Lead Plumbing Pipe ?

[sfcairborne]

Ok gents, first sorry I dont have pics to show you, but I have been given a whole lot of lead plumbing pipe that a plumber friend of mine, took out of an old house. One of the peices is a flushout tube, with a bronze or brass plug in the end, unscrewed that, but at the junction where three of the pipes entered, they were soldiered then it looks like some type of solder was brushed over that juncture to insure a water tight seal. that brushed on sealent looks light gold in color and feels like a solder of some sort. Any Ideas what that could be? Just asking before I smelt


Thanks

[sfcairborne]

I will try and take some pics tonight and see if I can post them, I know that would help. Thanks

[fryboy]

cut the joints out ( hatchet,sawzall,etc ) and smelt them separately ,these will be tin rich from the solder,i've actually melted a few joints out but it's ummm tedious at best [shrugz] the rest should be about pure
the brass pipes will smelt out erm float like anything else would ,the worst worry is H2o,that and the traps collect alot of umm stuff and can really stink ( i cut those open as well and knock the umm stuff outta'em )
various grades of solder have different melt temps , tin is often known to have a "golden sheen" , yet with the way you describe it ... makes me want to suggest hitting that joint with a cold chisel and/or a torch , they make enough various putties it isnt funny ,if it looks like metal , cuts like metal , smelts like it ...wait a minute ...taste it :P
a whole lot ...sweet !!! i keep buddies like that hooked up !!

( make sure the pipe is able to vent up when you smelt it and start it in a cool pot )

[sfcairborne]

Cool thaks, it does resemble the color of high tin gold sheen. Will cut them and smelt seperatly thank you

[Beagle333]

What a friend! That's gonna be a good haul. Lots of pure with some tin as well. Nice!!!

[chuckbuster]

Your pile look anything like this one? 3.5' tall, 2'x3' wide/deep almost all water pipe rather than drain, may be one trap in it. not enough joints to bother with gonna melt it all in one batch.
Kevin
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l48/CBMJake/Pipe.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/user/CBMJake/media/Pipe.jpg.html)

[bangerjim]

Olde pipe is normally just soft lead. As said you can try to recover the little bit of Sn in the joint solder, but it is a lot of extra work!

Depending on how much is there, you might be better off just buying some solder/pewter/Sn from people on here and KNOW exactly how much Sn you have. Melting the joint solder will be an unknown SN%.

It only takes 2% Sn to get good boolits!

banger