Happiness is a shiny pile of ingots

[MBTcustom]

I traded a rebluing job on a Colt python for 3 buckets of WW's. My wife's car was riding the axle and I have very little space, so I had to stop and smelt today.
I have to say, this is probably the last buckets of WW's I will ever smelt down. I started with 4 bucket's of WW's and I ended up with 2 bucket's of clips, trash, steel, and zinc. It just aint worth it anymore. In the future, I'm just going to buy a known alloy and be done with it, but at this point, I have more than I will use in a very long time so I'm happy as a clam.
I ruined about 50Lb of alloy when the pot got too hot and got "zincified" so from that point forward, I checked every single one before slipping it into the melt. I used to be able to smelt 5 buckets in about 4 hours, but it took me 10 hours to get through these 4.
All the griping aside, I wound up with some really clean ingots that are going to serve me very well, and I got about 20 ingots of pure lead as well. Life is good!
80892

[Wal']

Looking good Tim, summers not far away down here & time to start haunting the local tyre dealers for their ww's.

Luckily zinc hasn't caught on here as yet, so most are still good old galena.

[btroj]

Looks good Tim.

I have done 5 full buckets of range scrap this summer. I have 4 full buckets of empty jackets now. Sadly, I still have 3 buckets to go.

Sure is nice to see a pile of nice, clean ingots though.

[41 mag fan]

Tim, If you ever feel like being sad and not happy....just send that pile to me....!! :bigsmyl2:

[Gliden07]

Send the Zinc to Shady Grady he will send ingots of lead pound for pound!

[gnoahhh]

Good show! Now imagine what that pile of ingots would look like if converted into a huge pile of shiny new bullets!

[mroliver77]

Looks good Tim.

I have done 5 full buckets of range scrap this summer. I have 4 full buckets of empty jackets now. Sadly, I still have 3 buckets to go.

Sure is nice to see a pile of nice, clean ingots though.

I took my jackets in to sell and there are steel jackets in there! From an indoor pistol range!

Dang! I was gonna offer you lead to work on my Model 12 Tim! ;)
J

[km101]

Tim, isn't there some way to remove the zinc from the melt? I think I remember a thread about that, but I don't remember how complicated the process is.

Your stash looks good. The last WW I bought from a tire shop also had a lot of trash. But now I cant find a tire shop that will even sell them to me!

[TXGunNut]

Looks good to me, glad Zn isn't so big around here yet. Just takes a few to make a mess of things but I've been lucky...so far. I work at a new car dealer so I get a lot of Fe but I'll sell it and the clips someday or trade them for lead. I think they'll even buy Zn but I only have a coffee can full.

[Gliden07]

I remember the thread too I couldn't find it? But if I remember right they used Sulfur to get it out. It must stink like HE!! though??


Tim, isn't there some way to remove the zinc from the melt? I think I remember a thread about that, but I don't remember how complicated the process is.

Your stash looks good. The last WW I bought from a tire shop also had a lot of trash. But now I cant find a tire shop that will even sell them to me!

[daengmei]

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?62957-A-possible-way-to-remove-zinc-from-molten-lead

[WILCO]

Great job Tim. Those ingots look smart!

[km101]

Gotta get started on some smelting and casting myself. But with the temps hovering around 100 degrees, It's hard to get motivated!

But your stash looks good, and it will look even better when you turn it into Boolits! :Fire:

[MBTcustom]

Gotta get started on some smelting and casting myself. But with the temps hovering around 100 degrees, It's hard to get motivated!

But your stash looks good, and it will look even better when you turn it into Boolits! :Fire:

I know what you mean. Take that day for instance. I got started at 6:30AM and smelted three buckets of WW, then I fired up the bluing tanks at 8:30PM and blued guns till midnight. Temperatures were about 100 degrees, and the humidity was around 80%.
Makes for a hard day.

[Catshooter]

I agree, that is happiness in many ways. :)


Cat

[rondog]

Tim, isn't there some way to remove the zinc from the melt? I think I remember a thread about that, but I don't remember how complicated the process is.

Your stash looks good. The last WW I bought from a tire shop also had a lot of trash. But now I cant find a tire shop that will even sell them to me!

I've only melted w/w's into ingots one time, made a huge batch of them. But I just heated the melt hot enough to only melt the lead, and all the zinc weights and steel clips just floated to the top. Didn't seem to be a big deal. I think it would have taken an effort on my part to get it hot enough to melt the zinc.

[MBTcustom]

I've only melted w/w's into ingots one time, made a huge batch of them. But I just heated the melt hot enough to only melt the lead, and all the zinc weights and steel clips just floated to the top. Didn't seem to be a big deal. I think it would have taken an effort on my part to get it hot enough to melt the zinc.

Well, it took less effort than you might think. I just piled up a bunch in the pot, and set about hauling the other buckets over from the car, drinking my coffee, and seperating out the SOWW etc etc. Got caught up in what I was doing, then I looked over and realized that the WWs were good and melted (LOL!) so I got up and started scooping off the clips and dross.
Hmmm, that looks a little hot.
Hmmm, that looks a little wierd.
Hmmm, I think I might have a problem here!
Hmmm, I wonder what else I can make out of 50Lb of crappy lead! LOL!

BTW, you can see the bad lead in the extreme left of the picture up yonder. I think I ended up with about 7-10 times that much, so it didn't hurt too bad. I tell you one thing: I sure am glad I used the small pot! I would have been crying big crocodile tears if I had used the 160lb pot!

[Hamish]

Well, it took less effort than you might think. I just piled up a bunch in the pot, and set about hauling the other buckets over from the car, drinking my coffee, and seperating out the SOWW etc etc. Got caught up in what I was doing, then I looked over and realized that the WWs were good and melted (LOL!) so I got up and started scooping off the clips and dross.
Hmmm, that looks a little hot.
Hmmm, that looks a little wierd.
Hmmm, I think I might have a problem here!
Hmmm, I wonder what else I can make out of 50Lb of crappy lead! LOL!

BTW, you can see the bad lead in the extreme left of the picture up yonder. I think I ended up with about 7-10 times that much, so it didn't hurt too bad. I tell you one thing: I sure am glad I used the small pot! I would have been crying big crocodile tears if I had used the 160lb pot!

Used when you are trying to tell someone how not to foul up with out letting on what a mess you made of it:

DAMHINT (Don't Ask Me How I kNow That)

ex.- "You probably will want to keep the teeth face down on that rake while stepping over it. DAMHINT"

[FISH4BUGS]

I am one lucky human being. I have more than 15 5 gallon buckets of wheel weights that have not been melted down. That doesn't even count the 600+ lbs of ingots ready to go. I started saving them 10 years ago and put them into my GF's basement. In fact, we bought the house so I wouldn't have to move them!....well, sort of anyway.........
Shooting machine guns with cast lead eats up a fair amount, but I still have pretty much a lifetime supply.
Better than looking at your wood pile.
p.s. Zinc? Who cares....the thermometer is your friend.