Got a nice present

[armoredman]

Co-worker gave me a bucket with some 1 pound lead ingots in it, maybe 30-40 of them, says they are WW with extra antimony for a water dropped BHN of 16-18.[smilie=w:
Problem - they are filthy with dirt and dust! :| How should I wash them, or should I scrub 'em while dry before dropping in the pot and flux hard? I thought I could wash them off with plain water in the bucket and put out to sun dry for about 3 days, would that be OK? I think these would be great for my rifle boolits - less leading at a higher hardness on my gas checked boolit? Only place I am getting leading right now is the gas block on the semi auto.
I do NOT want a vist from the tinsel fairy... :shock:
Thanks for any replies.

[Stick_man]

Go ahead and wash them, let them set for a day or two, then add them to a cold pot. By the time they get up to near liquid temp, the moisture would have already evaporated. Or, you could just throw them into the pot as is and flux it good. The dust and dirt will all float to the top. Why waste the extra energy trying to clean them up if you don't need to? You'll be fluxing the alloy anyway.

Nice snag, BTW. Maybe you should treat the co-worker to a dinner or something. At least a trip to the range with you to see what his lead produced. :)

Happy shooting!

[badbob454]

agreed just wash em and dry em ,put in a cold pot so moisture wont pop liquid lead, out of the pot..any remaining dirt will float to top to skim off

[gray wolf]

Wash ??----why?---- for what purpose ?

In pot--light match---match to burner---- melt them--FLUX WELL.

What wont burn off will float to the top--skim it off--make ingots---done

[white eagle]

Wash ??----why?---- for what purpose ?

In pot--light match---match to burner---- melt them--FLUX WELL.

What wont burn off will float to the top--skim it off--make ingots---done
bought what I was going to say as well
no need for the wash and dry greasy kids stuff
will float to the top
Just sayin:killingpc

[Springfield]

I wouldn't wash them myself. Plus from my experience if you get them wet they are more likely to corrode and get that white dust(lead oxide?) on them.

[onondaga]

I wouldn't wash them for 2 reasons. Handling them increases your lead exposure. The tin oxide can be returned to the alloy with the correct fluxing method. Plus the real dirt floats and is easily skimmed after fluxing.

Gary

[armoredman]

OK, sounds good to me. :) Stack, melt and flux as needed. :D
The gentleman in question is a benchrest shooter, and we discovered we had similar hobbies by accident. :)

[dragonrider]

Throw them in the pot and be done with it, no washing needed.

[gray wolf]

Throw them in the pot and be done with it, no washing needed.


Well said and to the point--don't stack em. don't place them, don't put them,
Throw them Is that like from a certain distance ?

[geargnasher]

Co-worker gave me a bucket with some 1 pound lead ingots in it, maybe 30-40 of them, says they are WW with extra antimony for a water dropped BHN of 16-18.[smilie=w: This begs a couple of questions. First, plain water-dropped clip-on wheel weight alloy by itself, if dropped quickly enough from the mould the water, will achieve at least 22 bhn. If it's softer, stick-on alloy with "extra antimony added", how was the antimony added? You can't just put a chunk of antimony in with WW metal and melt it in, there's a process, and the easiest one for the home caster requires the use of tin. I'd check this stuff out better before I got too carried away.
Problem - they are filthy with dirt and dust! That's called "prefluxed" alloy. Don't waste your time washing it. :| How should I wash them, or should I scrub 'em while dry before dropping in the pot and flux hard? I thought I could wash them off with plain water in the bucket and put out to sun dry for about 3 days, would that be OK? I think these would be great for my rifle boolits - less leading at a higher hardness on my gas checked boolit? Less leading compared to what alloy? Hardness is relative, and if you have leading issues now a harder alloy may or may not help. Only place I am getting leading right now is the gas block on the semi auto.
I do NOT want a vist from the tinsel fairy... :shock: The only way you'll ever see the Tinsel Faery, or her wicked sister Tin Foil, is if you get water underneath molten lead, or if a hidden gas pocket explodes as the ingot melts. The most common faux pas are pouring lead into something that's damp or has a drop of water in it, and sticking something wet into the molten lead like a green stick, damp stick, cold ingot with condensation or moisture on it, etc. I cool my ingots that are cast in steel moulds by spraying them with water from a garden hose. Just enough to quench them, then dump, leaving the moulds hot enough to flash off the moisture before pouring again. As long as there isn't a single hint of a wet spot in the moulds, there is zero problem.
Thanks for any replies.

I'd melt a couple of those down, stir and flux them, and see how they cast. You might do a pencil hardness test and the sledgehammer test on some that are air cooled and water dropped, wait a week for them to age harden before testing.

Gear

[hydraulic]

Can it be assumed that you are not considering smelting the lead in your casting pot?

[armoredman]

It can be assumed thusly. I have only the one pot, so I just use it for casting.
As for hardness, I do not have a hardness tester, so I have to go by what I have been told. Also, the gent in question is a long time caster who has access to supplies of altered metals I can only dream of.
In response to the leading question, I was mildly curious if a harder boolit would leave less lead in my gas block - the straight WW metal I have right now doesn't leave any lead deposits in any barrel I have tried, just my vz-58 gas block - looking into a soldering iron to melt/chip that out next time. I am still quite the novice caster, only hitting the pot twice a month or so, cast a couple hundred and call it a day.

[clintsfolly]

dirty ingot are just junk sent to me for proper disposal!! Just kidding wipe off with a rag and cast!!Clint