disorganized lead pile

[LKTTU]

I have a pile of ingots that I made and I did not label them. Some are scrap range lead and some are wheel weights. Can anyone suggest how to sort them? Maybe by hardness? After I sort them how do you mark yours to keep them sorted?

I have cast my own in the past with some success. I am now trying to get back into it.

Not to brag, but I just got 1360 pounds of pure lead from work for FREE!! Ok, so I am bragging a little. Also, I found some other metal lying around at work that I think is tin, but I have not got that verified yet. If it is tin, it looks to be about 2000 pounds.

[Ole]

I use this (http://www.harborfreight.com/36-piece-1-4-quarter-inch-steel-letter-number-stamping-set-35121.html) to keep my lead organized. Stamp the ingots as they are cooling in the molds.

"ww" wheelweights.
"pb" pure lead
"rng" range lead
"cs" reclaimed shot

etc. :)

[Armorer]

I generally label the container they are in or write on the ingot with a sharpie. "WW" "S" etc.

[clodhopper]

I have been organizing mine by ingot shape.
There's corn cobs, fishies, 1 1/2X 1 1/2 angle, muffins, and good ole Lee ingot moulds.
Special stuff like solder drippings, and monotype, usually gets poured into the 1/2# Lee ingots then stored in a labled coffee can.

[buyobuyo]

I do the same as Ole. I use different abbreviations but it does the same thing.

I don't know how you would go about sorting them, but hardness seems like a good idea.

[fryboy]

i use different boxes and used to use different ingot molds but i still also use a sharpie ( i have used metal stamps but no longer do so )
as for how to tell ... that's not so easy , you can sort by hardness however ( but keep in mind that range scrap can vary considerably ) by dinging two ingots together - use the corners to ding a flat spot on another bar - the softer of the two will ding while the harder one not so much ,it wont tell you which is which only which of the two is harder

[imashooter2]

My ingots go back into the buckets the ore came out of. I write what is in the bucket on the lid with a magic marker.

[captaint]

I just whack mine with the steel stamps. WW or Pb. Thats it. Never gotten enough range lead to bother marking. Thus far the system works well. Mike

[nwellons]

I only have two types of ingots. Soft is in rectangular ingots; clip-on ww are in muffins.

[fredj338]

If you have a Cabin Treee or Lee tester, you can use that to sort. As to marking, doesn't get any easier than a SHarpie, but some us a cold chisel & some numbering/symbol system. I went to diff molds for diff alloys. So I know at a glance what I have & don't. Lyman 1# for pure lead, channel iron mold for clip ww & a sq alumn mold for range scrap. SO I always know what I am dding to the the pot.

[Jim Flinchbaugh]

2000 pounds of Tin? Wow, at current rates you'll be sittin on around 36K$$

[Echo]

I too use different ingot molds for different alloys. WW - muffin tin, & marked. range - same, and marked, WW+2$Sn - angle iron molds; 7/1 WW/monotype +1% Sn - regular lyman/RCBS ingot molds, flooded to 5# weight, marked 7-1+; 7/1 Range/monotype +1%Sn, same, but marked 7R/1+. All markings w/Sharpie. Pure lead - soft drink cans 1/top cut off.

[cf_coder]

Being that I recently came upon some "estate sale" lead, please, please, please... write something on the darned ingots indicating what it is. Is your surviving spouse going to know what the cornbread ingots are? How about the muffin tin ingots? No freaking clue, is the likely response.

I'm with the others, a sharpie does a fine job and it doesn't take much time. I usually do it when I'm transferring them to the scale for the "after smelting celebratory weigh in".
SOWW = Stick on Wheel weights
COWW = Clip on Wheel weights
Pb = Pure lead
CRng = cast range scrap
Rng = Jacketed Range Scrap

Tin and other alloys, I write what it is like Lino, Mono, Pew, 50/50, etc...

[gbrown]

I'm with Armorer or Ole--sharpie or stamp. I use a stamp set from Harbor Freight. Cheap. Do just like Ole. That way, when I go back in the pile somewhere down the road, I know what I am dealing with. Mostly, I save sharpies for solder and pewter alloys. Small disks. fredj338 has another excellent idea. If you can--go back and check bhn--label as such with sharpie.

[cabezaverde]

I just run a strip of cheapo spray paint across them. Black is ww, yellow is line, etc.

[Moonman]

I use a cheap set of Harbor Freight 1/4" stamps, and I have Cabine Tree hardness tester too.

[runfiverun]

i keep mine in stacks.
the one on the right is alloy ready to be poured, the one on the left is ww's.
soft is over by the stars you can recoognize it by the rolled up lead sheets.
lino pigs are under the mastercaster bench thier ingots are in a wooden box marked lino and the 4/6 is in buckets under the shelf with 4/6 written on the buckets.

[Arceagle]

I store them in wooden ammo crates. I staple a piece of paper to the crate with written info like date and type of lead smelted and any other important info, the the ingots in the crate only have to have a date to identify them. I have been stamping them but the sharpie sounds like a better idea. This keeps them separated into their individual batches just in case you need to know.

[Blue Hill]

I use different moulds and stamps as well.
Small square muffin tins mould wheel weights. The batches are all date and batch stamped. After I've done around 100 lbs of wheel weights, I'll take an equal number of muffins from each batch and melt them again, so that every ingot will be of equal hardness and when it comes time to make boolets, I'll have consistency. Yes I know, this would be easier if I did my 100 lbs. of ww's in one batch, but I'm not there yet with the equipment. Then I stamp what the ingot is made of WW, PB etc. date and MIXED to show it's a homogenized batch. I picked up a set of stamps with a holder that lets me make words up to 5 characters long for 35 bucks at the Canadian equivalent of Harbour Frieght.
Same system for pure lead, only I use a mini loaf tin for a mould. I agree with the previous poster who said he marks his well so that whoever takes over after he's gone, will be able to tell what all these heavy lumps that are stacked up out in the shop are for.
Blue

[Huntducks]

Good old harbor freight stamps easy and cheep.