUQ8wIwAg#
I hope this still may be a help.
Ask your druggist. Not druggie, druggist!
I used to buy it there when I was a kid to make black powder with.

[161]

I went to the drug store today, the pharmacist (SP?). Was a classmate of mine so I didn't feel like an idiot when I asked for surfer. He gave me a 4 oz bottle of flowers of sulfur that was about to expire. There is no content label, just says sulfur sublimed powder usp. Will this work in a small test patch in my 20# pot?
Thanks
Warren

[trooperdan]

Warren, you are set to test it!

[*Paladin*]

Let us know how it works out for you! It's good to know there is a solution for zinc contamination, just in case I ever get some that slips thru the cracks...

[161]

I'll let you know. I cast some of my ww that I smelted last week and they cast "funny" I had good fill out the boolits looked really good. But the lead wanted to go everywhere but in the mold. Had to run a lot of lead to fill each cavity. I likely wouldn't have thought anything about it if I hadn't read about zinc. But it did pour differently. It wanted to stick to my spoon I flux with. Had to run the pot hotter than normal also. Going to try the sulfur tonight if I get home in time.
Thanks
Warren

[161]

I tried the flowers of sulfur tonight. The smell wasn't that bad I have a 30X30 garage, you could smell it but it wasn't overpowering. The bottle he gave me was marked $3.95 for 4 oz. It might be alright to keep on the bench in case you think you been zinced. But not very cost effective on a large scale.

I didn't know what I was doing so I started with small amounts of sulfur. And gradually worked up as I got use to the flames. I never stopped getting oatmeal out of the 20# pot. Took nearly half of the pot. Did I over flux? Or will it stop making oatmeal? It did get to where I could put my ladle in and not as much stuck to it. I cast after I ran out of sulfur and things went really well. Didn't need as much heat. I'll try to post pictures later tonight when my kid can help me.
Warren

[MikeS]

Another use for the sublimed sulfur is as a lapping compound. If you mix it with some oil and make a paste of it, it works as a very fine lapping compound. I used to be in the leather machinery business, and we used sulfur to lap in some of the parts when we rebuilt our leather stitching machines.

[trooperdan]

Well I'll be! Never heard of sulfur as a lapping compound! Didn't think it would be hard enough to lap anything!