Is this lead?

[whelen fan]

I found this at a garage sale. The strip kinda crackles when you bend it and the other piece has letters on it. Both are soft. Is it Tin?

Thanks

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v134/Kman338/20130423_074437_zps72592975.jpg

[zac0419]

Bottom one looks to be a standard dive weight, should be lead. Don't know on the stick.

[sqlbullet]

The crackle is usually a property of tin solder. All the bars of tin I have crackle and cry when bent.

[whelen fan]

Alright. I will melt the square piece down and leave the bar whole.

[dbosman]

I'd stir the smelting pot with the bar. If it melts while stirring, it's lead.

[2wheelDuke]

How soft is the dive weight? They're usually soft lead, but literally can be anything that'd melt.

[Dusty Bannister]

Not a good idea to stir lead with the bar. Tin melts at 450 and lead melts at 621. Of course it will melt into lead. Lead does NOT crackle when bent, but tin does. Keep it seperate, and if you would normally add tin, add some of the bar instead and see if you get a similar result. Dusty

[dtknowles]

I would cut like a 1 inch piece of the bar, weight it and then see how much water it displaces in a graduated cylinder or small measuring cup. Divide the weight by the volume to get density. Lead 6.6 ounces per cubic inch, Tin 4.2 ounces per cubic inch. If you have a bigger scale and measuring cup/graduated cylinder you could do the whole bar. 50/50 bar solder would be 5.4 ounces per cubic inch

[dtknowles]

one fluid ounce is 1.8 cubic inches