Lead and silver solder

[doulos]

I found a guy who has .5lb ingots of what he says are 50% lead and 50% silver solder. He wants $1.00 a pound.
Any one know whats in silver solder?

[Defcon-One]

No way to know what was in his silver solder!

Could be Tin, Copper, Silver...... Could be Zinc and other metals too!

If he doesn't know exactly what he used, you'll never know either. I avoid this whenever possible, "....a guy who has .5lb ingots of what he says are...." There is just no way to be sure without testing.

[alfloyd]

Buy 1 and have it tested for alloy content at a scrap yard. Most of the time no charge.
Then you will know what it is.
Just my 2 cents worth. :)

Lafaun

[Baja_Traveler]

No telling whats in his - but I do know that the silver solder sticks I have are 56% silver, 22% Copper, 17% Zinc and 5% of something I cant read. But that's why its called silver solder - which is lead free.

[bumpo628]

Good price, but I don't think it's worth messing around with an unknown alloy. You might ruin a batch of good lead...

[Longwood]

I would buy it in a second if it has silver in it. It wont take a very high silver content to make it worth a lot more than what they are asking for it.

[Defcon-One]

I would buy it in a second if it has silver in it. It wont take a very high silver content to make it worth a lot more than what they are asking for it.

Longwood makes a good point. With Silver at close to $50 per ounce, the Silver content is the value in these, assuming it is really there.

[imashooter2]

Supposing it is 50% silver solder which has 56% silver in it. The silver is worth better than $80, but where are you going to sell that alloy?

[bumpo628]

How do you know there is silver in there, much less any other material?
How do you separate the silver from the other material?

You could always try adding a small amount to a little batch of lead to see if it helps mold fillout.
That is the goal, of course. I don't think you're going to get any silver value out of it though.

[Huntducks]

If it's plumbing solder made by Sterling it will have 3% silver in it this was early lead free solder.