How to tell if it's contaminated by zinc...

[skytex]

Luckily I'm melting 10lb at a time but this last batch I just ran I suspect of being contaminated.

It doesn't try to stick to my ladle. Every other batch has.
It pours very liquidy not like lead which tries to harden and pour in a sheet.
It's runny until it cools a bit.

I poured it into set of extra molds so as to not contaminate anything, scraped my pot very clean, and scrubbed it with a steel wool to make sure none is left in the pot.

Now, does that sound like contaminated stuff? It's all coming from COWW. I searched them by hand but I've caught 3 now that I missed.

If they are, does the sulpher method work to get the zn out?

[leadbutt]

Maybe a lot of tin in that batch? I just melted a bunch of pewter, its like mercury and dont even stick to the cast iron.

L. Bottoms

[skytex]

Well the hardened ingots look just like my lead ones. None of my lead is sticking to my ladle now. This last batch I've hand checked then nipped each one with the dikes to be sure. I am using a soup ladle I got at walmart. Maybe some coating finally melted off? I've done 60lbs of ingots so far with it and about 45lbs before these.

[leadbutt]

Sounds like your good then. That zinc boogieman strikes again!!!! BOO!

[badbob454]

i flux with candlewax it wont even try to stick to my ladel , and zinc would make things semisolid or oatmealy .. not flow freely, first thing i thought of was a high tin content in your alloy