Lead?

[waynem34]

I was able to buy a little lead from a couple different gentlemen over the summer and looks similar to what Ive been seeing here,But some of the plumbers lead seems to be alot harder than what I've heard described.Did plumbers use hard lead too?I will try and post a pic with this post.It is the first Ive tryed outside the test forum.Thank you very much.The one with the hole is hard as hell but will scratch with screw driver.The four big blue plates are soft lead and scratch like butter with a thumb nail.:Fire:http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_195504e39a2e838ad3.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=1652)http://castboolits.gunloads.com/imagehosting/thum_195504e39a4c64dd53.jpg (http://castboolits.gunloads.com/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=1653)Im mainly concerned with the square shaped ingots and the round 1 with the hole in it.They are about the same hardness.

[fryboy]

umm the fotos i cant see so ... i'll go off your visual description , the easy to scratch with a thumbnail sounds like close to pure lead , as for scratching ..sadly for me that's inconclusive , try a knife blade does it cut or scrape ? cutting would be lead or lead alloy and scratching would be zinc or the like as even hard alloys will cut with a knife ( albeit not as easy as the stuff that will umm scratch like butter - to be fair cut it too and any scrap boolits you have to help build reference ! ) as for plumbers lead ... alot of times it is soft but sometimes in a pinch they may of used solder or various alloys , worse the best way to tell is to cast something let it age a day test it and again in a week or so and see if it gets harder , if it's just as soft as day one it should be close to pure

[454PB]

Your picture links are bad.

Plumbers lead in ingot form is usually cast in linked squares of around 5 pounds each and has no holes for hanging.

Ingots with holes could be anything from window counterweights to linotype. Linotype ingots had holes in the end so that they could be hung above the melting pot and lowered as needed. Most of the ones I've seen (and have) are around 20 pounds. Some are 10 kilograms (22 pounds).

Any alloy with an appreciable amount of antimony can be broken, and then you can see the granular composition. Pure lead will not break, it will bend.

[waynem34]

Thanks fryboy.I didnt know I had made mistake on the photo.Thanks for the info.gotta get some muratic too test it.May have fixed the photos.