Soft Ingots? Not Hardly

[ColColt]

Today I received some lead ingots(pure?) I had bought off ebay-never again. It was indicated as being"soft" lead having come from x-ray room walls and sheet lead. I thought they looked a little funny by the color and you couldn't scratch them with a thumbnail. I checked out a couple with the Lee Hardness Tester and one registered BHN9 while another was BHN11.5. I wasn't too happy about this but can still use them. There will be no more buying alloys off ebay.

I had an order in with Kathie but she hasn't gotten around to smelting due to colder weather and was anxious to get some more and went against my gut feeling and bought them from ebay. I learned a good lesson.

[man.electric]

It very well could have been sheet lead from x-ray. Most ebay metal sellers do not obsess about composition like we do and they probably figured the alloy was pure lead because the sheets were so flexible. I know I went through 800 pounds of xray sheet lead and the hardness jumped all over from ingot to ingot, but back then I didn't watch temps like I do now and there might have been some sort of other metal in the mix that rose to the top and changed the hardness.

[ColColt]

I guess I thought sheet lead and lead from x-ray rooms were pure or nearly so-like around BHN5 or close. I suppose getting real, pure lead is hard to come by. I have plumbers lead I had left over from years back and it's easily scratched with the thumbnail. This stuff wasn't close to that. After checking several of these small ingots they too, jump all over the place with the softest at about BHN8 and hardest, so far, at BHN13-14. Well, it'll all melt and shoot but I'd like to know where I'm at.

[man.electric]

I actually think that they might use a slightly harder alloy to prevent the sheets from deforming between the drywall and the studs as they are screwed down. If there was a thin spot on the wall evenly spaced at 16 inches it might effect the safety of the wall. I do not know this as fact and I have also assumed that the lead would be softer versus harder. At the same time, I have ingots stamper Virgin Lead that have tested in the mid sevens. I am not sure if it is due to age hardening or my bad eyes looking at the Lee tester.

[clodhopper]

Could be some enterprising indivual used scrap lead and cast his own sheet lead "back in the day" to save a few bucks...or perhaps to make a few bucks.

[lwknight]

Thats why they call it " EVIL BAY" !

[evan price]

In defense of the eBay seller (having nothing in this at all) I can say that I have seen scrap lead that by rights "otta-be" soft lead that winds up harder. I know that if you are casting factory ingots and rolling lead sheet for shielding, the composition isn't as critical as it might be in some other application. I would tend to think that they might melt up whatever lead scrap they had to make the batch.

That said, I will excoriate the eBay seller and say that I have heard of and seen far too much outright FRAUD and DECEPTIVE SALES practices with regard to lead alloy advertised on eBay. I personally will not buy and alloy on eBay unless I either A: buy it as originally formed (ingots, type letters, etc) or B: don't really care about composition and can use whatever junk lead I get- so the price better be cheap.

There are folks water dropping wheel weight ingots and calling them linotype-alloy ingots. There are folks melting whatever they can find and calling it lead. You have to be very cautious buying metals nowadays- especially blind like on eBay.

[lwknight]

I know that fraud and deciet happens but I really believe that most of the ebay sellers just don't know what's up for the most part.

[ColColt]

I think that's it in a nutshell, really. I told the guy I didn't really care that it would all melt anyway as I feel he was dead honest about it but figured the lead content was what he was told. It's still very usable-just not as soft as I thought.

[bigjake]

Geesh, I look at pure lead like its scrap. I know you can alloy your own mix but i use just straight WW's and have pure just collecting dust.
maybe when the ww's dry up I'll have to make my own hard alloy.

[bumpo628]

Geesh, I look at pure lead like its scrap. I know you can alloy your own mix but i use just straight WW's and have pure just collecting dust.
maybe when the ww's dry up I'll have to make my own hard alloy.

If you post a WTT ad in the S&S forum, I'm sure someone would trade you that pure for WW. Each of you just pay your own shipping. You might as well get what you want.

[hahaase]

I am also in a lead fix myself. Purchased some 100lbs from a person on ebay and it's really hard. Fact is it is sticking to my sprew plate and is very hard to get off. It was surpose to be lead from a range but no telling what they melted into ingots. With this said how do I get it soft, by melting it all down agin?

[man.electric]

I am also in a lead fix myself. Purchased some 100lbs from a person on ebay and it's really hard. Fact is it is sticking to my sprew plate and is very hard to get off. It was surpose to be lead from a range but no telling what they melted into ingots. With this said how do I get it soft, by melting it all down agin?

Melting and adding pure, soft lead will do the job. Do you have any other lead of known hardness you can use to gauge the lead in question?

[hahaase]

Melting and adding pure, soft lead will do the job. Do you have any other lead of known hardness you can use to gauge the lead in question?

Presently, I don't have any other lead. I'll have to get some. Do you have a reputable supplier. I've been getting all the lead I use from the Ebay, but my normal supplier closed down his shop.

Thanks

[man.electric]

Look around in the swapping and selling section and you will often find people selling lead for a very fair price. Unlike Ebay, I have never had problems with sellers here on the forum.

[a.squibload]

Geesh, I look at pure lead like its scrap. I know you can alloy your own mix but i use just straight WW's and have pure just collecting dust.
maybe when the ww's dry up I'll have to make my own hard alloy.

Muzzle loaders and swagers like the soft stuff, if you wanna get rid of some of it!