lead pipe & seals

[GP100man]

scored some lead pipe & seals today,:) pipe is really soft like pure but the seals i cant even bend ,tin maybeeee??????:)
bet this is going to stank bad when i smelt it !!!!!!!!!!!!

GP100man


:cbpour:

[Johnch]

I have melted down some cast iron pipe seals before
I found they ran from pure lead to almost Lino

With most being closer to lead with a little tin , maybe 5 %

I bet guys used what ever lead they could get cheap


And yes it will smoke and stink

My guess the pipe is almost pure lead

John

[tommag]

10 or 15 years ago a freind gave me a bunch of lead seals that were about 3 ft in diameter from old sewer line. They were very soft, but WWHOO BOY the smell. They had an inch or so ring of crispy brown stuff dried onto them!

[GP100man]

johnch
i think ill keep the pipe by itself & test it against stick on ww.
then the seals blend as many together as will fit in my smelting pot & check them . how hard is lino my cast hand bookstates its 22bhn???
they may check harder i cant colapse a 6" little lead ring!!!!
its tuff getting old ,but my joints get tenderererer!!!!

GP100man

:cbpour:

[Pepe Ray]

The "brown stuff" is jute. The fitter/plumber had to seal the joint with something before pouring the lead or it would have all dissapeared into the pipe. They'd drive it into the seam w/hammer and packing chisle. In my exp. the joints for CI pipe were of soft lead. Joints on lead pipe were a tin alloy because they melted and solidified at lower temps so the bond could be made w/o melting the pipe.
I've recoverd many lbs of joints. The only stink is from the jute smoke.
Pepe Ray

[piwo]

I've melted a little over 100 lbs of plumbing lead pipes this year and yeah, unless you pound them a little to knock the "crap" loose inside, it does have a certain smell.. Really isn't what you expect though, not bad. BUT, that stuff does float on top and there can be a significant amount of it. I use a hatchet (blunt, flat end, not the blade end) to bang the pipes into a manageable configuration to fit in my pot. That banging loosens all the stuff inside and I just dump it from the pipe into a trash bag.

Those pipes cast fine, soft boolits. Since I'm not adding anything to harden them up, I find I need to cast them at pretty high temp to get the bands to fill out crisply on the Maxi's I've been casting. I cast some yesterday afternoon just for the fun of it. Can't get enough.

[GP100man]

i have enuff soft lead i mite get me one of dem thar front stuffers & give it a try!!!
im leaning towards a 36 cal rabbit rifle!!!

well i couldnt standit ,i smelted the rings down i cant believe i couldnt bend em , the stuff is close to pure , turned gold then in the ingot turned blue ,make a dead thud when tapped .
think im gonna trade it to bp shooter or 50/50 with ww if no trading done.


GP100man

:cbpour:

[dragonrider]

Warning, That stuff inside the pipe will be wet not matter how long it sits, if you add any to an already hot pot be sure to preheat it untill it is DRY, DRY, DRY.
I once added a piece of lead pipe to my smelter when hot. It started erupting out of the pipe like a dam volcanoe, I was lucky and nothing hit me, but had one hell of mess after it stopped.