What have I got?

[JSH]

A fellow dropped off several 5 gallon buckets of alloy a while back. I was looking it over a bit and noticed that some of it had turned white and some of it was still bright and shiney. This is all lead from a stained glass window shop. The fellow had just rebuilt a couple of huge windows in a church. He also does the ornamental window hanging things.
I think the dull stuff is the dead soft lead. The other I am hoping will be a high tin content? BTW, the bucket i looked at was full of water as the lid had blown off in the last fall storm we had.
Thanks in advance.
Jeff

[MT Gianni]

Lead oxidizes as it ages at a varying rate. I would use a hardness tester of some sort from a thumbnail to a Gussy Cabintree special. Punch a couple of holes in any bucket used for ww storage near the bottom for drainage. Gianni

[Morgan Astorbilt]

Jeff, I believe what you've got is called "came". This is the extruded, pure lead that is currently used in making stained glass windows. The original method, was with strips of copper between the glass pieces, that was then covered with solder, to hold the glass in.
The dull pieces are the plain pure lead strips, and the shiny ones are combined with solder. At least that's what my scrap came looks like.
Morgan

[kodiak1]

If I got 5 free bucks of "came" I think I probably would, I'd be so happy.
Ken.