Lead slag reduction info needed

[machanic]

I just started smelting my meager pile of scrap lead and realised I will have a pile of lead slag/oxide growing into a problem, I would like to deoxidize the lead oxide and solve the problem, and recover good lead, I'm sure this has been discussed before but the searce engine seems to be missbehaving can anyone with expereance help!!
Machanic

[bruce381]

stir in a few spoons full of saw dust and let it burn to charcoal and stir more you will esnd up with dust stuff that you throw away, also may have to flux/reduce 1-2.

[machanic]

Did the sawdust in the melt, small hand full in a ten lb. melt, smoked, charred, glowed a little, still had some heavy dust, tommorrow I'll try a little more heat and stirring, the sawdust was pine. Thanks. OPPS!! didn't use any flux, thought the sawdust was all that was required, have more stick on WW to do tomorrow will try a resin flux to reduce todays slag with my melt tommorrow.

[Griz44mag]

Some slag will be a byproduct, especially with the impurities that are present in wheel weights. It will not be possible to completely reduce it. You need to ask yourself at what point are you spending more in fuel than you are recovering in lead? At a normal value of a buck a pound for lead, you can afford to toss most of the slag as opposed to spending the money for fuel to smelt.

I collect it in a tin can, and when the can gets half full, drop it in the trash.
For me at least, it's not worth the time and fuel to reduce or recover it.

[btroj]

Griz is dead on. There is dirt, sand, and who knows what else in there too. Use a bunch of sawdust, stir well, and move on.

[machanic]

Thanks for the info, I was probably being a little too critical. I have another 15# of stickon wheel weights, I'll weigh befor and after and check for how much loss.

[lwknight]

It aint worth it unless you are pennyless and there is no other lead to be had.
Been there, tried that. What a waste.

[machanic]

It aint worth it unless you are pennyless and there is no other lead to be had.
Been there, tried that. What a waste.

I'm not pennyless yet, but I'm working on it!! I live in R.I. and there was a major anti lead movement in the area a few years ago, scrap lead is scarce, lead ww have dried up, so I'm willing to put in a little extra effort into what I have and can find.

[machanic]

Well I just finished smelting all the lead I could come up with, came out to 28# smelted and 15 oz. slag, you were right to not worry about further reduction, I continue to learn. On another note, while smelting I was thinking of alloying metals, about 25# of my lead is pure, I remembered a pewter mug I had picked up at a flea market a few years ago, glass bottom, the name Dave ingraved on it a drinking buddy of mine's name Dave figured he would aprecheate it, but when I leaked checked it later it failed, so I put it on a back shelf, when I finished the lead smelting I smelted down the pewter, melted at mid 400 deg. hardness test with Lee tester BHN 21 some kind of alloy, any sugestions?

[geargnasher]

Sawdust IS all you need. Pine is great. Keep in mind that sawdust is a true FLUX and will remove things we boolit casters consider impurities like calcium, aluminum, iron, zinc etc. from nasty ol' wheel weights and yet leave the stuff like tin, antimony, and arsenic that we want in there. The junk that comes out with the sawdust ash is stuff you want GONE. There may be some trace lead/tin/antimony trapped in the ash that you skim, but it's not worth messing with.

Gear

[zxcvbob]

I reduce the slag and heavy-dirt when I collect enough to mess with. I'm sure it's not cost effective, but I'd rather recover that lead oxide and keep it out of the landfill.

I put it in a stainless steel pot with a lid, straining out the wheel clips and bullet jackets, and stir in a little old motor oil. Put on the lid and cook it at full-power on a hotplate for a while, shaking the pot every once in a while. When it I can tell there's a good bit of liquid by the way it shakes, I turn off the heat, take the lid off (watch out, it might flame up) and stir in a small handful of sawdust. Let the whole thing cool and I can dump it out. The chunk of lead goes in the next batch that I render, and the ash (still heavy and therefore has lead in it) goes in a bag in the garbage.

I probably get 2 pounds of good lead from 5 or 6 pounds of slag and skimmings. Some times more (even a lot more) and sometimes less.

Electric hotplate is pretty cheap to run, so it's mostly my time that I'm wasting.

[machanic]

Yup! Geargnasher I got the sawdust part, I do a bit of carpentry so there is always some sawdust under the tablesaw. Was wondering about the pewter, the beer mug I melted down didn't have any markings on it and was wondering if there is any way to be sure it is tin.

[machanic]

zxcvbob thanks for the tip I'll give it a try when I collect a little more slag, by the way I remove the ww clips with a pickup magnet right out of the melt, harbor freight special!!

[runfiverun]

tin melts in the range you showed on the mug.
it probably has some lead/antimony in the mix, call it 90% tin.

[machanic]

Thanks runfiverun, the hardness kind of threw me but the melting temp seemed about right.