Strange things afoot

[Philip]

I went to the local scrapyard this morning to pick up some lead. I was looking for very soft stuff to cast conicals for my muzzel loader. I already had over 100 lbs of ww in ingots to use for round balls. What I found was rolls of lead that was made to use in windows. I suppose to set panes in as it looked like small channel iron. It was very clean and soft enough to mar with you finger nail. But as I melted it, stirring and fluxing as always, it continued to produce a very red substance. Floating on the top it looked like deep red rust. As it scraped the sides of the pot and skimmed this stuff into a pile it looked more like burning embers. In fact it looked exactly like buning embers. Then as I dipped it out and set it aside, it quickly turned a much more yellowish color as it cooled. What's up with that? The bullets looked good. Casting in a Lee 320 gr. R.E.A.L mold they are weighing out at 330 gr. I've just never experienced so much dross and of such an unusual appearance.

[dilly]

This would be a good thread for pictures.

[geargnasher]

Oxide. That sounds like leaded window channel, almost pure. The connecting solder is often 60% tin that has a lower melt point so it can be worked without melting the channel. Use a reducant such as wax or sawdust to turn that red/yellow powder back into usable pure lead.

Gear

[303Guy]

Was the lead softer than normal pure lead? Red then turning to yellow? Castings are heavier than they should be? I hope you were in a well ventilated area. It sounds like lead-mercury alloy!

[runfiverun]

lead oxide can be a red orange color in fact when it's made to be used in ceramics it is a red-orange or a yellow-orange.
most lead oxide we see is white and is generally formed from water and oxygen.
when heat is added to the mix the color changes.
i'll go with Gear on this one and say re-run the stuff back through but do a proper return of the oxides to the alloy.


ohhh.
and don't eat or breathe the dust.

[Slow Elk 45/70]

Runfiverun, sounds like sound advice to me, maybe Philip has not fluxed the goodies back into the mix before ?? Hope he uses your advice.[smilie=b:

[RED333]

I would bet it is "lead came" for stain glass work.

[Shuz]

I would bet it is "lead came" for stain glass work.
Years ago when I used to live in the Pittsburgh, Pa. area, a friend of our family had a church stained glass window shop and he used to give me all the scraps. It sounds like this is what you have. If you have any channel joints, they were put together with solder and are very rich in tin. Nice find!

[Gtek]

First, welcome aboard Philip one post and I do not believe I read anywhere about a thermometer reading. Where it went liquid and did it get over 800? Could you take ingot back to yard and see if they have gun for content reading? Tin rich would be a good thing and nice score.

[geargnasher]

Gtek, the JOINTS are tin-rich, usually about 60%. Tin protects the lead from oxidiation in the molten state, that's why we're not used to seeing glowing, powdered oxides that are red, blue, orange, yellow, purple, etc. in our melts. The channel "Came" is or should be almost pure lead and it oxidizes like crazy without tin present, so I'm guessing not very much joint material in this batch.

Gear

[KYCaster]

Do you know what temperature you were working with?

Sounds like WAY too much heat to me.

Jerry