Body solder

[Freightman]

I have a friend who gave me a chunk of lead but said his dad use to do custom body work back in the '60's and he had a case of "body soldier" he would get and give me. What I need to know what is the common % of tin/lead ect of this type of soldier?

[Freightman]

Try it again

[alfloyd]

Acording to
http://www.autoshop101.ca/autobody/leadloading.htm
the body solder is
Lead, or body solder, is typically an alloy of tin and lead (usually a 30/70 mix, respectively).
Hope this helps.
alfloyd

[Freightman]

Sure does I know I can allow it with my range lead and have a little harder mix. Thanks!

[JIMinPHX]

I think that you are talking about "lead fill" body work that was done on old school "lead sled" hot rods. If you try fishing around on some of the hot rod web sites, you will probably find out a lot more about it.

[imashooter2]

30/70 body solder is low tin so as to have a longer workable slush state. It is applied and smoothed with wooden paddles.

http://www.eastwood.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/250x160/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/p750.jpg

Still a fine source of tin at the price you paid...

[shotman]

That was back when ?????
Oh?
they had metal in the cars/trucks you heat the metal now to melt lead and it will warp or burn through

[*Paladin*]

Do body shops still have a niche for this, or is it all Bondo now? Just wondering if I should hit up any body shops for solder? I'm guessing Bondo vs. tin, money-wise, no-brainer. But...?

[imashooter2]

Do body shops still have a niche for this, or is it all Bondo now? Just wondering if I should hit up any body shops for solder? I'm guessing Bondo vs. tin, money-wise, no-brainer. But...?


High end custom car shops still do lead. It's a dieing art though.

[JIMinPHX]

If you find guys that customize old Merc's & french in tail lights, you stand a fair chance of finding a lead slinger in the shop. There are fewer & fewer of them these days.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

I had a 71 olds re-done 30 years ago.
lots of Lead in that top/roof.
the bodyguy (a friend of mine) wouldn't do that part
had to have it done by another bodyshop,
then bring it back to my friend to finish.
I would venture a guess it would be tough to find
a guy to do body leading today.
Jon

[firefly1957]

The body lead we used was 65 lead 35 tin .

[Dale53]

I ran a Chevrolet body shop for a time in 1968. We were a full lead shop but the only one still working lead in our county. We used 80/20 and 60/40 lead/tin for body work. It was phased out shortly after I left.

As far as I know, most all present day shops are "plastic" shops. Nothing wrong with the proper use of plastic - the bad reputation came from guys slathering it on like mud (in fact, it was called "mudding")...

Long ago days...

Dale53

[man.electric]

The most common body solder was 30%Tin&70%Lead. The National Lead Co. sold all kinds of the **** back in the day under various names, Dutch Boy bar solder being the most common sub-brand. I have a huge collection of solder bars of different alloys and ages. Are there any numbers or letters on the bars you have? I might be able to tell you who made it and what the alloy is. If it say 111 on it, it will be 30/70.

[Tom R]

I lead roof chops and section jobs. But I still like plastic for small dents and ripples.