Grainy ingots

[292]

I did some smelting this morning. A friend gave me an 28# "ingot," he said it was mostly clip on wheel weights. After melting, watched lead never melts, I fluxed with saw dust and candle wax. Then I added 30# of clip on wheel weights and fluxed again. I unmolded a loaf pan ingot before it was completly cooled, it broke in two. The inside is grainy. Is this normal? Only my second time smelting. The boolit casting I have done was with ingots from forum members. Casting is a lot more fun than smelting.

[AndyC]

My guess would be that there's plenty of antimony in there which hardens the alloy but can result in it being more brittle (and more expensive) than pure lead.

[beagle]

That's normal for some WWs. I'm betting that was made from truck weights which seem to have a higher antimony contact than the normal car weights. But, it's a good thing. Add some pure lead and see how it casts and if needed a little tine. It should stretch out very well and make good bullets./beagle

[DLCTEX]

Breaking it before fully cooled will create a grainy effect. Break a sprue while hot and you get the same, let it cool and it has a much less grainy look.

[292]

If it's because the lead was not cool enough, I can cast as is, if it's high antimony I need to add pure lead. How do I know which one it is?

[glicerin]

If you cast a bullet and it's abnormally light, then you have lots of antimony or tin, and the ingot will probably ring like a bell. Sure hope it wasn't zinc, which will probably look like porridge when melted. Alloy doesn't have to be exact, as long as it is hard enough for your purpose, and casts good bullets.

[292]

My concern is zinc. I Have no idea what was in the big ingot.

[Bulltipper]

Looks normal to me if the lead was still soft when it broke...

[Defcon-One]

Looks normal to me if the lead was still soft when it broke...

I agree! The pics aren't that good, but your lead is fine. If I dump out my 5 lb. ingots too soon, they break in half and I see the same exact gray grainy metal.

Cool them a bit longer.

[Ole]

Grainy ingot usually means you dumped the ingot from the mold before it was fully cooled.

I'm guilty of getting in a hurry when pouring ingots. :oops:

[plainsman456]

Methinks it was a tad hot hen dumped out of the mold.
I have some that broke the first time I smelted some WW and range scrap.
Just let it cool a little while longer.

[mold maker]

Don't know what size loaf pan you used, but the larger, the slower to cool.
I am oftem impatient with a big smelt, and have 1 lb ingots do the same thing. Just let them cool longer and problem solved.

[WHITETAIL]

Go find more ingot moulds so the first ones can cool.:Fire:

[masscaster]

Hi 292,
I'd say the ingot was too hot also.
Pour one and set it on the concrete for 5 minutes, then pop it out and listen for the tink.
Of course it could be a harder than normal batch of WW's. Not all will render the same end alloy. Some harder, some softer.
Don't waste pure lead softening hard alloy. Wait til you get a softer batch of WW's and add a few harder ingots to it.

Jeff

[292]

I'll be getting more mini loaf pans before I smelt again, they fit the cast iron saucepan I use to ladle pour. Y'all confirmed what I thought, needed more cooling time.

[rmark]

I'd suspect high antimony as I've had the same happen with ingots made from old lead shot. I had zinc contamination once, the melted mix was kind of a small curd cottage cheese consistancy. You might pour a few bullets to see if it fills the mould out well.