Source for lead in OH

[joed]

Anyone know where I can buy lead in Northern OH? I tried a foundry (Victory Metal) here but they were $1.82 a lb 2 years ago so I quit them. And this was without shipping as they were local!

I'm finally at a point where I need larger quantities and a consistent mix.

JoeD

[Johnch]

If you find a place , give me a yell

I live just East of Toledo and I am always looking for a good source

John

[Lee]

I live East of Clebeland, near the Pa. border. Have relatives in the Toledo area, get there a couple times per year. I am also looking for sources. Perhaps there is a market for "group buys" ??? in the NE OHIO area?? PM and perhaps we could set up some sort of network?? Whatever.................Lee

[shooter575]

Gee-wiz guys. Look out state route 2.Must be a million rotting sailboats between Toledo and Cleveland.Got a buddy that had given to him 6,000 lb. keel weight of WW lead. No one wanted it because of the weight.With a bit [lot] of sweat you could be set for life.
A easier route is to look for the scrap guys that scroung scrap and sell to the big yards.They do all the work and for a few cents over what they get wholesale from the yards you could be set. A lot of abandoned factorys they work over for pocket change.

[Sundogg1911]

I know there's a foundry in Altoona PA. A good friend of mine (My camp neighbor) has the HVAC contract there. He got to know the guys there pretty well, so i'm hoping I can get some decent prices. Since camping season is almost upon us I should find out the prices in the next month or so. He thinks i'll be able to get truck load per pound prices in lesser quantities. I hope to have a follow up with prices next month.

[joed]

There has to be a foundry cheaper then $1.82 a lb for the 92-6-2 mix. I only got a few hundred lbs from them but when I asked about a ton they told me they could drop the price to $1.75. Boy, what a break.

I've heard rumors of a smelter in Eastlake, OH but so far no more information has come up.

JoeD

[Molly]

Anyone know where I can buy lead in Northern OH? I'm finally at a point where I need larger quantities and a consistent mix.
JoeD


Joe,

I've been quite successful purchasing lead from automotive shops. Some won't sell them because they recycle the tire weights, and some are tied up in waste disposal contracts that forbit it. But there are still a LOT of places where a 5 gal pail can be had for the asking, and a lot more where you can get them (dirty) for 20 to 50 cents a pound.

Once you have a few hundred pounds, go to the flea market and buy an old cast iron pot that holds a gallon or two. Use it to melt your lead down into 100 pound batches, and pour each batch into ingots. (An old muffin tin works fine as an ingot mold.) Use a simple punch and mark each ingot with dots: One punch dot on the top of the ingot means it was from batch # 1. Two dots signify batch # 2, etc. (Oh yes, arrange to do this out of doors, in the interests of domestic tranquility ...)

Then remelt it using an equal number of ingots from each batch, making up whatever the pot will hold. When you are done, you can have hundreds of pounds of identical alloy. In the process, you can tinker with the composition as you wish, adding an ingot or two of tin or antimony to one or more of the batches. (ahhh ... you DO know how to add antimony safely, I assume?). This will enable you to adjust the castability and / or the potential quench hardness of your alloy to meet your needs.

One little trick is to watch for 'lead' weights that don't seem to want to dissolve in the melt. Pull them out with a pair of needle-nosed pliers and pitch them: there's a good chance they're contaminated with zinc, which is VERY bad for castability. Also, weights with adhesive backing will almost always be pure lead, wihch will soften your alloy, and the adhesive will stink to high heaven as it burns in the melt. Set them aside too.

When you're done, just smash the muffin tins and drill several LARGE holes in the bottom of the cast ron pot to prevent anyone from ever using them to prepare food. You can afford to get another pot after you've gone through several hundred pounds of alloy: they're not exactly in high demand, now that folks buy applesauce in jars and cans.

Hope this helps.

Molly

[joed]

Joe,

(ahhh ... you DO know how to add antimony safely, I assume?). This will enable you to adjust the castability and / or the potential quench hardness of your alloy to meet your needs.
Molly

Pretend I don't know just in case you can tell me something I don't already know.

JoeD

[timberlost]

try omnisource in Difiance the last time i was there they had about a ton of pure lead at .38 ww were .22 timberlost

[Molly]

Pretend I don't know just in case you can tell me something I don't already know. JoeD

Joe,

Sorry to be so long getting back: Hope you get this. But there are two basic ways to SAFELY add antimony to a batch of alloy.

The first is to find or make a preblend. 50/50 Antimony / lead or 70/30 Antimony / tin are popular blends. To make the blend, get the OTHER metal plenty hot, and add the antimony with good stirring. Done right, the antimony will dissolve like sugar in water. It'll recrystalize when the mix cools of course, but the crystals are separated, and will mix easily into other blends.

The second way is to simply add the proper amount of pure antimony to your melt and dissolve it in. This is a slow process, but it will go in if you are patient.

NEVER try to melt the antimony first, and then add the other metal. Antimony by itself will give off highly toxic fumes when heated in air.

So NEVER allow antimony to sit on the surface of a melt while dissolving either. This is just another way to heat it in air, and generate toxic fumes. Antimony CAN be added like this, but it must be held under the surface of the melt while dissolving. A good way is to use a fine STEEL mesh to hold it down. Hold the mesh down (ie, with a bar of steel, etc) until the melt / dissolving is complete.

HTH
Molly

[wonderwolf]

Try the big semi truck places off of I-75 once in a while...I've gotten some good hauls from these kinds of places in the past. Though I only use straight wheel weights anyways. I live in Lima

[Molly]

Try the big semi truck places off of I-75 once in a while...I've gotten some good hauls from these kinds of places in the past. Though I only use straight wheel weights anyways. I live in Lima

I appreciate the tip, but I've probably got more WW already cleaned up in ingots than I'll manage to use for the rest of my life. Right now though, I AM getting a couple of other guys into casting, so the thought may well pay off.

thanks,
Molly

[wonderwolf]

Dad picked up 500 pounds of WW for $.10 a pound but they didnt have a scale handy and dad didnt take his so they told him $30 was good enough :brokenima