Ken in Iowa
03-17-2015, 12:55 PM
A fellow shooter gave me 2-100 pound scrap lead 'ingots'. They were cast 30 or 40 years ago, maybe more.
These came from an old timer who was scrapping metal at the time. The melt was poured into 1 gallon paint cans with a steel handle cast in. At least we can pick them up! The paint cans are partly rusted away and I can see that each can was completed in 2 pours.
Lord knows the source of the lead. Wheel weights, plumbers lead, car batteries, you name it. We have not checked hardness beyond a fingernail which does scratch it.
A buddy has a camp stove and smelting pot. Ladles, 1# and 2.5# Ingot moulds are available, so that's covered. I have a casting thermometer as well as sawdust and beeswax.
I have considered trying to cut off a sample with a sawzall (yikes) and melting it in a small pot to look for zinc signs and other crud. If it looks OK, I'll cast a few boolits and see how they look and weigh out compared to my other alloy.
We are hopefull to use this lead for Cowboy action, so a BHN of 8-10 is our target.
Any words of Wisdom? Temperature considerations?
What does car battery contamination look like?
If the sample run indicates a need for tin, shall we add 1% during the big melt?
tia
Ken
These came from an old timer who was scrapping metal at the time. The melt was poured into 1 gallon paint cans with a steel handle cast in. At least we can pick them up! The paint cans are partly rusted away and I can see that each can was completed in 2 pours.
Lord knows the source of the lead. Wheel weights, plumbers lead, car batteries, you name it. We have not checked hardness beyond a fingernail which does scratch it.
A buddy has a camp stove and smelting pot. Ladles, 1# and 2.5# Ingot moulds are available, so that's covered. I have a casting thermometer as well as sawdust and beeswax.
I have considered trying to cut off a sample with a sawzall (yikes) and melting it in a small pot to look for zinc signs and other crud. If it looks OK, I'll cast a few boolits and see how they look and weigh out compared to my other alloy.
We are hopefull to use this lead for Cowboy action, so a BHN of 8-10 is our target.
Any words of Wisdom? Temperature considerations?
What does car battery contamination look like?
If the sample run indicates a need for tin, shall we add 1% during the big melt?
tia
Ken